PGA Tour Continues To Find Tourney Sponsors Despite Economy
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Finchem Optimistic That Tour
Will Continue To Find Sponsors |
The PGA Tour “continues to find sponsors willing to commit to $6[M] or, in the case of the FedEx Cup events, more than $10[M],” according to Vartan Kupelian of the DETROIT NEWS. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem: “I think generally you would look at deteriorating economic situations and say, ‘Boy, it’s going to be really tough.’ But we’ve been 100[%] sponsored through the last two recessions. I’m cautiously optimistic we will continue to be 100[%] sponsored if we went into a recession.” Finchem added that the Tour’s “marketability lures sponsors.” Finchem: “I think the product that PGA Tour players put out there is extremely marketable.”
LONG DRIVE: Buick Golf Marketing Manager Larry Peck, whose company is celebrating its 50th anniversary as the PGA Tour’s first corporate sponsor, said golf provides the company with “a big national footprint, and (a lot of opportunities) for marketing integration and efficiencies.” Peck would not disclose the cost of Buick’s sponsorship of the Tour, which runs through 2010, but he said, “We know it’s a value asset.” Meanwhile, Peck and reps for Tiger Woods, who is “nearing the end of his second five-year contract with Buick reportedly in the range of $25[M], have begun discussions on an extension.” Peck said, “We don’t have absolute numbers as turnstiles aren’t utilized, but estimates have been that Tiger effects attendance by as much as 20[%]. From a title sponsor standpoint, Tiger’s presence has an even greater impact on television ratings” (DETROIT NEWS, 3/5).
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Nationwide Tour To Host Its
First Two $1M Events This Season |
NATIONWIDE: In a separate piece, Kupelian notes two-thirds of the golfers on the PGA Tour are graduates of the Nationwide Tour, which this year will have "record prize money" of nearly $19M for 30 tournaments, an average purse of $631,000, and its first two $1M events, the Nationwide Tour Players Cup and the Nationwide Tour Championship. And while the top 25 players on the Nationwide money list each year advance to the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour President Bill Calfee's "goal is to increase that number." Calfee: "I can see the Nationwide Tour continuing to evolve into the only path to the PGA Tour. But I also see it growing even beyond that. I wouldn't say it would be a rival (to the PGA Tour), but it could be every bit as competitive. I don't think it's that far off now. If you eliminated the stars, the rest of the players are fairly comparable" (DETROIT NEWS, 3/5).
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