McDonald's LPGA Championship Tees Off With Uncertain Future
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This Week Marks Final Year Of McDonald's
Sponsorship With LPGA Championship |
This week's McDonald's LPGA Championship marks the "final year McDonald's is sponsoring" the event and the final year it will be held at Bulle Rock Country Club in Maryland, leaving the LPGA's "marquee event without a sponsor or location" for '10, according to Kevin Van Valkenburg of the Baltimore SUN. While LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens contends that there are a "number of positives to that arrangement, it's also a lot of uncertainty for the players to swallow." Golfer Paula Creamer said, "I'm concerned. I'm 22 years old, this is my fifth year on Tour, and we don't know where one of our majors is going to be. It's a scary thought." Bivens believes that the LPGA, by owning the event, will be "able to reap all the revenue it generates and be able to pick the venue where it wants to hold next year's tournament." Bivens: "We will be one of the only professional tours to do that. It is exciting, and it's one of the things I believe years from now will be very transformational. ... Yes, it is high risk and high reward, but the opportunities for that to make a difference from a brand standpoint ... over the next 50 years is very big." However, Valkenburg notes there are 14 LPGA events up for renewal after this season and the "slumping economy has hammered women's golf considerably harder than it has the men's game." Golfer Cristie Kerr: "I think it's definitely a level of concern for everyone, whether it's a mortgage that you're looking at or your portfolio or your bank account or how many tournaments are up for renewal. I think it's on everyone's minds and everybody is wondering where the bottom is going to come" (Baltimore SUN, 6/11).
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Bivens Says LPGA Talking To Several Golf
Courses About Hosting LPGA Championship |
MAKING THE TURN: Bivens discussed the future of the tournament, saying, "We're talking to several different great courses and several difference sponsors. Tying the two together is what we're working to do. We'd like to see a very great stage, a great golf course that has almost as much buzz, if you will, as the tournament itself" ("Golf Central," Golf Channel, 6/10). Bivens said that the "opportunity to choose the location of the event, set players eligibility criteria and reap all the revenue is 'exciting.'" Bivens: "We feel like our opportunity to own a major is not that big a risk." Meanwhile, McDonald's LPGA Championship co-Founder Frank Quinn said of the event's demise, "There's no sour grapes on our part. We're happy to have been there. Bulle Rock was much more than we expected." Quinn said the tournament "raised more at Bulle Rock than we ever raised" at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, the previous host. However, event co-Founder Herb Lotman said, "This year, we probably won't take in hardly anything. Our expenses and overhead have been climbing every year" (Baltimore SUN, 6/8).
BLIND APPROACH: In DC, Barry Svrluga writes the LPGA is "dealing with something of a midlife crisis, one exacerbated by, if not completely due to, the global economic downturn that has affected sports sponsorships at nearly every level." The LPGA "finally has a home on television, signing a 10-year-deal" with Golf Channel that goes into effect next season, yet it "doesn't know how many events it will provide as programming." Sports marketing experts contend that the LPGA is "in a difficult position given the current economic landscape." Millsport Chair Bob Bache said, "All sports marketing initiatives have been reduced by clients, and it goes down the pecking order of sports. The LPGA has been hurt because of the pecking order of investment by companies. It's a difficult thing when you're in the position of being not the dominant sport just within golf." Svrluga notes the LPGA has "begun to embrace unconventional ways to turn fans of golf ... into LPGA fans," including putting a microphone on golfer Christina Kim during this weekend's event (WASHINGTON POST, 6/11).
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