Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Sports Media

FOX'S FORAY INTO GOLF SEEN AS MAJOR THREAT TO PGA TOUR

     "Ready or not, sports gets another golf tour today with a
news conference at Sherwood Country Club [in Thousand Oaks, CA]
to announce a new golf venture that has generated great
controversy before its birth."  The World Tour is a joint venture
of Fox Television and Executive Sports, a FL-based event
management firm that puts on tournaments on the PGA, Senior PGA
and LPGA tours, and Greg Norman.  News of the World Tour "already
has been a source of deep concern" for PGA Tour Commissioner Tim
Finchem, particularly since it arrives at a time when the FTC is
investigating the PGA Tour for possible "unfair methods of
competition" (Thomas Bonk, L.A. TIMES, 11/17).  "If enough
players back the concept, the ramifications would be vast.
Regular PGA Tour events would, in essence, be devalued and
tournament sponsors would have less hope of landing marquee
players, something that would probably force them to re-evaluate
their investment in the tour" (Larry Dorman, N.Y. TIMES, 11/17).
     WHAT'S FOX UP TO?  Jon Mandel, Senior VP of Grey
Advertising, compares golf to the NHL, which draws a younger
demographic, and calls golf "antithetical to Fox's brand
identity."  But Michael Hiestand lists three possible reasons why
Fox Chair Rupert Murdoch would want to get involved with golf:
1) "The old strategy of buying major sports events to buoy a
network"; 2) The potential global audiences and sponsorship
opportunities; and, 3) The "winning TV formula" of "chuck the
chaff, stick to the stars" (USA TODAY, 11/17).  "Only the best,
most popular, most marketable players are targeted for the Fox
venture" (Bob Green, AP/ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 11/17).  The
tournaments, which could be carried on Fox TV, fX cable, and
Murdoch's cable systems in Australia, Europe, Asia and South
America, will attract "sponsors that market products worldwide"
(Mark Asher, WASHINGTON POST, 11/17).
     PLAYER REAX:  Norman and representatives of Fox and
Executive Sports met yesterday with about 20 players who were in
CA to participate in Norman's Franklin Funds Shark Shootout.
Brad Faxon said the purpose of the meeting was to "get a good
feel of what the players are thinking so that it's done the right
way and we don't jeopardize our standing with the U.S. tour."
Arnold Palmer:  "I've said for years that there was going to be a
world tour.  I don't know what approach Greg is taking, but they
need to put it together very, very carefully, with the blessings
of the PGA Tour, the European Tour and all the golf entities.  I
would hate to see anything interfere with the PGA Tour.  It's
been the lifeblood of golf and should continue to be the showcase
of professional golf" (Thomas Bonk, L.A. TIMES, 11/17).  The
World Tour would stage 8-10 events with a limited field of 20-30
golfers, underwritten by $25M from Fox.  Hale Irwin:  "There are
many questions left to be answered.  For example:  Who are the
sponsors other than Fox?" (USA TODAY, 11/17).
     ALL FOR ONE:  Following Finchem's statement that the PGA
Tour would fight the new tour, the American Golf Sponsors also
came out in opposition.  In a statement released yesterday, the
group -- made up of tournament and title sponsors and local
communities -- called the World Tour "antithetical to the spirit
of competition that is provided in our full-field events"
(American Golf Sponsors).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/1994/11/17/Sports-Media/FOXS-FORAY-INTO-GOLF-SEEN-AS-MAJOR-THREAT-TO-PGA-TOUR.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/1994/11/17/Sports-Media/FOXS-FORAY-INTO-GOLF-SEEN-AS-MAJOR-THREAT-TO-PGA-TOUR.aspx

CLOSE