The Ladies First Celebrity Golf Classic doesn’t have a title sponsor, but that doesn’t mean the second-year event is struggling to haul in corporate dollars.
Nine companies have signed on as $50,000 supporting sponsors, with seven others serving as $7,200 local sponsors. The list includes three supporting sponsors from the inaugural tournament in December 2004: Limelight Solutions, Starbucks and Tiffany & Co. Michelob Ultra also returns as a local sponsor.
“We’re definitely doing well,” said Jen Rottenberg, senior vice president of business development for Los Angeles-based CC&C Management Group, which is producing and marketing the tournament. “We’ve made leaps and bounds beyond the first event.”
The tournament, hosted by the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, is scheduled for April 21-23 at San Diego’s Rancho Bernardo Inn. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Women’s Sports Foundation’s GoGirlGo! Initiative, a program designed to encourage school-age girls to participate in regular physical activities.
The tournament has hired Raycom Sports to produce a one-hour syndicated show with a guaranteed 75 percent national household clearance, meaning 75 percent of available television households will have access to the program via local network affiliates. Rottenberg said Raycom, which already has secured 45 percent clearance for the show, will edit the program next month and air it in June with weekend midday broadcasts.
A rate card distributed by the tournament listed title sponsorship for $150,000. Rottenberg, though, said the event isn’t placing a high priority on securing a signature sponsor, and instead has focused on filling specific categories such as landing an automotive company (Keyes European Mercedes-Benz of Van Nuys, Calif.) and financial services company (Wells Fargo Private Client Services).
“We didn’t include it in the budget,” Rottenberg said of getting a title sponsor. “We just assumed it would take a few years to get the thing going before we would actually get a title sponsor.”
Rottenberg said no date has been set for the 2007 tournament but that it will be an annual event, likely keeping a mid-to-late April date. Actress Shannon Doherty, country singer Shelby Lynne, soccer player Brandi Chastain and Olympic softball star Lisa Fernandez are among the celebrities who have committed to this year’s event.
