This month’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits is poised for an increase in attendance over last year’s event and a new merchandise sales record while also debuting new fan-experience technologies.
By the time golfers tee it up at this year’s final major, Aug. 13-16, the PGA of America expects at least 200,000 tickets to be sold, surpassing last year’s mark of 170,000 for the 2014 event at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. Organizers expect those fans will spend a record amount of money inside the 36,000-square-foot merchandise tent on the grounds of the Whistling Straits course in Kohler, Wis. At last year’s event, the average spend on merchandise was a record $96 per person.
“We will equal or better last year,” said Kevin Ring, chief revenue officer of the PGA of America. “Golf fans buy. We are optimistic based on our attendance numbers.”
 |
The PGA Championship will feature a 36,000-square-foot merchandise tent at Whistling Straits this year.
Photo by: PGA OF AMERICA
|
All of the corporate hospitality inventory is expected to be sold by when the tournament begins, including 30 chalets ranging in price from $165,000 to $270,000, 30 Champions Club tables that cost $35,000, and 30 Gene Sarazen Suites that cost $99,000 each.
“We will have over 100 companies represented,” Ring said. He declined to provide total revenue projections for the tournament.
Hospitality sales efforts this year were helped with an incentive tied to the 2020 Ryder Cup, which also will be played at Whistling Straits. Companies that bought hospitality for this year’s PGA Championship also gained right of first refusal to buy hospitality for the Ryder Cup. In addition, all hospitality areas will be located on the course at this year’s tournament, unlike in 2010, when the event last came to Whistling Straits and some of the hospitality sites were located outside the course’s entrance.
Only the PGA of America’s patron-level partners are allowed to have on-course activation, and those companies — Mercedes-Benz, Samsung and Omega — will each have branded tents open to spectators.
Mercedes-Benz will have a product tent and will offer a hole-in-one contest near the first hole on the course at which fans can win a new car. A free loyalty parking lot will be available to fans driving Mercedes-Benz cars to the tournament, as well.
Samsung will have a product demonstration tent, too, while Omega, also a TOP-level Olympics sponsor, will feature the 2016 Olympics as part of its on-course activation. Golf returns to the Olympics next year in Rio.
As for technology, this year’s tournament will feature new elements both on-site and for television, as the PGA of America looks to enhance the fan experience. There will be expanded Wi-Fi areas on the course, and iBeacons will for the first time in the event’s history be installed on the standards carried for each group of golfers, allowing fans to more closely track the action on the course through the PGA Championship smartphone app.
Tournament broadcasters CBS and TNT for the first time will use drone cameras during their live coverage of the event. Eight holes at Whistling Straits run along Lake Michigan, allowing drones to fly over an unpopulated area.
Drone camera technology to date has been used by the networks for pre-event hole flyovers — with that coverage then airing during the live broadcasts — but the networks now are looking to provide viewers a new look.
“We have been using drones for the past four years for ‘beauty shots,’ but not during live action,” said Harold Bryant, executive producer and senior vice president of CBS Sports.
Said Turner Sports producer Matt Kane, “We’ve never used drones during [live golf] competition. It will give us unique perspective on how the course looks.”
