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Ryder Cup spectators will be seeing red and corporate sponsor signage at Hazeltine.
Photo by: PGA OF AMERICA
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This year’s Ryder Cup will look far different from when it was last played in the U.S. as corporate branding for the first time will blanket the event held at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.
PGA of America officials are putting the finishing touches on the rebranding efforts that will give the five Ryder Cup sponsors unprecedented exposure compared with 2012 when the biennial event was played at Medinah Country Club near Chicago with no on-course corporate branding.
The logos of the five Ryder Cup sponsors — Samsung, Mercedes-Benz, Omega, Standard Life Investments and the newest partner signed just last month, Constellation — will adorn the course on hole signage, video boards, entrances and tee-box signage. In addition, each Ryder Cup sponsor will have their own branding at specific hole locations that will rotate throughout the week.
In the past, the PGA of America, which runs the Ryder Cup when it’s played in the U.S., has had no on-course corporate branding for the event. But with PGA of America partners paying at least seven figures annually for top-level deals that include the Ryder Cup, the organization has adopted a different strategy by allowing on-course exposure for its biggest sponsors.
“You are going to see the five partners all over the course,” said Luke Reissman, senior director of partnership development for the PGA of America. “This is a major step forward for us. It is a response to what the partners are asking for. They see well-done signage at other events such as in tennis at the U.S. Open and at Wimbledon. It’s something that the market has been asking for and it is time.”
Some 250,000 fans are expected to attend this week’s competition, and the Hazeltine course will have another new look as the PGA of America looks to create a “home-field advantage” for the U.S. team, which hasn’t won the Ryder Cup since 2008.
“The biggest change on-site is that the entire environment is going to be red and you’ll know on-site that you are at the home of the Ryder Cup,” Reissman said.
Three of the partners — Omega, Samsung and Mercedes-Benz — also will have product tents on the course as they did at the 2012 Ryder Cup. Constellation and Standard Life will not have product tents, but both will have a major hospitality presence at Hazeltine.
There also will be an increase in merchandising efforts surrounding the Ryder Cup with the introduction in August of official U.S. team uniform inventory that is expected to drive a 20 percent increase in Ryder Cup sales this year compared to 2012. It’s the first time that authentic Ryder Cup team uniforms have been sold.
In addition, the Ryder Cup tent at Hazeltine is 49,000 square feet compared with 42,000 square feet at Medinah in 2012 as the PGA of America sells products from some 40 licensees.
A U.S. Ryder Cup win also could fuel sales, though PGA of America executives would not disclose specific revenue projections.
“The Ryder Cup only happens in the U.S. once every four years,” said Mike Quirk, senior director of merchandising and licensing for the PGA of America. “Hopefully, we pull out a victory and then it goes from a liquidation to riding a victory wave that we haven’t had since 2008.”
