Financial Crunch Could Hurt Pro Golf Tours
American Money Dilemma Will Eat Away at Sponsorships, Prize Money
Nov 25, 2008
WIth GM calling it quits on their $7 million dollar deal after nine years, Tiger is certainly going to miss the spare change in his pocket. But what does this mean for the others on the PGA Tour, and the LPGA Tour, who don't make bundles of cash on endorsement deals like Tiger, having instead to live off their talents on the course?
Less Prize Money
The first thing to go on the tours is going to be the prize money. In fact, that's already happening on the ladies' tour, where commissioner Carolyn Vivens announced there will be three fewer tournaments and $5 million less in prize money for the female players in 2009.
"It's no secret that the road ahead, particularly 2009, is going to test our mettle," she said in a published report widely reported by news organizations.
No Word on PGA
As of yet there's been no word from the PGA about what their plans are for the upcoming season, and those beyond if the worldwide money issues continue to blossom.
While Woods has been hit, hard, in the pocketbook t isn't like the 14-time major champion is necessarily going to miss the money. But the cost cutting measure by GM is a sign of the times and it is going to, in another way, affect every player on the top tour. Just ask PGA vet Kevin Sutherland.
Taking Things for Granted
"It's easy to take this for granted," he said on the Golf Channel website in relation to the freebies the pros receive for teeing it up at tournaments. "You show up, you get your car. You bring in your dry cleaning, they do it for you. Some of this stuff is over the top, and you get spoiled over time."
That's perhaps what's happened to the world's best in the game. They've gotten used to top prize money of over $1M in lesser tournaments. They've gotten used to big guarantees for just showing up and teeing it up, regardless of how they fare in competition.
Now all that may disappear and make the pro golf tours different worlds in the future.
Maybe Some Good Will Come
Maybe, however, all this economic doom and gloom may in fact be a good thing, in the long run, for the PGA Tour at least. What it might do is make the top players show up at more events because they 'need' the money they earn from playing rather than making that money from sideline activities.
At the same time, with bigger names possibly showing up more often and thus more fans showing up and buying tickets to watch them, sponsors can bolster prize money through that, rather than taking it from sources now that are drying up. Who knows? Those said tickets might even become affordable because of the need for fans to come and watch.
In this way Joe Public and family can actually see the players they want to on a more constant basis.
So while you never like to see anyone's paycheck cut, perhaps this is one time that scaling back won't be such a bad thing.
