Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Jensen Discusses Woods Comeback
I appeared on FOX Chicago's "Good Day Chicago" today to discuss Tiger Woods' comeback to golf.
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Unintended Consequences of the Golf Industry's Downturn
In The New York Times, Jonathan Mahler recently provided a comprehensive overview of the Tiger Woods saga and its effect on the golf industry, entitled “The Tiger Bubble.”
Mahler theorizes that, like the internet bubble or the housing bubble, the golf industry had become susceptible to a fall based on a variety of economic, social and societal issues.
Whether you agree with Mahler’s premise or not, one thing’s for certain: The recession has impacted the sport of golf and specifically the PGA TOUR harder than other sports.
For example, two of golf’s biggest supporters were automobile manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler. At one time Chrysler sponsored four different PGA TOUR stops, including the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, the Chrysler Championship, the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro and the Chrysler Classic of Tucson. Buick owned title sponsorships of the Buick Open, the Buick Invitational, the Buick Classic and the Buick Championship.
Both went bankrupt, and GM has reportedly reduced its sponsorship spending by 60 percent.
General Motors’ outgoing Vice Chairman Bob Lutz even kicked the golf industry and Woods when they were down, stating that he didn’t think that the brand’s relationship with Woods sold any cars.
“I don't think so,” said Lutz. “He wasn’t a spokesman. You would just see him in the ads. Maybe we didn’t have him say the right things at the time, either,’ which, he added, would have been “our fault.”
Never mind that Buick was satisfied enough with their partnership with Woods that they maintained it for eight years.
Then there are financial services companies such as Wachovia (now owned and in the process of being re-branded by Wells Fargo) that went so far as to take their name off of their namesake tournament. The Wachovia Championship, once honored as the best tournament stop on the PGA TOUR by golfers, is now known as the Quail Hollow Championship, though Wachovia is still paying for the title sponsorship.
While manufacturers scaled back, banks unbranded, members of Congress railed against the largess of brands sponsoring golf tournaments and the Woods saga unfurled, what has been lost in the shuffle are some of the real losers in the pullback in sponsorship spending in the golf industry.
When events such as Buick Open in Michigan or the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee fail, it is the local vendors, suppliers, food service professionals and other hourly workers who lose out on a much-needed source of income during trying times.
Local charities and non-profit organizations also suffer.
In his article, Mahler touches on a little-known fact about the PGA TOUR, that it is a non-profit organization.
In contrast to other sports leagues such as the National Football league (which brought in more than $8 billion in revenue last year) and Major League Baseball (around $6 billion in revenue annually), all of the PGA TOUR’s profits go to charity, which totaled around $108 million last year.
Each of the PGA TOUR’s events support various charities, causes and non-profit foundations, many of them in the tournament’s local market.
It is a virtual certainty that the monies distributed from the PGA TOUR to various charities will be less in 2010, due to the reduction in corporate support for PGA TOUR events.
While it remains to be seen whether Woods’ return to golf this week will help reverse some of these trends, it is important to not lose sight of some of the unintended consequences of the industry's downturn, especially during what are already challenging times.
Below is a link to Mahler’s article:
The Tiger Bubble
Mahler theorizes that, like the internet bubble or the housing bubble, the golf industry had become susceptible to a fall based on a variety of economic, social and societal issues.
Whether you agree with Mahler’s premise or not, one thing’s for certain: The recession has impacted the sport of golf and specifically the PGA TOUR harder than other sports.
For example, two of golf’s biggest supporters were automobile manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler. At one time Chrysler sponsored four different PGA TOUR stops, including the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, the Chrysler Championship, the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro and the Chrysler Classic of Tucson. Buick owned title sponsorships of the Buick Open, the Buick Invitational, the Buick Classic and the Buick Championship.
Both went bankrupt, and GM has reportedly reduced its sponsorship spending by 60 percent.
General Motors’ outgoing Vice Chairman Bob Lutz even kicked the golf industry and Woods when they were down, stating that he didn’t think that the brand’s relationship with Woods sold any cars.
“I don't think so,” said Lutz. “He wasn’t a spokesman. You would just see him in the ads. Maybe we didn’t have him say the right things at the time, either,’ which, he added, would have been “our fault.”
Never mind that Buick was satisfied enough with their partnership with Woods that they maintained it for eight years.
Then there are financial services companies such as Wachovia (now owned and in the process of being re-branded by Wells Fargo) that went so far as to take their name off of their namesake tournament. The Wachovia Championship, once honored as the best tournament stop on the PGA TOUR by golfers, is now known as the Quail Hollow Championship, though Wachovia is still paying for the title sponsorship.
While manufacturers scaled back, banks unbranded, members of Congress railed against the largess of brands sponsoring golf tournaments and the Woods saga unfurled, what has been lost in the shuffle are some of the real losers in the pullback in sponsorship spending in the golf industry.
Local charities and non-profit organizations also suffer.
In his article, Mahler touches on a little-known fact about the PGA TOUR, that it is a non-profit organization.
In contrast to other sports leagues such as the National Football league (which brought in more than $8 billion in revenue last year) and Major League Baseball (around $6 billion in revenue annually), all of the PGA TOUR’s profits go to charity, which totaled around $108 million last year.
Each of the PGA TOUR’s events support various charities, causes and non-profit foundations, many of them in the tournament’s local market.
It is a virtual certainty that the monies distributed from the PGA TOUR to various charities will be less in 2010, due to the reduction in corporate support for PGA TOUR events.
While it remains to be seen whether Woods’ return to golf this week will help reverse some of these trends, it is important to not lose sight of some of the unintended consequences of the industry's downturn, especially during what are already challenging times.
Below is a link to Mahler’s article:
The Tiger Bubble
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