Finchem's Pipe Dream

Filed in archive Golf Business on November 22, 2007

Tim Finchem has reacted to the European Tour's announcement of its own version of the FedEx Cup.

Finchem says the newly minted Dubai World Championship, with its purse of 10 million dollars is "great for professional golf globally" because "it reduces the clamor that, because purses on the pga tour are high, somehow the quality of golf is suffering."

It doesn't reduce the clamor at all. It intensifies it because it demonstrates exactly where the game is going today.
Money rules the kingdom of professional golf. What Finchem and his counterpart on the European Tour, George O'Grady, fail to grasp is that the money itself is no longer propelling today's professional golfer.

The PGA Commish is excited by the new golf tournament on the competition's schedule because it moves his goal one step closer. And what's his goal for golf?

"...slowly but surely professional golf is making strides to keep up with or gain on team sports", he said yesterday.

There is the plot line in the story. Finchem wants professional golfers, primarily on his tour of course, to be able to ultimately earn what baseball players, basketball players, hockey players or football players make.

Check out some team player salaries and tell me that is possible in a non-team sport like golf. Especially when that money Finchem is after comes from single corporate tournament sponsors. Keep in mind that TV revenues go to the Tour, not the players.

What happens when the next global economic downturn (perhaps not that far off) occurs? What is the first thing that a corporation cuts back? Marketing, advertising and corporate sponsorships. There is, therefore, an upper limit to tournament purses, a ceiling which will prevent them from going beyond a certain height.

A sports team can ride out economic downturns because of salaries locked-in for several years and because of the fact that team owners are usually wealthy businessmen who can sustain some losses.

Finchem's hoped-for monetary levels are a pipe dream. They'll never happen. Not even rapidly rising endorsement contracts for golfers could close the gap with sports teams.

I wonder what golf fans think of his vision for the future. What do you think of the European Tour's vision, for that matter?

Let me know.