Plenty of Tour Pain Ahead

Filed in archive Golf Business on December 12, 2008

I've said it once and I'll say it again: 2009 and beyond will be very difficult years for professional golf tours around the world.

I will offer this prediction: the Asian tours will fare better than either the PGA or European PGA Tours and because of that, the LPGA, which plays a number of events in Asia, will weather the depression better than the others.

Did I say "depression"? If you think it's otherwise, take a closer look around. As I write this, the US Senate has turned thumbs-down to bailing out the Big Three automakers in Detroit.

At least one of them, if not two, will now file for bankruptcy.

At no time in the past 50 years have we seen the kind of economic contraction that we're witnessing right now. And this is just the beginning.

But back to the tours. Reuters International recently held a media industry summit at which many of the leading sports bodies warned of dark days ahead.

NASCAR, the NFL, major league baseball and, yes, the PGA Tour, all said it was going to be very difficult.

Tim Finchem said, "what we're seeing now is a pullback on spending by corporations".

Indeed.

He also said the PGA is pursuing non-traditional sponsors like energy companies, environmental corporations and retailers.

Retailers? Forget that one. Environmental companies don't have the money to spend on golf - unless you call the Monsantos of the world "environmental" - and energy companies will suffer next year on declining oil prices.

Plus, any that are even mildly interested will take a long, hard look at how golf fits into very tight marketing budgets.

Let's take a look at the first four or five tournaments on the PGA sked beginning in several short weeks' time: the Mercedes championship, the Sony Open, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, the FBR Open and the Buick Invitational.

Tournaments sponsored by companies that are bankrupt, severely cutting staff (Sony will cut 5 thousand jobs globally) or barely breathing.

The list of struggling sponsors goes on and on but you get the idea.

We haven't even seen the start of the pain on tour yet. I predict fields will shrink, especially for tournaments a long way from players' home bases, and that means the big names won't be turning up nearly as much. Mid-ranked players and below will also pick their tournaments to reduce travel costs.

Fan support will begin to wither and more and more weekly tour stops will shrivel and die.

The only events that will stay healthy in 2009 will be the majors.

As for the FedEx Cup, well, I'll be they're re-writing that script as we speak...