The golf BUSINESS

[jnj37]

A lengthy and fascinating look at the business of golf in today's NY Times. Yes, it focusses on TW, but it really has to do with the future of the tour as a business.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/magazine/28Woods-t.html

jnj37

[Ignatius Reilly]

Re: The golf BUSINESS

It's an interesting take on the Tour's future.

A perfect storm of TV contracts coming up, the global recession, and Tiger's changing marketability.

It's interesting to see that Finchem is pursuing non-traditional sponsors. Not sure if I want to see a casino sponsoring a tournament. Certainly the "Waste Management Open" had a different sound to it than other tourneys.

My guess is that purses will fall, and fairly dramatically. Probably to a level that reflects the general rate of inflation, and discounts the "Tiger effect" that made them rise so quickly in the past 10 or so years.

The question is: How many pros will continue to play for the lower purses?
My guess? All of them!

[northernpro]

Re: The golf BUSINESS

European Tour will become more attractive with appearance fees

[davecanuck416]

Re: The golf BUSINESS

one thing not mentioned in the article is the role that advancing technology has played in the corporatism of the pgatour. more specifically, think about HDTV. HDTV has made watching golf so much more enjoyable. pebble beach isn't just a blurry golf course with a good reputation. it's Pebble Beach California in stunning high definition picture clarity. Augusta isn't just Augusta, now it's Augusta in three dimensions! It's TV tourism. It's golf porn.

and these advancements haven't just made the coverage more enjoyable to watch, it's created entirely new sponsorship opportunities. we can see golf better. but we can also see sponsors better.

i don't need KJ Choi in a commercial to tell me what ball he's playing...cause i probably just watched an ultra slow motion HDTV close-up of his titleist pro v1 spinning beautifully out of a bunker, with an objective expert (say Johnny Miller) commentating in the background "Mannnn, these modern golf balls are good!!"

it's me knowing that Sean O'Hair has "the [Hu]man element" logo on the right side of his collar, and Dow chemical logo on the left side. it's me confirming that i'm right with a simple google image search on the internet, which is a technology medium that was just barely getting off the ground when Tiger entered the scene.

my point is that corporatism on the tour isn't merely driven by Tiger, like the article seems to hint at. he's an incredibly powerful guy, yes. but these technologies are providing incredibly powerful advertising opportunities as well.

[JZGolf]

Re: The golf BUSINESS

one thing not mentioned in the article is the role that advancing technology has played in the corporatism of the pgatour. more specifically, think about HDTV. HDTV has made watching golf so much more enjoyable. pebble beach isn't just a blurry golf course with a good reputation. it's Pebble Beach California in stunning high definition picture clarity. Augusta isn't just Augusta, now it's Augusta in three dimensions! It's TV tourism. It's golf porn.

and these advancements haven't just made the coverage more enjoyable to watch, it's created entirely new sponsorship opportunities. we can see golf better. but we can also see sponsors better.

i don't need KJ Choi in a commercial to tell me what ball he's playing...cause i probably just watched an ultra slow motion HDTV close-up of his titleist pro v1 spinning beautifully out of a bunker, with an objective expert (say Johnny Miller) commentating in the background "Mannnn, these modern golf balls are good!!"

it's me knowing that Sean O'Hair has "the [Hu]man element" logo on the right side of his collar, and Dow chemical logo on the left side. it's me confirming that i'm right with a simple google image search on the internet, which is a technology medium that was just barely getting off the ground when Tiger entered the scene.

my point is that corporatism on the tour isn't merely driven by Tiger, like the article seems to hint at. he's an incredibly powerful guy, yes. but these technologies are providing incredibly powerful advertising opportunities as well.

Well said, DaveCanuck...looking forward to more posts from this intelligent mind...