[ramylson]

Per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (1-27-2009):

U.S. Bank plans to discontinue its title sponsorship of the U.S. Bank Championship golf tournament in Milwaukee after 2009, leaving tournament officials and the PGA Tour scrambling to fill a $1.4 million hole.

Citing poor attendance in recent years and low ratings on the Golf Channel, among other factors, U.S. Bank decided not to exercise the three-year option on its contract, which expires after the 2009 tournament.

Tournament officials now will work with the PGA Tour to try to find a new title sponsor. Given the economic climate it won't be an easy sell, and if they are unsuccessful the event's future could be in jeopardy.

Bill Bertha, president of the Wisconsin market for U.S. Bank, said the bank had spent roughly $10 million since taking over as title sponsor in 2004, including dollars spent on corporate hospitality and entertainment.

A source familiar with the contract said the title sponsorship was worth $1.4 million annually.

"After six years, we came to the conclusion that there probably were better ways to spend our money going forward," Bertha said. "We're not pulling this money from the market. We're going to redeploy it into other events."

The U.S. Bank Championship has been part of the PGA Tour schedule since 1968 and this year is one of 37 regular-season events. The 42nd U.S. Bank Championship is scheduled for July 16-19, at the Brown Deer Park Golf Course.

"The bank has been an extremely good friend of the tournament. I don't want that to go unmentioned," said Paul Knoebel, president of the tournament's board. "We've raised millions of dollars for charity under their sponsorship.

"In light of what's going on in the world, this doesn't surprise me."

The PGA Tour could underwrite the tournament starting in 2010 but probably would not do so for more than a year or two. Tournament director Dan Croak said he was confident another title sponsor would be found.

"Absolutely," Croak said from Phoenix, where he was attending the FBR Open to recruit players. "We're going to begin work immediately to find a sponsor for the 2010 tournament.

"U.S. Bank is still the sponsor in 2009 and we are going to deliver a first-class event for them, while at the same time beginning our search for a new title sponsor. I think there are a lot of positives."

The tournament did not have a title sponsor for its first 36 years and was known as the Greater Milwaukee Open. For a number of years, the late Jane Pettit quietly covered deficits and kept the tournament going.

But over the last decade, as the PGA Tour mandated increases in the size of purses and charitable contributions, a title sponsor became critical for the event's survival. U.S. Bank stepped up and now is in the final year of a second three-year contract.

Waning support, interest
Bertha said he was disappointed with what he characterized as waning corporate and community support for the event. Aurora Health Care, which had been a secondary sponsor, also will "significantly" reduce its financial commitment this year, Croak said.

"We're not blaming anybody," Bertha said. "Other companies didn't see the value of entertaining clients. No revenues were being generated above operating costs, other than what we were subsidizing.

"Nobody cared. A very good analogy is that we threw a multimillion-dollar party for Milwaukee and Wisconsin, in a park with tents, refreshments and entertainment - all the bells and whistles - and nobody showed up.

"It was just apathy out there."

Tournament officials do not release attendance figures, but the galleries were noticeably smaller in 2007 and '08 than they had been in previous years at Brown Deer Park, the host venue since 1994.

One reason is that the PGA Tour shifted the tournament dates in 2007 so that the Milwaukee event was played the same week as the British Open, a major championship televised by ABC.

Presumably, many golf fans stayed home to watch stars such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Wisconsin favorites Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly play in the British Open rather than attend an event at Brown Deer Park that did not attract many "name" players.

Along with the date change, the U.S. Bank Championship was moved from network TV to the Golf Channel.

The tournament's four-round average rating on the Golf Channel was 0.3 in both 2007 and '08. With the cable network in about 82 million homes, a 0.3 rating represented only 246,000 homes.

"The bottom line is nobody watched it on TV," Bertha said. "Nobody from around the Midwest, or for that matter from Wisconsin, came. It was not a big regional or state draw. We weren't seeing people come in from Madison, Green Bay or Racine. Lastly, nobody from Milwaukee showed up."

Bertha said he was dismayed at the turnout for a post-round concert last year, after U.S. Bank spent $25,000 to bring in the BoDeans.

"I bet there were 100 people there," he said.

Bertha said U.S. Bank wanted to inform tournament officials of its decision now rather than wait until after the 2009 event.

"We thought it was the appropriate thing to give the tournament and the PGA Tour advance notice," Bertha said. "It would have been unprofessional of us to wait until the tournament was done. This way, they've got more time to see if they can patch together something."



Link: http://www.jsonline....f/38434204.html

[mbbrewer]

Unfortunately, I think we are going to see this happen to some other tournaments as well.

[mantan]

Being scheduled against the British Open was a death sentence. Weak field and basically zero interest from hardcore or casual golf fans. Why would a sponsor pony up for what is basically a glorified Nationwide event.

Could see other tournaments with bad dates (before and after The Open) etc hurting as well....

Edit - Forgot to add, you can especially expect less support from financial institutions and automakers.....

[InTheHole]

Sign of the times... other "secondary" events will follow suit, I'm sure. These things go in cycles though. When the economy improves in a few years, they'll be paying for the privledge of putting their name on a golf tournament, or other such events.

I'm sure this would have done better if it were not opposite a major, though. The economy aside, it is possible we have tournament saturation.

My wife was asking me the other day if there was a week during the year where there wasn't at least one televised golf tournament. Just the weeks from Christmas to New Years, I guess. Even for hard core golf fans like me, it is a bit much. When they're doubling up on tournaments (and tripling and quadrupling when you throw in Nationwide, Champions, and LPGA tours), there is quite a bit of televised golf.

I love it- but one week does start to flow into the next after awhile.

[TKing]

I would have bailed the first year they put me opposite the Open. No brainer now.

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

mbbrewer, on Jan 27 2009, 01:25 PM, said:

Unfortunately, I think we are going to see this happen to some other tournaments as well.

Yes, this will be the case sadly.

[Tmiller72]

They spent $25,000 on the BoDeans??? They need new people running that tournament. I played the course last summer, it's a nice course. Hope it stays on the schedule, but with a better date.

[InTheHole]

Tmiller72, on Jan 28 2009, 09:20 AM, said:

They spent $25,000 on the BoDeans??? They need new people running that tournament.

I was thinking the same thing... not surprising that they only had 100 people at the show. But I'm a 45 year old headbanger, what do I know... But is that even a band that would appeal to the general golf player/fan (I never heard of them)?

[oldpalchamp]

InTheHole, on Jan 28 2009, 09:07 AM, said:

Tmiller72, on Jan 28 2009, 09:20 AM, said:

They spent $25,000 on the BoDeans??? They need new people running that tournament.

I was thinking the same thing... not surprising that they only had 100 people at the show. But I'm a 45 year old headbanger, what do I know... But is that even a band that would appeal to the general golf player/fan (I never heard of them)?

The BoDeans are from Wisconsin and very popular throughout the state.

[bucky316]

the PGA Tour has treated this tournament like a redheaded step child for many years.... with a better date this tournament would be a huge success because Wisconsin has great golf fans ....look at the PGA at Whistling Straits when the attendance numbers were thru the roof as evidence...

I go to this tournament every year & hope it stays, preferably with a better date

[bunana3]

I go to the US Bank every year and I find myself going into the clubhouse to watch the British Open every time.

They deserve a better date for a tournament that has Greg Norman for a past champion and was Tigers first pro tournament.

[InTheHole]

bunana3, on Jan 28 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

They deserve a better date for a tournament that has Greg Norman for a past champion and was Tigers first pro tournament.

Agreed.

I mentioned it in a previous post, and it is worth exploring a bit... are we at or above saturation with golf tournaments? Yes, there is an "off" season (2 weeks, Christmas to New Years), and yes, there is a "silly" season (golf tournaments none the less). You have an official season that is what, 33 weeks, plus the silly season brings you to like 50 weeks of the year.

Maybe the current economic environment can't support that many tournaments?

You have tournaments for past winners only, tournaments for top 50, tournaments where anyone in the world can qualify, tournaments for players with blue eyes, tournaments for players with different sized feet... etc. And too many players skip too many tournaments to the point where Finchem is begging them to add a few to their agenda.

Maybe it's too much...

(Forgive me golf god, for I have sinned. It has been ten rounds since my last confession. I recently suggested that there was too much golf. It's OK son, now go watch 10 hours of infomercials on the Golf Channel, followed by 5 hours of Golf Central. And don't do it again!)

[bradski]

the question would be. would you spend money to sponsor an event on that date? i would think that US bank if they still wanted to sponsor an event would try and move to one of the others that has lost sponsorship as this is probably one of the worst weeks if no the worst. the person at US bank who ok the date for the tournament should be fired.

[sandy]

Hopefully all the car sponsored events will close their doors. With no company selling any vehicles it doesn't make sense to sponsor golf tournaments. They don't need their name out there as no body is buying anything (foreign or domestic)..

[Tmiller72]

sandy, on Jan 28 2009, 05:13 PM, said:

Hopefully all the car sponsored events will close their doors. With no company selling any vehicles it doesn't make sense to sponsor golf tournaments. They don't need their name out there as no body is buying anything (foreign or domestic)..

I like eggs.

[bseal]

It wouldn't surprise me after next year to see the Mexico event (opposite Match Play), the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open (opposite Bridgestone), the Milwaukee and all the other opposite fields events gone, it's a shame, but not reasonable in this economic climate.

[SwingMan]

The Commissioner has been a bit arrogant about dates and has hurt several tournaments in moving them. This is his issue.