LPGA Killing Your Neighbours

Hi guys,

What is the LPGA doing? Here’s its hit list:

● Kapalua
● Corning
● Shoprite
● ADT (some of these are multiple kills)
● Ginn (a two bagger)
● SBS (LPGA hasn’t filed its guilty plea yet)

Here’s whose next:

● Wegmans Rochester
● Jamie Farr Toledo
● CN Canadian Open (a big money event still piked from being demoted as a major).

Haven’t seen this much collateral damage since the latest bombing in Baghdad. The LPGA has about 1/3 of its tournaments up for renewal this year and it is doubtful all the local sponsors can or will write a renewal cheque for next year and beyond. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Tour infuriated the Wegmans Rochester folks by choosing to negotiate the tournament’s renewal during tournament week when the LPGA had previously declined to seriously engage in negotiations.

While the landscape for this pro sport product has become more barren, the Commish has offloaded more costs on the tournaments such as increased hosting/rights fees and scoreboard fees (more than $68,000/tournament). And , as golf fans, we all know that the LPGA has dropped off the TV radar. It is easier to find the LPGA on Youtube than on any major network. The Golf Channel barely even covers it on its news/features programming.

The LPGA ditched longtime TV partner SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) which carried 30 LPGA tournaments /year (hell, I am moving to Korea!) in favor of J Golf. If you do the math, the Tour will get less money next year from this deal.

The local sponsors/communities own their own tournaments and this year will pony up $50 million for purses and an additional $100 million to stage their tournaments. Under her short watch, Commissioner Bivens has presided over more demises than any sport commissioner in any sport market ever. These are not just lost venues in communities like Corning, Williamsburg, Atlantic City and Toledo. They represent major losses for local area charities who have benefited enormously from the their LPGA tournaments over the years (Toledo, for example, has received $6.2 million from the Jamie Farr).

And who can forget the debacle surrounding the “Speak and Learn English” directive put out last year from the LPGA braintrust. A policy aimed at the Asian players who have been unfairly singled out as the reason the LPGA is in decline.

While the tour struggles, over 21% of its staff, including 7 high ranking officers, have packed it in. This number does not include the canning of senior executive,  19 year veteran Barb Trammell, by the Commish. Trammell is subject to a gag order and has never given her side of the story. All we have is Biven’s smarmy press release marking Trammell’s departure. Trammell was well respected and admired by the local LPGA tournament officials who were clearly upset at her dismissal.

I won’t even go into the departure of Deb Richard, former player and executive member of the Tour, who has been the tour’s biggest booster for years. You have got to have a special talent to push Deb over the edge!

What do you do when your tour has fewer playing dates than a minor girls soccer team? Alienates the press both here and in Korea, Japan and China. Has less TV exposure than “the Big Break Prince Edward Island”. Subjects their best and most beloved player, Annika Sorenstam, to a drug test at the conclusion of her farewell tournament (Annika is still pissed off royally at that one). And attempts to mute player, caddy and staff criticisms by having the Commish’s husband (aka the snoop of the year) circulate the grounds to report any dissension to the Captain on the bridge. Even major winners are bristling at the intrusions and air of distrust.

Hey LPGA, you got along without her before you met her, you can get along without her now. Admit you made a mistake. Cut your losses before all your staff end up working for the NHL, the NBA and MLB. Its not the recession that’s your problem,its Bivenomics. You have a chemical spill problem. Its not a benign spill, its toxic!

I love the LPGA but I shouldn’t have to consult Google Earth to find out where (or if) you are playing this week.