Potential World Tour Takes Aim At PGA Tour With Lucrative Individual And Team Concept

[Holy Moses]

Phil is intrigued https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/28557251/phil-mickelson-intrigued-idea-star-driven-global-tour

 

 

[Darth Putter]

 

Players would be well advised to look into the history of Indycar to see what could happen if they sign up for this nonsense.

 

 

[Holy Moses]

Rory was quoted as saying...

“I certainly wouldn’t want to lose what’s been built in the last 40 or 50 years,” McIlroy said. “Tournaments like this, tournaments like Riviera in a couple weeks’ time, everything that we have gotten to know and love over the years. I’m still quite a traditionalist, so to have that much of an upheaval in the game I don’t think is the right step forward. But I think, as I said, it might be a catalyst for some changes on this tour that can help it grow and move forward and, you know, reward the top players the way they should be, I guess.”https://www.golfdigest.com/story/rory-mcilroy-says-reports-of-a-new-pro-tour-could-be-catalyst-for-some-changes-on-the-pga-tour

He's right, the top players aren't being rewarded fairly for how much money they bring to the Tour. I don't know what the right way to do this would be. If this new World Tour forces CBS to stop taking their viewers for granted and put out a better product, that would be a big positive. I'm extra nervous with the increased rights fees that CBS is going to be paying that it's only going to get worse for the viewer.

 

[Irishman1979]

Good riddance to any player who wants to destroy the Pga Tour by doing this. I’m so disgusted to what the sport of golf has become. Definitely not the sport I fell in love with 28 years ago. Thank God golf is an individual game and I can just go out on a golf course by myself and play the game for what it is. Peace and quiet walking and looking at beautiful animals and the great feeling when I hit a par 5 in two and am putting for an Eagle.

[ProjectX]

Proposing a year round world tour makes and insane amount of sense. Proposing whatever the hell this mess is...

https://media.giphy.com/media/NLbivNFUwhoTm/giphy.gif

[redfirebird08]

Limited fields. That helps the win rate of the really elite players, as shown by Tiger's WGC win percentage compared to his win percentage in regular tour events. The elite guys (Rory, Koepka, etc) will be licking their chops to not have to face 120-150 guys.

[Holy Moses]

No doubt the PGA Tour has become a big business. PGA Tour players get 33% of total revenues, while MLB players get 54%, NBA players get 50%, and NFL players get 48.5%. I think this is what Rory is talking about. They want a bigger piece of the pie.

[redfirebird08]

I would be a little anxious if I was the Tour commissioner. All it would take is a handful of very big names to jump ship and the old Tour pretty much collapses.

[Irishman1979]

Goodbye Pga Tour. I never thought I’d see the day where it would not be around anymore.,

[Holy Moses]

The PGA Tour is about to start getting $300 million more in rights fees per year. They are only paying the players $430 million. The Tour has a lot more money to give to the players to keep them from leaving. The World Tour just said they don't think PGA Tour players will lose their retirement plan if they leave the PGA Tour, but that's going to be a huge bone of contention.

[grm24]

CBS isn't the only network paying increased fees to the PGA Tour in the future. NBC/Golf Channel will be paying more as well. They both need to step us their telecasts big time. As they have for years. The important thing to remember is that if this proposed new tour doesn't lock down all of the current biggest names it won't succeed.

There is one name in professional golf that continually moves the needle, man I hate that phrase, on television, social media, blogs, etc Heading into year 24 that's TW. Golf fans need to be cognizant that in spite of the last couple seasons of decent to good health Tiger is still an oft injured 44 year old that professional golf keeps hanging on for big money/coverage. In spite of his next swing possibly being his last. Hyperbole? Possibly. It's closer to the truth that some may believe.

[redfirebird08]

 

And how do you give that money to the big stars, since they are the group that this World Tour is wanting to recruit?

I guess you increase the heck out of the FedEx Cup. Make the bonus for winning some kind of absurd number like $50M. Increase the prize money on the PLAYERS Championship to something absurd like $5M for the winner. Increase the winning share on the FedEx playoff events to around $5M each as well. You can't just give the money to the entire tour and spread it across 50 events. There are a ton of events that the big names don't ever play and they couldn't care less if the prize money increases for those tournaments.

[grm24]

With all the current limited field events in professional golf why aren't the current top players dominating those limited field events?

[Holy Moses]

The Tour could increase each tournament's purse by 25% and not even blink to get guys from leaving. But it's the sponsor's responsibility to provide purse money, right? Imagine a company like Sentry or Schwab that just put big money into long-term tournament agreements and they would be hung out to dry if the top players left? I'd imagine they'd be OK with funding larger purses if they had to.

This is a total guess, but maybe the Tour knew this World Tour was really trying to get things going, so the Tour wanted to get a head start on their new TV deals to entice the players with significantly larger purses to keep them from leaving. As others have said, the World Tour has some huge hurdles to get over: will their tournaments get OWGR points so that the top players can still play in the majors and if a player leaves the Tour to join this other World Tour, will their retirement be taken from them. For the top players to switch, both of thee would have to be in the World Tour's favor.

[Sean2]

Or the XFL, :-)

[Holy Moses]

The potential to earn $50 million a year if you win it all is enticing. We all know that the temptation for the incredibly rich to get incredibly richer is something they normally can't pass up. The average player on this World Tour would earn $5 million a year in 24th place. Last year's 24th place finisher on the PGA Tour earned $3.5 million. An extra $1.5 million isn't worth the risk to me at this point.

[bscinstnct]

Sure, Rory, BK, and JT gonna leave the PGA tour.

 

End up like,

 

[Zlax45]

Nothing is stopping golf from doing a Tennis type tour though around the world.

[OldTomMorris]

Rory has basically pooh poohed the idea.https://www.golfchannel.com/news/rory-mcilroy-intrigued-ideas-not-sold-potential-alternative-tour

[Singapore Joe]

Don't have a strong opinion in any which way but the million dollar question is whether the new tour would be able to reinvent the format and the TV coverage to attract viewers that wouldn't watch current golf. Redo the dress codes, fix the pace of play, tweak event formats, etc. and find a way to make TV coverage dynamic [maybe lots of driveable Par4's, special pay for eagles on some crazy high risk holes, modified Stableford scoring instead of stroke play, par6 holes which may be just reachable on two, etc.] and it is possible that the new tour could attract viewers who find traditional golf about as exciting as watching paint dry. Traditionalists would roll in their graves but they'd still have the 'real' Tour.

Edit: typos. Lots of typos.

[redfirebird08]

Dustin Johnson has done a lot better in WGC events than regular events or majors.

[NJpatbee]

I don't see it flying but hey, money talks so it is not impossible.

[CasualLie]

The idea seems like taking everything that is wrong with golf and making it worse. Hopefully it does get off the ground and implodes.

Funny thing is, just how many elite and interesting players are there to make one of these events so compelling when setup as a limited field tournament? Not even everyone in the top 10 moves the needle. Take it to the top 20 and the only thing interesting is watching good shots which oh by the way, lots of those to see too on the PGA Tour.

Not being privvy to the so called "negotiations" I can't really comment on the viability of the idea other than to say it's an uphill battle. If the issue with the players is more money should go to the talent, that seems to be easily addressed. The PGA Tour just has to contribute more to the made cuts pot and FedEx Cup plan and call it a day. The Tour can even get more creative and instead of putting $4800 into the players account for a cut made, they could bump that up at a higher rate based on getting a top 20 or top 10, or...

BTW, none of the players have to worry about what would happen to their retirement plan; it's not a retirement plan like many of you are thinking. Players get "deferred compensation" for each cut made and more from the FedEx Cup series. The money is invested in one of many funds selected by the player and managed by Schwab. Players can start taking the money from the cuts made at age 50 and FedEx Cup winnings at age 45.

[Ole3wiggle]

hahahha very well said!

[rangersgoalie]

If this has any true legs, the PGA Tour will soon announce a significant increase in

one or a combo of

a) purses

b) pension contributions

c) limited field events (no cuts)

 

The rationale will be increased revenues due to the economy and new programs and as a non-profit, distributions must be made

They always find funds when a Threat emerges......Player's union, Norman's World Tour, and assorted other challengers to the status quo

[Hawkeye77]

Where is the financial analysis to back up the Tour increasing purses by 25% at each tournament? And sponsors with an increase of 25% in purses gun to their heads just say "okay"? And that is sustainable? And at whose expense?

Don't see any of that as quite that obvious.

Everybody is always good at spending other folks money.

 

[Hawkeye77]

But in the same breath was fine with the situation being leveraged to pay himself and other elite players. Thoughtful, but reading it carefully --- he wants more for Rory. Nothing wrong with that, but not as selfless as he first makes it out to be.

 

[Hawkeye77]

Truer words . . . .

[Holy Moses]

The Tour is nearly doubling their TV rights. They will have a lot more cash very soon. Look at what happened to the Byron Nelson when the players started leaving. Imagine a good portion of the top players leaving all the events. Suddenly, more money comes available. This is a worse-case scenario of course, but should this World Tour take shape, the PGA Tour would have to respond this way. If players would leave the PGA Tour for money from the Saudi government, I can see them leaving the PGA Tour if they could instantly double or triple their winnings. Why can all the other major pro sports leagues in the US pay 50% of earnings to the players, while the PGA Tour pays 33%?

[Hawkeye77]

Other leagues is completely apples to oranges, that’s just armchair finance. Irrelevant. TV rights - you are assuming it’s that simple, which it probably isn’t. Guessing the Tour has a fairly comprehensive budget and has an idea what the money is needed for and where its expenses from all angles will be coming from in the coming years. Not a magic windfall.

Multi-million $ budgets aren’t easy, believe me, and the Tour? Hundreds of millions.