2020 LPGA Season Odds and Ends

[18majors]

It's getting uglier and uglier out there

"[Herald Economic Sports Team = Reporter Nam Hwa-young] Korean athletes such as Lee Bo-mi (32), Shin Ji-ae (32), and Kim Ha-neul (32) are very embarrassed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's surprise announcement. have."

일본의 한국인 입국 규제에 JLPGA 선수들 불똥

 

[TerpFangolfer]

I'm supposed to be headed to San Diego in late March...plan to catch 1 round of the Kia. Hopefully that won't be affected either.

[Newinup]

at this rate, and with the 2nd JLPGA event being cancelled altogether (my google translate doesn't probably work well but that seems to be the gist i get from this article), will there still be a JLPGA event until the Olympics? (the korean players need not fret it seems if there's no JLPGA events anyway)

[18majors]

The scary thing is that we haven't seen the worst of it yet!

[Stooch]

They just cancelled the Indian Wells tennis tournament in California, that's a very big event that just got canned. I suspect the Kia and ANA and all other Cali events are on the chopping block for the LPGA potentially.

[Titleist_PT23]

Do you think they could go the "play with no fans" route? They need to have some tournaments. Going to be very strange if all four CA events are cancelled.

Who even wants to fly to Hawaii right now to play four rounds? I'm sure people will play, especially if other events get cancelled but kind of a disaster as well. Maybe the tour will charter a plane there (would work better if left right from ANA I guess).

[18majors]

@agolf1
One tournament at a time these days; at least Founders Cup is still on as of Monday March 9.

https://twitter.com/LPGAMedia/status/1237015286546489345

[Stooch]

I know the NBA sent out a memo saying be prepared to play in empty arenas but TV revenue drives the league. I'm not sure Golf Channel would justify it with the LPGA rating and I also don't know who gets the gate for LPGA events, if it the courses themselves not sure they find it worth it. As Covid-19 continues to break out, this could really be a lost season for the LPGA. How are Korea and Japan handling their tours right now, they both have fairly bad outs?

[18majors]

 

JLPGA cancelled the first two events; no announcements yet on the next one scheduled for March 20.

KLPGA's first tournament is scheduled for April 9; there haven' been any announcements yet.

 

[18majors]

This sounds good!

"The LPGA will benefit from the new agreements, as well. The PGA Tour, negotiating on behalf of the LPGA, secured an extension of the LPGA/Golf Channel partnership through 2030, with programming set to include a season preview, season review and a show on the Road to the CME Group Tour Championship, the tour’s season-ending event. Golf Channel also will provide programming for the Symetra Tour each year.

In addition, LPGA commissioner Michael Whan said at least 10-plus tournaments will be broadcast each year on CBS and NBC, including the Solheim Cup. The tour has aired from four to six events on network TV."

PGA Tour's new long-term media rights deal includes ESPN+ streaming component

[Argonne69]

No word on streaming though. Grrrr.

[18majors]

I have been paying attention to players who're born in Year 2000 and later; specifically:

 

Ayean Cho (2000); Korea, KLPGA

Yuka Yasuda (2000); Japan, JLPGA

Yalimi Noh (2001); USA, LPGA

Yae Eun Hong (2002); Korea, Symetra Tour

Atthaya Thitikul (2003); Thailand, LET

Five players who're on five different tours.

 

Ayean is the oldest, she's won twice at KLPGA in 2019, her rookie season. She's #31 on Rolex Ranking.

Atthaya is the youngest, but she's already a two time winner at LET.

Coincidentally, we'll see three of them at Founders Cup. Yealimi for sure, but also Ayean who's sponsored by Volvik and Yae Eun who has registered for Monday Qualifier.

 

[Golf Dino]

I knew either @18majors or @Argonne69 would beat me to the news on the TV deal that the LPGA secured with the help of the PGA Tour.@Stooch -- As for gate receipts, they usually belong to the tournament organizers. They help offset the costs of the tournament and the contributions to charity (as does the Pro-Am events).
As for streaming services, there was a small tidbit from Whan that the LPGA has retained and is asserting their digital content rights with this new deal. He did not specifically state it, but they were giving the impression that there are to be improvements on that front -- so we will have to wait and see.
As long as I can remember, back to the poor days before Whan at least, I have not seen such a turbulent start to the LPGA season. Let's hope that this won't continue, but who knows? The Japan Olympic Committee has stated elsewhere that they will be meeting with WHO officials to discuss precautions about the summer games due to start in a few months time. It was also hinted at the possibility of a cancellation or postponement.

[grm24]

The 21st century began on 1/1/2001.

[18majors]

 

Thanks for the correction.

[18majors]

For what's worth

"“The LPGA Tour continues to closely monitor all information related to the coronavirus in partnership with our security and medical teams, the (Centers for Disease Control) and the (World Health Organization),” the women’s tour said in a statement to The Desert Sun on Monday. “At this time, there are no plans to cancel any upcoming LPGA Tour events."

With eye on coronavirus, ANA Inspiration still set for Rancho Mirage next month

 

[18majors]

Anna is leading a men's tournament!

 

[Titleist_PT23]

I'm not sure what I think about these pros playing "minor league" events. It's like if Lebron and AD went down to the local YMCA on their off day and beat up on some guys in 2 on 2. Not sure it's a fair fight.

WHO = World Hindsight Organization.

[18majors]

 

Anna leading is better news than Anna missing the cut.

It's discouraging to read Pernilla Lindberg missing cut in New Zealand.

LPGA's Pernilla Lindberg misses cut in men's New Zealand Open

 

 

 

[18majors]

Georgia Hall and Charley Hull are skipping Founders Cup next week in favor of LET's event in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi event carries a purse of US$1,000,000, well above the LET average of around $300,000.

Tournament - Ladies European Tour

[18majors]

Surely, some of these will be trickling down to LPGA!

I dread the day The Players offers a ridiculous purse that no majors can match!

"The purse for the Players jumped to $15 million this year, with the winner awarded $2.7 million on Sunday, and he predicted that when the new TV riches kick in, the purse of the Players would reach $25 million. The FedEx Cup, which has doubled from a season-long pot at the end of the rainbow of $35 million to $60 million as of last season (plus $10 million for the Wyndham Rewards Top 10), also will receive a turbo-charge.

“Perhaps $100 million or more,” Monahan said. “That’s not a commitment, but that’s, generally speaking, the kind of growth that I expect for us to see for our athletes.”

State of the PGA Tour is strong, as evidenced by growing purses and expanded coverage

 

 

[18majors]

Jin Young Ko follows Sung Hyun Park to sign a main sponsor contract with a Philipino company

"However, in the industry, it is speculated that the contract of Ko Jin-young was likely to have been concluded, similar to what was estimated at about 7 billion won for 2 years in the case of the Park Seong-hyun contract."

고진영, 박성현에 이어 필리핀 기업과 메인 스폰서 계약

[Lobby]

I just feel so blasted sad at how Corona virus is affecting the lady golfers. I'm hoping things settle down on the LPGA this year and tournaments continue to happen.

 

I'm planning on attending the US Women's Open in Houston this year. I pray it isn't cancelled.

[Titleist_PT23]

I'm all for free markets and players making whatever they can. But it amazes me how much faster sports/entertainment dollars continue to increase vs the general economy. People complain about various everyday costs going up but seeing our favorite player hit or throw a ball is apparently a necessity.

[18majors]

 

The value of sports and entertainment goes up more proportional to allocation of disposable income; not necessarily cost of living index.

The beauty about PGA, NFL, and NBA is while the the revenue goes up; the number of players has more or less stay the same.

Whether you like it; it's a true meritocracy system.

[Stooch]

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signs emergency health declaration on new coronavirusNo a good sign for the Founders as Arizona declares a state of emergency. Granted at this point it's most likely to be able to tap into funds and move assets around, it does show they have shifted to a higher state of caution which could affect the event.

 

[18majors]

 

The confirmed cases for Arizona is 9, compared to 23 (2 deaths) in Florida.

If they can play the Player with ten times the attendance; why can't they play Founders Cup?

We don't want to rub Brooke off another victory, do we!

[Stooch]

Sadly the money involved in the PGA dwarfs the LPGA, Florida politico's might not wanna piss off the PGA but highly doubt Arizona politico's care about pissing off the LPGA …… money makes the world turn.

[Titleist_PT23]

That's interesting way to look at it. Similar to travel in developing markets (until a virus shuts everything down).

It may also be somewhat of a luxury good. I don't think the aggregate disposable income number is growing like sports dollars. But for a certain subset of the workforce the disposable income grows much much faster than the aggregate (or even sports dollars).

[18majors]

 

It isn't just the disposable income; but also the allocation of it.

The disposable income may haven't grown exponentially in Singapore, Western Europe or North America; but it's been out of sight in China, India, Korea and so forth.

China over the last 20 years has moved more than 600 million people (the size of Western Europe plus US and Canada) from poverty to people with disposable income.