In a recent article posted here on Ladies on the Tee Golf Blog, I suggested that the state of women’s golf is less than desirable. The financial upheaval worldwide has caused loss of sponsors and reduced prize money. Add to that the most preeminent female player in recent memory and perhaps ever, Annika Sorenstam is ‘stepping away’ from the game. You have to wonder what will happen to the LPGA and women’s golf going forward.
The LPGA just released their 2009 Tour schedule and it isn’t as bad as I thought….for 2009 at least. Only 3 less events are on the schedule from 2008. However, one event is without a sponsor at the time of this writing and most other sponsor contracts are set to renew, i.e renegotiate, in 2009. Granted the tour has expanded outside of the US and the Asian market appears to be a growing market. BUT….the financial crisis is worldwide so even the glimmer of financial hope that the budding Asian market holds may dim as we trudge through these very uncertain times.
What we have here ladies and gentlemen is a situation that we haven’t faced in a very long time. The LPGA has been around since 1950 and has had its battles throughout the years. When the PGA starts feeling the pullback of corporate dollars you know that will only be amplified on the ladies side. The market share for women’s golf isn’t as large as for the men and across the board golf, in general, isn’t considered a premier sport. Baseball, football and basketball here in the US are in that category.
We can only hope that one of two things happen:
• The financial markets worldwide recover and sponsor dollars abound
or
• The leadership of the LPGA finds ways to reinvigorate their product and their market appeal to keep the dollars they have to ride out the storm.
Both seemingly need to happen in a short period of time but I do hear that miracles can happen. Let’s hope for the best for everyone and especially for the game of golf.
What do you think will happen or do you even care? Please leave your comments below. Thanks for visiting Ladies on the Tee Golf Blog at www.sherrytabb.com.
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Tags: Annika Sorenstam, corporate sponsorships, Financial market upheaval, golf, LPGA Golf Tour, PGA, Women's Golf
[...] posted here: Is the Sky Falling on Women’s golf or …Not???? annika-sorenstam, corporate-sponsors, corporate-sponsorships, financial, financial-crisis, game, [...]
I was a subscriber to Golf for Women. In fact I have a copy of the
last issue on my desk.
I am a self described golf freak. If I’m not playing golf, I’m thnking
about it. Anyway, I truely think the downfall of the magazine was content related. I didn’t plan to renew the subscription because there
is too much fashion/travel/wine/copiers etc and not enough about the sport. I don’t find that to be true about the Golf Digest that is also on my desk. Or perhaps it is edited a little better????
Thanks,
Marcia
Marcia,
I agree with you about the content issue with Golf For Women. I think the fashion, especially the high-end focus, and other non-golf related topics that infiltrated the magazine caused some fall-out from the avid golfer ranks. I understand the importance of advertising and promoting your advertisers but leave that in the advertising sections.
There were sections of the GFW magazine that addressed the hot topics of the sport but like everything else in our double-standard world, things morphed towards the glamour elements. Funny that we don’t see that in the men’s golf mags!!
What we hope to develop here at LOOT as we grow is a resource for women that speaks to the real needs of women golfers related to the sport itself.
Thanks for your thoughts. Hope you stay tuned.
[...] tours or teams, the salaries or the prize winnings to professional athletes across the board. Golf is hurting with sponsorships and losing participation at local levels. Why then is winning $1,000,000 or more for a single event [...]