What Would It Take to Fix the LPGA's Issues?

[Elvisliveson]

Like the whole taylormade/addais, titliest/footjoy thing?

For example Taylormade only pays two women pros to play their clubs, Creamer and Gulbis. Others may play Taylormade and even get the clubs for free, but they are not paid staff.

It would spread the wealth a little and winning teams could secure better deals and more players would benefit from a sponsors marketing machine.

[HytrewQasdfg]

What I think he means is that players would team up with each other and secure the same sponsorships, club related and other, as a group.

I also mean break out of the golf related sponsors (like club makers.)

Hendrick Motorsports (Kyle Bush, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Casey Mears) are sponsored by (among others): Amp Energy Drink, Lowe's, Dupont, Kellogs, National Guard, Pepsi, godaddy.com, Bank of America, Time Warner Cable, Stanely Tools, Gatorade, and Toshiba, none of which are car related. They make most of their money from commercials/appearances/promoting those sponsors. Not from the actual racing itself.

[Elvisliveson]

I also mean break out of the golf related sponsors (like club makers.)

I know, that's why I said club related "and other" sponsorships. Watch, financial services, fitness and other non-golf companies already sponsor some LPGA players, but they'd be more inclined to increase their committment if they had a team of 3 or 4 players representing their products for them.

[ControlJunkie]

I guess my question following all that is what is more important, focusing on getting more players sponsored, or getting more tournaments sponsored, marketed, and televised?

[David in FL]

Think marketing, not the game itself.

Unfortunately, you can only sell the marketing if the viewership is there. NASCAR is enormously successful in attracting advertisers because of the enormous popularity of the sport and the huge viewership. This is one case where it's definitely

not a question of "the chicken or the egg"........the chicken (viewership) has to come first.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Unfortunately, you can only sell the marketing if the viewership is there. NASCAR is enormously successful in attracting advertisers because of the enormous popularity of the sport and the huge viewership. This is one case where it's definitely

NASCAR wasn't always popular. It was for a longest time a tiny niche sport followed mostly in the rural south.

NASCAR came up with a marketing plan to grow the sport into what it is today. Although, in pure numbers NASCAR isn't nearly as big as you would think, but compared to its cost as an advertising medium it is a good deal for the advertisers. NASCAR (in the early days) went after big company advertisers that were already spending lots of money on TV/radio/print advertising. The amount these advertisers spent on NASCAR was just a drop in the bucket compared to their entire advertising budget. But, when you compared the cost to the number of impressions NASCAR ended up being a good advertising buy. NASCAR built off of that advertising value to grow from a small, southern niche sport into what they are today.

[kafka01]

NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH- The WNBA and LPGA both made rare appearances on broadcast over the weekend, and neither was able to carve out much of an audience. The WNBA's season opener between the Shock and Sparks -- a rematch of their now nearly forgotten brawl -- drew a 0.6 overnight rating on ABC, down 33% from a 0.9 for last year's comparable Sparks/Mercury tilt, but even with Monarchs/Shock in '07. Meanwhile, the LPGA State Farm Classic did not fare better. Final round coverage drew a 0.6/1 on NBC Sunday, and third round coverage on Saturday drew an even worse 0.5/1. The WNBA and LPGA accounted for the three lowest overnights of the weekend for live sports programming on broadcast. Even a relatively unheralded event like the Track & Field Prefontaine Classic managed a 1.2/3 overnight over the weekend -- double the ratings of the WNBA and LPGA. Source: Article from Sports Business Magazine

There is a lot of sports out there competing for sponsors/money and the LPGA is pretty much at the bottom of it. Its not, that there is no coverage - people just dont want to watch it. And being a women sport doesnt help either.

And lets face it, if a US station would buy content from the Japanese Baseball League and would televise it - i really doubt there is much intrest by sponsors/viewers. But thats pretty much exactly whats going on at the moment with the LPGA (none of the leisure viewers have an idea who these gals are that are topping the leaderboard). And it doesnt matter if they are asians/europeans or whoever - no names wont attract viewers. You either have characters on tour that impress with dominant success over a period of time, or you have to artifically market characters, that should at least have some kind of success. But if none of this happens to work out, you have a hard time selling your product. One more thing - this Nielsen report mentioned the WNBA which had pretty much the same "television success" over the time as the LPGA - now the avg. salary for a WNBA player was 45k - compared to an "average salary" of 113k for LPGA players (excluding money they make with sponsors). Obv. some make alot more and some a lot less, but in general it gives you an perspective, how well the LPGA players are actually paid compared to their fellow athletes at the WNBA. So it cant be all that bad for them...

[timwalsh300]

There are incredibly athletic and skilled women in both sports and I enjoy watching both. I think it's unfortunate that the women of these sports are not appreciated enough as the men just because they are not as strong, or as tough as the men in those sports are. It is also unfortunate that women players are seen as lesser athletes compared to the men when in fact they are as good of athletes as they can be within the parameters of their sex.

It's not that we don't appreciate these women. I think everyone gives a nod and recognizes that they are "as good of athletes as they can be within the parameters of their sex." I don't mean to be offensive, but

this is kind of like saying that competitors in the Special Olympics are "as good of athletes as they can be within the parameters of their disability ." Sure. Good for them. But that doesn't mean we are going to travel and shell out money to watch an event, or even take a few hours to watch one on TV. We don't want to watch people who are hampered by sex, disability, etc. We want to watch The Best, period. As others have said, even women don't want to watch women's sports - they would rather watch the men too. Women's sports will never be as big as men's sports, at least not for the "right" reasons. People have mentioned that women's tennis is big, but I have a feeling that it has more to do with sex appeal than athletic performance. The WTA is saturated with girls who could be lingerie models (and look no further than this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition) wearing short skirts, working up a sweat, and speaking with European accents. It is pornography first, tennis second. The LPGA could just start selling sex, but the women probably wouldn't be very happy with that either. A couple other comments I agree with... 1. You can't just say "there needs to be more coverage." As trumps4 explained, demand drives supply. And that starts with marketing to stir up interest. 2. A lot of women really are just turned off by competition and prefer many other things to watching/playing sports. More girls are growing up playing sports now, but it's still not the same. Athletic competition will never dominate the lives of women the same way that it dominates the lives of men. Tim

[pittpanther]

People have mentioned that women's tennis is big, but I have a feeling that it has more to do with sex appeal than athletic performance. The WTA is saturated with girls who could be lingerie models (and look no further than this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition) wearing short skirts, working up a sweat, and speaking with European accents.

You give tennis way too much credit. The ratio of cute girls to mannish, bull-dyke-looking girls is no better in tennis than it is in golf. And in tennis, even the cute ones tend to pull their hair back, exposing acres of unattractive forehead.

Golf shouldn't sell sex, but they should encourage the women to wear more feminine, flattering clothing - either a golf dress, skirt, or shorts that are actually short. Knee-length shorts should be discouraged.

[kris]

It's not that we don't appreciate these women. I think everyone gives a nod and recognizes that they are "as good of athletes as they can be within the parameters of their sex." I don't mean to be offensive, but

As I said before, it's a sad fact that people think this way.

[DavidFehertysBike]

The blunt politically incorrect awnser is..more pretty white american girls winning tournaments. If Paula Creamer or Morgan Pressell dominated the sport, the LPGA would be on the cover of SI every week.

[timwalsh300]

As I said before, it's a sad fact that people think this way.

Do I detect a hint of moral superiority here? May I ask how much time and money you've personally spent to attend the Special Olympics as a spectator? Would you pay to watch

me play golf as well as I can within the parameters of my God-given talent and the time I have to practice? It's a "sad fact" that we can't all be as good as Tiger Woods. Tim

[Clambake]

The blunt politically incorrect awnser is..more pretty white american girls winning tournaments. If Paula Creamer or Morgan Pressell dominated the sport, the LPGA would be on the cover of SI every week.

Although I get what your point is, I don't fully agree. Look at all the media coverage Michelle Wie has gotten, and she isn't dominating her sport at all - still winless. So the "white" part isn't that strong of social driver here. And I think Anika did a pretty good job getting media coverage and viewership, so Swedes seem OK to the public. But I do agree with the general premise - the viewing public wants to see attractive women they can identify with.

[kris]

Do I detect a hint of moral superiority here? May I ask how much time and money you've personally spent to attend the Special Olympics as a spectator? Would you pay to watch

no you don't. Your feelings were just pretty much identical to a post i responded too earlier. no biggie.

If you were on the PGA or LPGA I would watch you.

[ControlJunkie]

Although I get what your point is, I don't fully agree. Look at all the media coverage Michelle Wie has gotten, and she isn't dominating her sport at all - still winless. So the "white" part isn't that strong of social driver here. And I think Anika did a pretty good job getting media coverage and viewership, so Swedes seem OK to the public. But I do agree with the general premise - the viewing public wants to see attractive women they can identify with.

Though we're talking about the LPGA, I think Anthony Kim is a good example of how it isnt necessarily the race of the competitor that matters, kinda like what you said above. What sets AK apart is that he's an awesome personality, and love him or hate him, he draws your attention. I think Michellw Wie

could be that type of player. And I really do think it's just a matter of time before she gets her first win. If somehow, she were to come out and have a really good, fun, and outgoing attitude on and off the course, I think she could do wonders for the LPGA. I think it's that personality that makes people believe they can identify with the players.

[HytrewQasdfg]

One more idea. The LPGA could start setting their own equipment guidelines instead of relying on the PGA guidelines.

The PGA ball distance restrictions are there to prevent men from bombing it and overpowering courses. Why should women (who don't have the natural strength men do to hit longer shots) play with balls that are distance restricted? The LPGA should play with a hotter ball to allow women to strike it farther.

Same goes with PGA clubface restrictions which are designed to restrict distance.

Just as you have a women's tee on each hole, there should be balls and clubs that are restricted to women's usage only.

[TheNatural]

There needs to be more girl golfers at the ages of 8-15.

Add a million aspiring fans and LPGA is fixed.

[Greg]

They just dont have enough tournaments as Im sure they're struggling to find sponsorship and just dont get enough exposure and will never be as popular as the PGA. I do like watching LPGA events not just because of the obvious appeal of some of the players but also because they're not as skilled as the men and I think it makes the tournaments so much more competitive, no one player can dominate and win all the time and It seems that no lead is safe many times on the last day. It makes for more compelling golf, its just a shame the series is struggling as badly as it is. I dont recessarily like all the korean players but if they're the best the americans and europeans are going to have to step up and beat them. The fact that many of the foreign players dont speak english well hurts the series as well, having an interpreter makes you feel less connected to the players. Even the #1 player, Lorena Ochoa, is sometimes very hard to understand, have to listen very carefully to know what she's saying sometimes. Its a worldwide sport, but if more americans embraced it, it would do much better and flourish.