PGA Tour & Charitable Donations

[juanrjackson]

The PGA tour always talks about how much $$$ they donate to charities. Are they the only professional sports league that donates $$$ to charities or do they just communicate it more?

[Tiger Spuds]

Of course they're not the only one's to donate, but they sure do like to announce it.That cheapens it in my opinion.Sometimes on the coverage they seem to spend more time talking about which player has donated what than actually calling the golf.It comes across a little smug.You know, it's great that they're doing it, but we don't need to hear about it every 5 minutes.The PGA and Networks are preoccupied with portraying all the players as 'good guys', do-no-wrong honourable gents and all that.It gets old.

The European Tour is becoming almost as bad for it.

[jamo]

I don't think it's necessarily bragging when the PGA TOUR has donated $1.5 billion since 1937, the first year they donated, $1 billion in the last 15 years, $125 million in 2008, and $108 in 2009. Thats a lot of money, and they should be commended and proud for it. I'm sure they're not the only pro sports organization in the world to donate money to charity, but i can't imagine anyone has donated more than them. So call them smug all you want, but what the PGA TOUR has done, to me, is absolutely fantastic.

Note: All data taken from together.pgatour.com

[Tiger Spuds]

I agree that's its fantastic, I said so in my post.But they do comment on it excessively.

[Fatphil]

wow dudes please chill on the charity shit...take last week...Northern Trust got $1.6 billion in taxpayer bailout money and dropped it on $6.3 million for the Riviera shindig and they also laid off 450 employees in December (4% of their workforce).

Enjoy golf for the sport it is; stay away from the finances of these •••••s.

[Fatphil]

opps sorry I forgot w*h*o*r*e is a censored word on this site.

[sean_miller]

The PGA tour always talks about how much $$$ they donate to charities. Are they the only professional sports league that donates $$$ to charities or do they just communicate it more?

Many professional sports see donations made to charity on behalf of the league, the individual teams, individual players, and a lot of work done by players' wives. The PGA Tour does great things in the interest of charity (some tournaments seem to do more than others), but as a sport they're not exactly humble about their generosity - that's probably the only difference.

[zeg]

Many professional sports see donations made to charity on behalf of the league, the individual teams, individual players, and a lot of work done by players' wives.

While tooting one's own horn is a little tasteless, in this case I think it's a good thing to trumpet. It sends two messages: one is the tasteless "we're great citizens" message, but the other is that the people you're watching think it's important to support charitable causes. It's valuable to boost perceptions of the value of giving, and I wouldn't be surprised if those ads lead to additional donations from some viewers.

[FHopper]

It is backfiring for me, they are trying to justify "golf" during hard times but the purses are obscene compared to the donations. A pro does not need to win more than a million in an entire year, (after expenses). I love watching golf but the purses are offensive.

[Fatphil]

what the worst is listening to the mandatory CEO spot where some creepy dude pimps himself while giving away OPM (other people's money). I bet btw the prize money, limos, promo, hotels, ent...Northern Trust dropped $10M last week in LA and all the while they got $1.6 billion in bailout money.

Does that make the tour a socialist organization supported by taxpayer money? Maybe till Tiger comes back they deserve stimulus money.

[plugged]

A pro does not need to win more than a million in an entire year, (after expenses). I love watching golf but the purses are offensive.

Well comrade, thus is the nature of the free market system. If you don't like it, don't watch the tournaments or buy from the sponsers.

[jamo]

what the worst is listening to the mandatory CEO spot where some creepy dude pimps himself while giving away OPM (other people's money). I bet btw the prize money, limos, promo, hotels, ent...Northern Trust dropped $10M last week in LA and all the while they got $1.6 billion in bailout money.

Lets do the math out on that one: 10,000,000 / 1,600,000,000 = .00625 = .625%. Under 1%. Thats the percentage of bailout money they spent on the Northern Trust open, an event that a) they had a contract for before they received the bailout money for, and b) like any other sponsorship, gets their name out there. As they say any publicity is good publicity. Not to mention, they didn't even ask for the bailout money, and

have already applied to return it .

It is backfiring for me, they are trying to justify "golf" during hard times but the purses are obscene compared to the donations. A pro does not need to win more than a million in an entire year, (after expenses). I love watching golf but the purses are offensive.

I don't think golf is the sport to be mad at about this. In 2009, the average earnings of a PGA TOUR player $854,000. A lot of money yes, but compare that to baseball ($3.15 million in 2008), basketball ($5.36 in 2007-2008), football ($770,000 in 2009, but that is mostly because they have a salary cap and 53 players per team), European soccer (too many teams and leagues to find an average, but it would be very high, especially for the Champions and Premier leagues).

The PGA TOUR is the only sport i know of that donates any substantial amount of money to charity that is directly based on their earnings. Yes, some players make a lot of money, buy they earn it. If people are willing to pay that much for a ticket and a hot dog or a sponsorship, that's what they should be charged for it.

[Fatphil]

Lets do the math out on that one: 10,000,000 / 1,600,000,000 = .00625 = .625%. Under 1$. Thats the percentage of bailout money they spent on the Northern Trust open, an event that a) they had a contract for before they received the bailout money for, and b) like any other sponsorship, gets their name out there. As they say any publicity is good publicity. Not to mention, they didn't even ask for the bailout money, and

absolutely correct on all points grasshopper...and if u can morally accept that...NP...sorry I can't. Yes percentage wise it's small....but dude they blew this in a weekend!!! Can u imagine what these jackoffs can do in a month?

[zeg]

absolutely correct on all points grasshopper...and if u can morally accept that...NP...sorry I can't. Yes percentage wise it's small....but dude they blew this in a weekend!!! Can u imagine what these jackoffs can do in a month?

Why do you describe this money as "blown"? Advertising has a value, and golf caters to just the market that a financial institution is after. It's an expense that can be cut if it's not paying off, sure, but that's a complicated calculation to make. But at least your response was unnecessarily condescending.

[Fatphil]

Why do you describe this money as "blown"? Advertising has a value, and golf caters to just the market that a financial institution is after. It's an expense that can be cut if it's not paying off, sure, but that's a complicated calculation to make. But at least your response was unnecessarily condescending.

I agree with you on the business side regarding advertising...but my personal feelings regarding the misuse of stimulus money by the financial community is a bit stronger than condescending...And then to watch them flaunt it on Super Bowl Sunday by some CEO acting like the second coming of Mother Theresa using OPM just kinda pisses me off....Like the Ping Eye 2 controversy, Phil or Northern Trust did nothing wrong and it was Obama's mistake by not putting strings attached; so who's right or wrong..I guess just a matter of opinion.

[FHopper]

An example of what I consider obscene...
Last week some young buck blew a 3'er on 18 and went from tied for 5th to tied for 10nth, the announcer offhandedly remarked, "that putt cost him the price of a new luxury car". I love golf, I want the tour to work, but comments like that do not help anything!
As for the offensive "comrade" crack, all I know is the guillotine was an ugly way to remedy financial disparity but it sure pleased a lot of people.

[RCF]

This is Northern Trust stuff is off topics but it is an interesting topic that deserves its own thread.

The real issue is whether or not the cost of sponsoring a tournament is defined as ordinary or extra-ordinary advertising for a bank. I think Buick has canceled their tournament, but that is a different industry. In any event, advertising budgets along with charitable donations are the first expenses to get cut in a recession.

[sean_miller]

This is Northern Trust stuff is off topics but it is an interesting topic that deserves its own thread.

In Canada the first business expenses cut are staffing, wages (cut of frozen), slashed health benefits, and cancelled Christmas parties for the non-management types. Good times.