JT, Las Vegas And The Tour
I pen a Golf World Monday item on what appears to be the flatlining relationship between Justin Timberlake and the PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas.
"JT" is understandably losing interest in trying to prop up one of the worst dates on the Tour schedule, which arrives in early fall because, as you may recall, certain big names wanted the PGA Tour season to end earlier so they could make huge money in Asia recharge their batteries.
The primary side effect of giving a select few what they wanted has been a playoff system competing against the early weeks of the NFL and college seasons, U.S. Open tennis and baseball's playoff drive. That the BMW Championship draws a paltry 1.0 and the current scheduling structure is deemed a success seems a tad frightening.
In all the hoopla over the new TV deal, no one has discussed that a PGA Tour schedule extended just two or three more weeks stands a better chance of drawing improved ratings and more attention. Such a tweak would also force the tour to take better advantage of what should be a premier stop on their schedule: Las Vegas. ;)
"The Hill" is one of thethe PGA Tour's more impressive hospitality and party spots.Not all agree, as the Las Vegas Journal-Reviews' Ed Graney slammed Timberlake while suggesting the 29-year-old tournament director is a more important asset to the event.
For all his star power, Timberlake has done little to paint the big picture of what this event means. He puts on an annual concert during tournament week that benefits the hospitals, always a great thing, but his involvement beyond that has been minimal at best.
We like to poke fun at Timberlake being late for the few minutes he actually addresses the media each year and for the predictable enablers who cater to his every whim and shoo away legitimate photographers not interested in taking his picture in the first place, but such facts speak to Timberlake's lack of outward passion about being here.
He isn't fooling anyone. He's not that good an actor.
In Timberlake's four years here, you can make the argument that the most-followed celebrity at a midweek pro-am was Amanda Beard in 2008, and not for her golfing skills. Timberlake has not come close to drawing on his fame in a way the Shriners had hoped. The truth? It would be best if the sides parted ways now, because this event doesn't need Timberlake to land in the spring as part of the FedEx series.
While Graney is correct to highlight the tournament operations (it's another event PGA Tour Championship Management could learn from), to cast aside one of the world's most popular and hip celebrities would be a colossal mistake.
Geoff
**Alan Shipnuck isn't a fan of the Vegas event scheduling either.
1. PGA Tour schedulers. It'd be even cooler if the Tour would give JT a decent date in the "regular season" to ensure his involvement and the long-term health of the tourney. I say add Vegas to the desert swing in February and move Pebble to better weather in the summer, but that's just me.
Reader Comments (43)
And the fact that a Las Vegas tournament occupies a spot in the mostly unnoticed Fall Series demonstrates the need for more forward thinkers in PVB.
Now what's this all about? Justin has "enablers"? Is that a Vegas thing?
I watched him a bit on Wednesday of the pro-am and I saw no "enablers." He's remarkably entourage free and amazingly accessible. So was George Lopez, his playing partner, who put in lots of time with fans.
And I can tell you that not one PGA Tour executive of consequence was anywhere to be seen the days I was there.
The Tour should be doing anything and everything possible to leverage the connection with him. The venue seems fine, but the timing is terrible.
But as for the attendance? Obviously the Fry's event this week will be jam packed until Friday at a minimum but what about these other Fall Finish events? How do they keep them going?
McGladrey is an accounting type firm that as best I can tell is private. They have all the usual accessory services, consulting, etc... Zach Johnson is their main guy on tour. I assume they bring in a lot of big clients for the event.
Hornet, I'll let you make that call. Maybe Jim Anthony can get Tiger to help out with his problems? Oh, wait.
When?
Can I get tickets?
Are there showgirls in the Hospitality Tents?
Snuck some humor in on us Geoff - good work.
Almost sounded like you were serious.
The LV event is generally in its same date slot in the fall as is Disney pre FEC. The PA Open/84 Lumber, Canadian Open, Reno (Montreaux), Quad Cities, Greensboro, Texas Open, CVS Classic (Pleasant Valley, Ma), BC/Turning Stone, Quad Cities(John Deere), Viking (Mississippi), Chrysler (Innisbrook), late season WGC, The Buick (Callaway Gardens), Milwaukee Open etc have either been moved or no longer exist and were played at times after Labor Day. I'm sure I'm missing some others.
The tour did okay but not great with those events when they existed. Problem is the PGA Tour leadership, well Finchem, though they could go up against the NFL and college football for ratings. Funny now how Finchem claims ratings are not that important.
I don't buy - for a minute - that the fall finish events are going to be neglected and die on the vine.
Here is my opinion of what the future holds.
Things will remain virtually unchanged for 2012 - lots of agreements continue thru 12. Then, in 2013, things will change A LOT. Three of the fall series events will likely be moved to November - between Nationwide's Tour Championship and QSchool in early December. The renamed "Fall Finals" will transform the currently misplaced and low viewership Fall Series into a more interesting and dramatic conclusion to the NATIONWIDE SEASON (renamed by some new sponsor).
Nationwide will also likely begin to create a mini tour extension into Jan-Mar in Latin America (Latin Swing). The events will likely have smaller purses than "regular" Nationwide events (perhaps $250K or so) and will have a separate membership - probably made up of the lower level finishers at QSchool (higher finishers will get Nationwide membership) along with some of the leading money winners from TLA, CanTour and perhaps some other regional tours).
Leading money winners after the March conclusion of the Latin Swing will likely get promoted and be allowed to continue playing from April thru late August on the Nationwide Tour (purses in the $650K range) along with regular Nationwide members. Then, in late August - at the start of the first PGATour playoff - there will be another shift in Nationwide. With no more Fall series events or other places for the PGATour members ranked below 125 to play (on PGATour) where will they play? I suspect that the Nationwide schedule from that point through the Nationwide Tour Championshp, will essentially be converted into a series of Nationwide/PGATour cosanctions. With increased status as cosanctions, I suspect the purses will be raised quite a bit. Perhaps doubled from current levels to the $1.3 million for regular events and $2 million for the Nationwide Tour Championship (possibly even tripled to the $2 mil range for regular events and $3 million for NTC). After the NTC, the Fall Finals will take place with purses at about the same $4-$5 million range as the Fall Series events have today - likely pitting the best 50-75 of PGATour (outside the top 125) against the best 50-75 on Nationwide to see who gets the 50 PGATour cards for the next year. Then, the rest will go to QSchool to see who gets Full Nationwide and who only gets "Latin Swing" status.
This type of plan would clearly upgrade Nationwide.
It will also clearly enable the rest of the "Finchem Plan" - clearing Oct-Dec on the PRIMARY PGATour schedule so that several additional "World Challenge" events can be created. I suspect the current Asia Pacific Classic in Malaysia is one type of event that will be added. A limited field with invitations to several PGATour members (30 this year in Malaysia) and some other top regional players. Some new WGC's might also be added - similar to the one currently in China. Probable new locations include Korea, Japan, India, South Africa - and "perhaps" Argentina? BTW, one of those five countries will soon be announced as the host of the 2015 Presidents Cup - likely Korea or Japan IMO. At least that is what was announced when Rolex extended its PC sponsorship thru 2015 earlier this year.
Finchem has said for some time that he expects the Federation to move toward a world tour concept over the next decade or so. And, I think they will. The current location of the Fall Series is the biggest obstacle to PGATour developing more international events in Oct-Dec. By moving most of it back to November and making it an integral part the Nationwide Tour, and by declaring the late August thru late Oct Nationwide events to be cosanctions which will give the lower ranking PGATour members places to play during that period, I think it will be a win win deal.
Besides, what could possibly be "more Finchem"? He created the Playoffs by simply rebranding three existing events plus the Tour Championship. He shifted their dates a bit, got a sponsors to pay more money and - PRESTO the FEDEX PLAYOFFS appeared.
Now, he is probably going to take three more events (from the Fall Series) push them back a month and rebrand them into the FALL FINISH - making them an important Nationwide/PGATour Playoff Series that determines who wins 50 PGATour cards for the next season.
Then, after rebranding the Fall Series and Nationwide, he will set out to get a bunch of new TV rights for potentially lucrative new cosanctioned events in Asia during Oct Dec - all "unofficial" of course - since the official season has been "shortened" :-)
PS...what is your job description at Team Finchem? Some lowly PR dude? Or do you just empty wastebaskets?
What would YOU conclude if you had read various recent PGATour press comments and made a few basic observations:
1) PGATour has indicated that they want to expand the number of international events in Oct-Dec AND that they believe that the Federation of PGATours will eventually morph into a world tour of sorts (10 to 15 years down the road).
2) PGATour wants to create a 10-12 event Latin America Tour that will have purses of approximately $250K and graduate players to Nationwide. And - IF YOU LOOKED - Nationwide is currently inactive in 11 of the first 14 weeks of the calendar year.
3) PGATour has publicly floated the idea that it will probably rebrand the current Fall Series into a three event Fall Finals and will allow a mixture of PGAT and Nationwide members to compete for the current 50 or so Tour Cards that are currently awarded partially at QSchool and partially based on the Nationwide Money List.
4) PGATour wants to revamp QSchool so that it graduates players ONLY to Nationwide and its proposed new 10-12 event Latin American Tour.
5) Where can they put this new 3 event Final Series that appears to conflict with the current Nationwide Schedule? Probably in the 4-5 week gap that currently exists between the Nationwide Tour Championship and QSchool? Seems reasonable - and easy.
5) If PGATour does move its proposed Fall Finals to November, what are PGATour players who do not qualify for the Playoffs and the new "World Challenge" events - that the tour apparently wants to create in Oct-Dec - going to play? Are they going to simply sit home from Late August to early Nov? I doubt it. Therefore, I suspect that the group of Nationwide events contested from the last week in August thru the end of Oct will also be made available to them - probably in the form of cosanctioning between the two tours as that would upgrade the number of ranking points that Nationwide currently awards to the winner (14) to the "average minimum" that a cosanction is allowed to award (14+24)/2=19 which would round up to 20 - making them more lucrative in terms of OWGR.
I think - if you listen to what PGATour has publicly announced - that they are in the process of creating something very similar to the type of prediction I made above.
I also think that perhaps you should read more - and think a bit more. Or, does that require too much effort :-)
As for Q-School only graduating players to the Nationwide Tour, perish the thought. What the TOUR needs to do is cut back to 75 exempt players and allow all current Q-School graduates a space in each non-invitational event on the circuit. I wanted to go back to 60, but one of our resident pros says that's too few and I'll certainly defer to his good judgment. That would give us the turnover so desperately needed. As for the other stuff, like I said, go to it. And you should send these posts to Ponte Vedra along with a resume. They need another vice president.
IMO, the tour IS NOT counting on more net revenue from domestic events. Local markets, sponsors and domestic cable might pay (or almost pay) the added cost of the modest increases in NT purses that I predicted. However, the big money - if it is there - comes from marketing the top players to international audiences via the new "World Challenge Swing" during Oct-Dec. PT is now marketing the next international staging of the Prez Cup to FIVE !!! bidders. There is clearly a BIG demand for top tier PGATour talent around the golfing world.
I strongly suspect that PGATour management is trying to delicately balance the legitimate "don't take away any of our opportunities" demands of its rank and file with the hugely more profitable opportunities that come with marketing its best stars around the world. If it can meet BOTH demands by giving the rank and file a somewhat better deal (adding some cosanctions in addition to not doing away with the fall finish) and simultaneously create some new and very profitable events in Asia for its stars, then they are creating a lot more total value (sorry for the marketing speak) for the entire tour.
I think that is their plan. And, if successful, I think it will benefit the entire membership (and the sport) !
Read the first half of Teed Off and then took care of a late thing at work (nice to live less than a mile away). Dave Hill would have been a helluva Shackelfordian! More on that later, when the time is right.
Is there a lot of similarity between PT management and the Brand Lady? New LPGA management is trying like hell - with little success so far - to turn around the LPGA crash. On the flip side, a day or so ago, even the wannabe next commissioner of PGATour - Joe Ogilvie - was solidly behind another five year extension for the current commish. What does that say for his popularity with the members - especially in contrast with the Brand Lady and her membership :-)
As for Ex-Commish Blivet, she's a complete dolt. Commish Fuchtem, def not a dolt.
But to characterize him as widely popular? Again, def not. I think grudgingly respectful would be closer to describing how the broader PGA Tour membership feels about him (at best). fatgoalie, you around?
While I'm not a fan of the Commish in a way I actually do hope he gets another 5 years -- then we'll see how skilled he really is, or isn't. It was almost impossible to screw up the hand he has been dealt. Going forward it won't be so easy, matter of fact it's going to get downright difficult and for the first time in his career at the PGA Tour the Commish is really going to have to earn his money.
Let's see how he does.
PS...you seem plugged in, who is on the PGA Tour board today? I'll be damned if I can find that info anywhere. Not talking about the player advisory council, but rather the full board. Why is that info so difficult to find on the PGA Tour website? Is it intentionally hidden?
I for one would love to see prime-time golf from Australia et al during the late fall, and keep in mind that we are talking Wed-Sat nights, which isn't a terrible thing for TGC to be airing.
Does anyone else know the answer?
PGA Tour members rely on the Player Advisory Council (PAC) and the PGA Tour Policy Board to represent them on issues involving Finchem and his staff. The PAC, a 16-player committee, serves as a filter to the policy board, which is comprised of four players (Stewart Cink, Brad Faxon, Joe Ogilvie and David Toms) and four volunteer independent directors, all of whom are among the nation's most prominent businessmen and one member from the PGA of America. The latter includes Hearst Corporation president Vic Ganzi, who has replaced retiring Richard Ferris of United Airlines as chairman; Ed Whitacre, the former chairman and CEO of AT&T; and financial executives John McCoy of Bank One and Ken Thompson of Wachovia. The PGA of America director is Brian Whitcomb, the association's president. The Player directors are consulted but have little input in the appointment of independent directors. This nine-man council sits at the right hand of Finchem and governs the tour.
Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2008-02/gw20080201rosaforte#ixzz1Zpr0nLGL
I have scoured the PGA Tour website at length, can't find anything. Let's hope they've upgraded the talent from guys like Ken Thompson and John McCoy who ran their companies straight into the ground.