Sports Biz

John Douglass

The type of sports that we've said would be affected most by the economy are the individual sports who so rely on sponsor dollars: golf and auto racing.

I recently spoke with PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw, who used to be the LPGA Tour commissioner, to talk about the downturn and how it will affect the game.

Darren: Lot of companies are re-evaluating everything during these times. How is that going to affect your sport?

Votaw: Return on investment is more scrutinized in down cycles as companies look at sponsorship, advertising, branding and promotions and see what's most valuable. We've found that when our partners do scrutinize, they come out saying that the PGA Tour, on a long-term basis, pays off. We have an attractive audience filled with educated decision makers and they want to be associated with a sport where flesh wounds aren't a story on a day-to-day basis.

Darren: After some of the financial institutions went bust, everyone turned to golf and said that was the sport that was in trouble. The only thing I had seen was that the title sponsorship for the FBR Open because of FBR's health was in question. How much were you directly affected?

Votaw: The financial institutions that imploded--Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG--are not title sponsors and all our sponsorship agreements are though 2010, with the majority through 2012.

Darren: What does the future hold?

Votaw: It's difficult to say because it could be dependent on a specific bankruptcy and of course the overall business environment, which might enter a systemic malaise that no one knows the end to.

Darren: How nervous is the tour about Tiger Woods and counting on him to come back from surgery and be his same old self next year?

Votaw: The story of Tiger Woods' return is going to be the biggest story in the sport until it happens. How big it is and what happens. Having him away from the sport for the second half of 2008 wasn't good. But if there is a silver lining in any of it, it's in the number of compelling new faces that emerged in guys like Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim, a personality like Boo Weekley and the old guard like Phil Mickleson, Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington coming to the forefront.

Darren: The WTA Tour made some pretty major changes for the upcoming year after there was sense that the top players weren't playing enough and the big tournaments didn't know enough in advance if the players were going to play. Has that hit golf at all and are you guys considering any changes to better guarantee appearances at events?

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Votaw: The feedback we've gotten from players is that they do know that we are in a tough economy and they know what it takes to deliver for sponsors and for fans. If that means more hospitality, more appearances, if it changes their behavior from an endorsement standpoint, that's what they'll do. But they're accessible and we feel the fans know what they're going to get each week, so legislating their appearance right now is probably not the answer for our sport at this time.

• Economy Sheds 533,000 Jobs, Most in 34 Years

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