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Golfers get paid enough, says leading executive Keith Pelley after announcement of landmark sponsorship deal


Pelley was talking following the announcement of the European Tour’s new sponsorship take care of DP World, a deal which Pelley believes might be “recreation altering.”
Starting in 2022, the tour might be rebranded to the DP World Tour, whereas additionally bringing in “vital” funding.

Based on the assertion launched by the European Tour on Tuesday, the brand new sponsorship deal will lead to complete prize cash reaching over $200 million for the primary time. There may even be a brand new minimal prize fund of $2 million for all tournaments solely sanctioned by the DP World Tour.

Though the deal represents a brand new period of progress for the European Tour, based on Pelley, information of a profitable, Saudi-backed international tour — to be led by golf legend Greg Norman — has raised questions on whether or not gamers may earn extra exterior of the standard circuits: the European Tour and the PGA Tour.

The brand new enterprise will reportedly supply eye-watering quantities of cash to lure a few of golf’s largest names to compete towards one another on a extra common foundation.

Talking in Could, six-time main winner Phil Mickelson stated it could be one thing followers can be focused on.

“I feel the followers would like it as a result of they’d see the perfect gamers play exponentially extra occasions,” Mickelson told ESPN. “As a substitute of 4 or 5 occasions, it will be 20 occasions … I do not know what the ultimate quantity is.
Mickelson plays a shot on the eighth hole during the PGA Tour Champions Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS on October 8, 2021.

“However that is an enormous deal to surrender management of your schedule. I do not know if the gamers can be selfless sufficient to try this. However each different sport, the entity or groups or leagues management the schedule. The gamers form of play the place they’re informed to play. Whereas right here, we’re in a position to management it.”

Most sports activities within the US have collective bargaining, just like the NBA, the place the gamers get an virtually 50-50 share of revenues with staff house owners. Compared, golfers get a smaller share of broadcast cash however main winner Justin Thomas does not assume they’re unfairly compensated.

“Perhaps up to now,” Thomas said forward of the Mayakoba Golf Traditional earlier in November.

“However I feel with stuff just like the Participant Impression Program and purses and every little thing going up, I feel it is turning into that method as a result of it does not matter what you do or what sport you play or no matter it’s, there’s all the time going to be a handful or a bunch of men that push the income or push the curiosity.”

The PGA Tour’s Participant Impression Program (PIP) is designed to reward gamers who positively drive fan and sponsor engagement. It can award the top-10 hottest gamers based mostly on a composite rating of their media publicity from a reported fund of $40 million.

Pelley — who has huge expertise working in North American sports activities with the Canadian Soccer League and the Nationwide Hockey League — says that in his opinion, golfers get “sufficient by way of income share.”

“The reply is our income share is important and it’s comparable, in my view, to the key sports activities in North America,” Pelley continued. “It will take me at the very least 60 minutes to elucidate to you that it’s not an apples-to-apples comparability. So the reply to your query is emphatically sure, they do get sufficient by way of income share.”

Pelley stated that the announcement of the sponsorship with DP World is not a response to the announcement of the brand new Saudi-backed league, however somewhat the end result of discussions that started in 2018.

And together with the phrase ‘world’ in its title is a becoming determination given the Tour’s international schedule.

Pelley in action during the Hero Pro Am prior to the start of the British Masters.

Subsequent yr, it can function a minimal of 47 tournaments throughout 27 international locations — 23 in Europe, 24 round the remainder of the world — together with new tournaments within the UAE, Japan, South Africa and Belgium.

However whereas it can include an elevated prize fund, the deal is about greater than that.

“The Problem Tour (the European Tour’s feeder tour) can be going to get elevated prize funding, elevated enjoying alternatives, elevated occasions,” he defined. “But additionally what we’re going to do is make investments cash in different areas like physio and health and diet and such, which can permit the Problem Tour gamers to be extra prepared after they’re on the DP World Tour.”

He added: “We’re additionally going to help our charity ‘Golf for Good,’ and we’re additionally going to take a position into golfers with a incapacity, which is one thing that we consider strongly by way of the inclusivity of the sport. We this yr had the European Disabled Golf Tour, 4 qualifying occasions, the ultimate occasion might be subsequent week on the DP World Tour. So this can be a lot extra than simply about cash for high gamers.”



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