Yesterday's announcement of the LPGA Tour schedule today struck me as one that did not do the Tour, or Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, any favors.  The reality was that the major lowlites of the schedule that were unveiled yesterday had been leaked and were known to fans already.  We knew SemGroup, Fields, one half of Ginn, and ADT were out.  We knew that Thailand was back.  We knew that Stanford was going to shelve the pro-am and sponsor a Tour Championship in Houston.  Hell, we even knew most of the tournaments that would feature a purse increase for 2009.

Let's face it - 2009 will be a wash for the LPGA Tour.  Tournaments are gone, Annika is gone, purses are stagnant on the average.  Considering the economy, the schedule is pretty decent, but not really all that noteworthy.  Knowing all of this information up front probably softened the blow.  It helped stem the tide of comparisons of this schedule to the 2009 PGA Tour schedule that saw a full schedule and an increase in total purses.

Though this year's schedule is a wash, 2009 will be one of the most critical in the history of the Tour.  An overwhelming percentage of the schedule - 19 of 24 events in North America - will have to negotiate extensions with the LPGA Tour for beyond 2010.

Tournaments will have to negotiate with a LPGA Tour that is asking for a much higher fee than they had in the past.  It will be a difficult proposition for tournaments, the Tour, and sponsors. 

Also, do not forget that the LPGA will need - at a minimum - a cable home next year and, ideally, some kind of broadcast TV presence.  Commissioner Bivens has positioned herself as saying that she wanted to wait to have a television contract in hand before negotiating with 19 events, all at once.  Considering the PGA Tour's sinking ratings sans Tiger and the ever-darkening sports marketing climate, that is not an easy proposition at all.

The Tour and its leader will require great focus to be able to weave through this situation.  There is almost no way that Bivens could have anticipated that the strategy she employed would backfire in this fashion.  Still, Bivens managed to organize a schedule for next year that is about 90% of this season's in terms of dollars and events.

While I have been very critical of Commissioner Bivens, she deserves some credit for what she has managed to do in the face of the current economic situation.  That said, she deserves the benefit of the doubt concerning the television and tournament negotiations in the coming year.  If that doubt, though, turns into a reality of doom and gloom for the LPGA Tour, then Bivens will almost assuredly be out of a job.