More on Ginn Dropping Its Sponsorship

Reader rcrusoe posted the news from the AP that Ginn was dropping its golf sponsorship portfolio immediately on the LPGA and Champions Tours.  That means that the Ginn Open is out on the LPGA Tour side and the Ginn Championship Hammock Beach is done on the Champions Tour - though still on the schedule.

Steve Elling spoke with Ginn's president, Robert Gidel, about pulling the plug.  Elling confirms that Ginn didn't negotiate a buyout as it indicated it would attempt to do (and may have already attempted) and they clearly weren't successful in selling the sponsorship to a third party.

Gidel took the opportunity to be critical of the PGA Tour's hardline approach about sponsors with remaining deals on their contracts:

"It's their business and they have to do what they have to do to protect it, but there's a difference between what you are able to do and what you want to do," Gidel said. "Their position is, these are contracts. But I can't do what I can't do."

"What gets frustrating at times is that people who are not at the epicenter of the financial and economic crisis lose sight of what's happening to everyone. We're all in the same soup.

"Drawing lines in the sand is not going to solve problems, it's going to create problems."

I'm not going to critique the Tour's position on contractual obligations.  If you sign a five year deal, you should be paying for five years.  But, perhaps this environment will force the Tour to consider deals shorter than the five it usually likes to have with sponsors.

This particular issue will be settled in court with high priced lawyers.  The PGA Tour will be another in a series of companies that are owed money by Ginn.  Seemingly, Ginn will run out of cash before the PGA Tour's number is called.