Dottie Pepper Isn't Happy With the New LPGA TV Deals

Dottie Pepper is outspoken.  That's an understatement.  For some, that makes her appealing and I'm one of those people.  She is still developing as a broadcaster, but I respect people who can speak their mind.

Dottie has a column on golf.com about the LPGA's new television deals in Korea and the US with Golf Channel.  Overall, she seems kind of unhappy about both of them and, in particular, how SBS was treated in the process.

When I arrived [to the SBS Open] on Feb. 10, I was greeted by the unofficial news that the LPGA tour, already four events lighter on its schedule than a year ago, was ending its 15-year relationship with SBS, the title sponsor of last week's event and the exclusive holder of the tour's Korean broadcast rights.

Two days later, in Los Angeles, it was announced that JBC had come up with a sweet little package to become the tour's new Korean broadcaster.

That's great news at a much-needed time, but at what cost?

The cost is that there will be a new event in Los Angeles in 2010 and that JBC will sponsor the Phoenix event this year that has no sponsor.  Seems kind of like a profit to me.

Dottie, an employee of the Golf Channel, seems unhappy with the potential for the LPGA Tour to get buried within the four other major tours that the network already broadcasts.

My first thought was, When will Golf Channel find time to air all this golf? Page Thompson, president of the network, says every event will be accommodated either live or on tape, with international events, produced by outside companies, tape delayed. While it is a huge advantage for the LPGA to have a consistent home and consistent look, I hope its tournaments will not be buried in off-peak scheduling.

You mean like showing Nationwide Tour events at 1am?  I sure hope that doesn't happen to the LPGA Tour.  Then again, the Golf Channel is paying some sum to the LPGA Tour for the broadcasting rights.  The Nationwide Tour probably gets any airtime because the PGA Tour packaged it and the Champions Tour in their 15 year deal with the network.  Given the choice between the two, I would presume that the LPGA Tour wins.

Pepper does make a point about how the LPGA Tour appears to conduct business.

For me this is another example of what's wrong at the LPGA. Even when they do something good, like securing a more lucrative TV deal, they go about it in the wrong way. The tour can't continue to carelessly cast aside long-time supporters, business partners and sponsors. It's a mistake from a business standpoint and a matter of common courtesy.

She does have a point.  Carolyn Bivens can't call up ShopRite and ask them to sponsor the Tour again after what happened with Ginn.  ADT probably isn't coming back anytime soon after they told their story at the final ADT Championship last November.  If this federal investigation into Stanford Financial becomes bigger, no one will be there to answer Bivens' phone calls.  Mr. Stanford will probably only get one per day in prison.