Race to Dubai Now Features 25% Smaller Purse, More Crowded Airport Parking

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 5, 2009 12:19 AM EDT Comment 9 comments

Lawrence Donegan breaks the news that we have been expecting for some time now: the European Tour is set to announce that it has reached an agreement with its biggest financier - Dubai-owner Leisurecorp - to save the Race to Dubai and Dubai World Championship. The downside? Both will feature prize pools that are at least 25% less than originally announced.

The European Tour's Order of Merit (aka money list) was reconsituted this season as the Race to Dubai. The top sixty players on the money list at the end of the season would earn a berth into the finale Dubai World Championship. The tournament itself would have a purse worth $10 million. Then, the money list leaders at the end of the DWC would share another $10 million bonus pool.

Now, the players will be playing for around $7.5 million for each.

When the Euro Tour announced the Race to Dubai, they held a claim over the PGA Tour as having the globe's richest pro golf tournament. That will now not be true. In fact, as Lawrence mentions, it will be dwarfed by nine PGA Tour events offering purses larger than $7.5 million.

Well, why is this happening?

Leisurecorp was taken over by another Dubai-owned entity after it got into deep financial trouble due to the burst of the global real estate bubble. The crumble of both the real estate and oil markets have led to the downfall of Dubai - a city whose prominence was financed by overstated paper weatlh. Perhaps the lasting symbol of that demise is the number of abandoned luxury cars at the Dubai airport, left by people fleeing the emirate for greener pastures.

Leisurecorp was rumored to pull out altogether.

"On paper, this new deal doesn't look like good news but when you think that the whole house of cards might have fallen – and many of us did – it is a bit of a triumph,'' said one source with knowledge of the new arrangement. "And, let's face it, the top players are hardly going to end up in the poorhouse. They have all been told about it and have accepted what is happening."

In the end, though, these players will still be playing for $7.5 million in the Dubai World Championship.

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Comments

Good for the Euro Tour

At least they are willing to admit that we are in tough economic times and things need to be scaled back so as not to put undue strain on sponsors.

Good for them for renegotiating to keep a company from suffering for the sake of a small number of golfers.

It may be a little embarrassing to have to back off of all ther marketing and hoopla – but they won’t have to close their doors or lay off a lot of hard working people who don’t make millions a year playing a game.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 5, 2009 9:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well the ET pretty much had no choice – it was either scale it back or lose Leisurecorp altogether and the Tour would sink with ’em. Like you said, though, this is a big plus for the ET.

Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 5, 2009 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

how many US sponsors have to go away before you say the same thing for the US PGA Tour ?

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 5, 2009 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It’s apples and oranges really. Leisurecorp has a five deal, $100 million deal with the European Tour to do a whole ton o’ stuff: build a Dubai headquarters, develop courses for tournaments together, sponsor purses & Race to Dubai. So, to answer your question, if FedEx said they couldn’t keep up the FedEx Cup after this season, then I would panic.

Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 5, 2009 9:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

My point was the WILLINGNESS for the Euro Tour to negotiate and drop their contracts to help a major sponsor in tough economic times. The US PGA Tour has not shown any sign of lowering demands on sponsors, or easing up on contracts during the recession. It isn’t just one sponsor on the US Tour.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 5, 2009 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Euro Tour was willing because they had no choice. It was either take a reduced payout or the Tour go splat. I think if the PGA Tour had that decision to make, then they would do it.

Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 5, 2009 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

as I said – how many sponsors do you need to see go down the tubes before you (as commissioner) decide it might be time to make a move to help the sponsors keep their heads above water ? by doing that, you build even more good will with the sponsors, and the sponsors get a little less pressure from self-righteous government types and PC watchdogs who think they know best how to run a business when they have never held a job in the private sector ?

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Aug 5, 2009 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is just me speculating what Finchem is thinking, but so long as he has a pipeline of replacement sponsors and tournaments, then he won’t do that.

Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.

by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 5, 2009 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs