Major(s) News & Notes, October 24th, 2024
Major(s) News & Notes, October 24th, 2024
Ryder Cup price consternation continues. Plus, PGA may be closing in on a CEO, 2024 Masters film debuts, ratings can go up in the cordcutting era, This, That and Reads.
Days to The Masters opening tee shot: 165
A lot has changed since the Ryder Cup was awarded to Bethpage Black.
A 2013 rollout event included then-CEO Pete Bevacqua, PGA of America president Ted Bishop, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and state senator Dean Skelos.
All involved lauded the awarding of the 2019 PGA and 2024 Ryder Cup by regularly invoking the excitement surrounding the “People’s Course.”
Since that announcement press conference 11 years ago, Cuomo resigned after sexual harassment allegations piled up, while Skelos was twice convicted on federal corruption charges. The senator only did three months in prison before finishing his time under house arrest during COVID’s early release days for white-collar criminals.
“This truly is the people's course,” Skelos said at the time. “And the Governor, as he says, works for the people, and he's managed now with the support of Larry [Schwartz] to bring the PGA here and The Ryder Cup, and for that, we say, thank you very much, Governor.”
Cuomo, admitting he was not a golfer, expressed full faith in Skelos and his Secretary Larry Schwartz while noting how having “big business” come to the state park meant so much to New York.
“It is a significant boost to the entire region and we expect an even greater economic boost from the championship and The Ryder Cup here on Long Island with proximity to New York City, et cetera,” Cuomo said. “And the cherry on the cake is that it's Bethpage, and that Bethpage is a public course, [or] as they refer to it, as the ‘People's Country Club.’”
Cuomo was replaced by then-Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, who this week was urged by local politicians to question the PGA of America’s decision to price 2025 Ryder Cup tickets at $750 (and now scheduled a year later than originally planned after the COVID pandemic pushed back the date).
The New York Post’s Vaughn Golden and Carl Campanile reported the calls to intervene and even included one politician’s proposal for a community day to ensure locals felt involved in the Ryder Cup.
“New York State is excited to welcome golf fans to Bethpage State Park for the 2025 Ryder Cup,” the Governor’s spokesman told the Post. “The PGA of America is a private organization, and the state does not have the ability to change ticket prices for its tournament.”
The PGA of America is a 501(c)(6) non-profit renting the state park and likely underpaying for the privilege based on the revenue generated. Furthermore, the organization’s mission statement hardly suggests a private quest in asserting its goal to “elevate the standards of the professional golfers’ vocation, stimulate interest in the game of golf, and promote the overall vitality of the game.”
I asked the governor’s press office if they could provide any contract specifics related to ticket pricing or what percentage—if any—the state receives from Ryder Cup revenues.
The Quadrilateral did not receive a reply.
The “noise” surrounding Ryder Cup pricing continued this week after Golf.com’s James Colgan wrote about the record-high volunteer price nearing $400 after taxes and fees. (More on that below.) The pricing chatter also continued thanks to current trendlines in golf where the professional game is seen as greed-focused, out-of-touch, and relentlessly oblivious to the real world. But there is also Bethpage’s place as a prominent public facility. This has only heightened outrage over the PGA of America’s decision to gouge on the backs of players and public golfers who lose access to the facility (at the best time of year to play Long Island golf).
All of this is set against the backdrop of an event started as a “goodwill” exhibition. One where Samuel Ryder never mentioned funding a member organization as his part of his motivation.
In a chat with Global Golf Post’s Ron Green Jr., Ryder Cup director Bryan Karns said there are “approximately 500,000 names in the queue to purchase” tickets. Karns is a good soldier who explained to The Quadrilateral how the recommendation of consultants at Delaware North and PGA Board directives to fund operations led to the pricing. But his doubling down on the funding needs of a non-profit member organization in the name of “growing the game” have not resonated with detractors.
“We have a responsibility for 30,000 members to make sure we run this event in a way that allows funding them to continue,” Karns said. “As we try to grow the game and provide support, they need to be stewards of the game, and we are trying to do right by them. My constituency is those people.”
Then there is the PGA’s financial state.
Even as PGA of America dues have never been higher, the organization is struggling after a headquarters move to Frisco that shed a number of salaries and saw another round of layoffs even after leaving West Palm Beach.
The PGA of America’s latest filing from April 1, 2022 through March 31st, 2023 shows significant losses:
Regardless of the financial situation, it’s still gobsmacking to see an ounce of creativity, some old-school smoke and mirrors, or even paper-thin attempts to do something for average fans and New Yorkers who would like to attend one day at a fair price. But not even budging on the no-brainer junior policy of offering free admission with a paying adult during the days when the roars might inspire a young person (and when they are not in school)? Or failing to offer some carrots like they did with a free junior golf day across New York state a few years ago? It all speaks to a lack of foresight, creativity, common sense and wisdom that unnecessarily taints what should be another grand celebration at a public course.
Not helping matters: the organization has been without a CEO since late June and appears to have been unprepared for the backlash. Instead, the combination of $750-a-day tickets and a record volunteer price sets the organization up for embarrassing battles with players and fans heading into next year’s matches.
Ryder Outrage Continues: Almost $400 To Volunteer
There may be no greater grift in golf than to charge people for the privilege of working. Yet few things have confounded me more over the years than listening to volunteers—good people who just love the game and want to be part of making a tournament go—say they are willing to pay to have their job. And one that often requires horrible hours and little gratitude from the golf world.
No where is the mistreatment of volunteers more perverse than the requirement to pay for new uniforms when a tournament changes sponsors, a logo or its name (some quality events like the Memorial do not stoop this low, thankfully). Worst of all are the events with a clothing company partnership charging retail prices to turn workers into billboards.
The Ryder Cup at Bethpage should test the boundaries in new and disturbing ways as James Colgan reported in a follow-up to his story lamenting the price gouging at a state park. According to Colgan, the Bethpage Ryder Cup volunteer package costs just under $400 without guaranteeing a plumb job inside the ropes.
He writes:
The Ryder Cup’s volunteer package, though, prices the Cup at $80 more than next April’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, and $100 more than the volunteer fees at the next priciest golf event, the U.S. Open. According to a letter sent to volunteers and obtained by GOLF.com, the $350 package will not provide volunteers with any additional goods or services: just a volunteer uniform, a drawstring bag, a commemorative pin, food (during shifts only) and a tournament credential. After taxes and a credit card processing fee, the total for the volunteer package rings in at $392, more than two times the price of the volunteer fee at that ’19 PGA Championship ($175).
The pricing is particularly troubling given how many tournaments are struggling to fill out volunteer bases and signaling fears for finding help in the coming years. The 2025 Ryder Cup did not have such a dilemma, with Director Karns saying 30,000 signed up to be considered. This led to record volunteer pricing—three times a state resident weekend green fee on the Black—which seems excessive given the already massive revenues coming from robust corporate tent sales and an apparel partnership with Ralph Lauren.
But as Colgan found when talking to volunteers, news of the $750 ticket price made the cost of working seem more reasonable, with one saying, “I’ve never felt so good about paying nearly $400 to volunteer.”
We’ll know Ryder Cup week whether the price gouging alters the turnout and mood of the event.
Meanwhile, reactions to the ticket prices continue to fall decidedly on the negative side:
In addition to high prices, the situation has likely festered thanks to the PGA no longer having Seth Waugh to help explain the rationale or to have read the room and offered some Band-Aids. Speaking of…
PGA CEO Search Closing In On A Candidate?
Adam Schupak reports on the PGA Of America’s bid to find a CEO as the organization’s annual meeting looms November 4-8th.
Schupak says the PGA of America has interviewed ten candidates and narrowed its list “to two or three finalists, who were interviewed in New York City while the search committee was there for the Ryder Cup” press conference on October 8th. That was two weeks ago, and as noted above, there will be an immediate fire to be put out for the CEO.
The Golfweek report says a seven-person committee is headed by independent director Gideon Yu, a former COO at YouTube and Facebook.
Schupak offers a breakdown of the candidates with some pithy comments from an unnamed insider as the organization grapples with hiring a seasoned CEO type or someone who is a member of the PGA of America.
The 2024 Masters Official Film
The hour-long film is narrated by Jim Nantz and features ample behind-the-scenes footage and new perspectives covering Scottie Scheffler’s four-stroke victory over Ludvig Aberg. And that wind!
Ratings Can Go Up!
While ratings continue to be almost non-existent for the PGA Tour’s fall schedule—160,000 braved the pancake-flat Shriner’s final round won by J.T. Poston—two sports saw huge viewership increases despite competing against the NFL juggernaut.
While there are many factors in both sports showing increases as cordcutting accelerates and streaming has yet to fully take hold, both sports are proving ratings can go up. Just not without some all-important tweaks to “the product” and likable stars.
This And That
San Francisco Public Golf Alliance’s 10th Annual Alister MacKenzie online auction will go live online Oct. 30 and run thru Nov. 11. Among the participating courses offering tee times up for bid: Pasatiempo, Royal Melbourne, Lake Merced, Claremont, Meadow Club, Green Hills, Northwoods, Olympic Lake, Peachtree, Riviera, Baltusrol, Camargo, Monterey Peninsula and Atlanta Athletic Club. Funds go to bolstering the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance in the effort to save Sharp Park and other courses under threat.
Another photo of Augusta National from Eureka Earth shows the clubhouse area recovering well from Helene, joining last week’s shots analyzed here. This view is also a fun look at how much the Eisenhower Cabin looks like a mini-White House from the eastern side.
Quotable
2022 Open Champion Cam Smith on leaving for LIV and getting to play next week’s Queensland PGA. “It was the best decision of my life. Not only from where [LIV Golf] is going and where it will end up but also from a life standpoint as well. The extra time I get to spend in Australia compared to what I used to means a lot. I feel like I am a much happier person now compared to where I was before.”
Reads
🕵️ Gordy Megroz tags along with a full-time undercover fraud whistleblower.
🍷 Heather Platt on the continuing impact and affinity for Sideways 20 years after its release.
Vaya con dios No. 34.
A lot of money for one of the worst viewing experiences in golf. 50,000 fans trying to watch four matches, way too many hangers on inside the ropes and just when you think you have found a good spot, a dozen people and a golf cart park in front of you.
Great pix of Fernando🙏 and the kid from Sandlot.