Will More US Banks Sponsor PGA Tour Events?

Throughout my entire career working in marketing roles for financial institutions, I have fielded numerous sponsorship requests. It's a simple formula: sponsorships make events happen and great marketing opportunities are provided in return. There's a definite supply-and-demand factor that goes along with sponsorships as some events struggle to find partners while other events can have their pick of suitors.

When considering the latter in the above comparison, I often think about The Masters, the annual golf tournament steeped in tradition and formalities. Each year, the tournament is "presented with limited commercial interruption" and its list of corporate sponsorships features just three companies, none of them directly related to the sport. Not all golf tournaments are equal, however. Most tournaments on the PGA Tour’s year-round schedule have to feature the name of the title sponsor in the name of the event. Firms ranging from automobile manufacturers to insurance companies have their names featured on the tournament trophy each week. As a golf nut and someone that likes to stay informed of bank marketing trends, I recently spent some time researching golf tournament sponsorships to determine why US banks don’t sponsor more golf tournaments.

WHAT IS A SPONSORSHIP?
Before I share my finds about bank sponsorships of golf tournaments, it helps to understand how these sponsorships came to be. Monte Burke wrote an excellent article for Forbes that wraps that explanation in a short but informative package. The PGA Tour doesn’t receive as much revenue from broadcasting rights as other sports so it had to create a new avenue for income. That’s where the title sponsorships come into play.
In return for their contribution, sponsors enjoy massive brand exposure, making impressions on fans at the tournament as well as viewers at home. Anything not moving at the tournament features the sponsor’s logo. The sponsor is referenced each and every time the tournament is mentioned by reporters, players and broadcasters. These, plus numerous PR events, are just a fraction of the perks of a golf tournament sponsorship.

RECENT TRENDS
I spend many hours watching PGA Tour events on television and I can factually say that you’re more likely to see a bank or investment firm sponsor a player than a tournament. Banks aren't so quick to sponsor tournaments and I’ve noticed this trend since the economy turned south in 2008.

Northern Trust was just one many financial institutions that received federal assistance by way of the TARP program. As explained in this 2009 Huffington Post article, when Northern Trust hosted parties associated with its sponsorship of a PGA Tour event - - seemingly on the government’s dime - - it brought on a lot of negative attention from politicians and taxpayers alike.

Around the same period of time, the then Wachovia Championship was renamed the Quail Hollow Championship. Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia in 2009 and said that decision was made to distance consumers from the Wachovia brand. There’s probably some truth to that explanation but, at the time, it felt more like an attempt to avoid any conflicts of interest. Either way, the tournament was renamed again and has been the Wells Fargo Championship since 2011.

Courtesy: Streeter Lecka, Getty, WSOC

THIS SEASON'S SPONSORS
The following table details information about the 2013-2014 PGA Tour events that feature a bank as the title sponsor.

Tournament	Locations	Date	Tournament Purse
CIMB Classic	Kuala Lumpur	Oct 24th - 27th	$7,000,000
HSBC Champions (World Golf Championship Event)	Shanghai	Oct 31st - Nov 3rd	$8,500,000
RBC Heritage	Hilton Head, SC	Apr 17th - 20th	$5,800,000
Wells Fargo Championship	Charlotte, NC	May 1st - 4th	$6,900,000
RBC Canadian Open	Quebec	July 24th - 27th	$5,700,000
The Barclays (PGA Tour Playoff Event)	Paramus, NJ	Aug 21st - 24th	$8,000,000
Deutsche Bank Championship (PGA Tour Playoff Event)	Norton, MA	Aug 29th - Sept 1st	$8,000,000

Wells Fargo is the only bank on this list that is headquartered in the United States - proof that banks in the US are still wary of the public’s ire.

Title sponsors are not responsible for the entire tournament purse but these are some of the highest purses on tour. Naturally, these tournaments attract the best players. A strong field attracts high TV ratings. High TV ratings attract advertisers for broadcasters. Everyone wins.

Courtesy: Mel Evans, AP

THE FUTURE
It is encouraging to see more banks opting to fill lower-tier sponsorships on the PGA Tour. Plus, local behemoth Regions Bank has served well as the title sponsor of The Tradition, a major tournament on the PGA Champions Tour, since 2011. But the game of golf has always been labeled as a rich man’s game. That stigma doesn’t pair well with the public perception of big banks.

Though they’re not hurting for support, PGA Tour events may never benefit from the title sponsorship of a big US bank again.

{Top photo courtesy: Mark Stockwell}