The grade of an LPGA commissioner is essentially connected to at least one factor: the schedule.
What number of tournaments are being staged and the way huge are the purses?
However there’s one other backside line that’s necessary and fewer public, and that’s the tour’s working finances. A number of sources have confirmed to Golfweek that the tour is slated to lose round $2 million this yr. LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan mentioned two weeks in the past in her annual handle that the tour’s complete employees had elevated by 35 p.c lately, with the advertising and content material division increasing to 39 folks.
The commissioner, who introduced on Monday that she’s stepping down Jan. 9, invested closely on growing publicity for the tour however, to this point, has come up brief within the return. The previous Princeton athletic director mentioned she was “building the infrastructure in order to build our global fan base.”
That the tour might lose cash at a time of unprecedented development in girls’s sports activities – particularly throughout a profitable Solheim Cup yr – set off alarm bells for some.
LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan speaks to the media previous to the CME Group Tour Championship 2024 at Tiburon Golf Membership in Naples, Florida. (Michael Reaves/Getty Photos)
LPGA Participant Director Ashleigh Buhai wasn’t too involved concerning the loss, nonetheless, saying “you’ve got to spend money to make money.”
“Everybody who comes into a lead position is going to try to do things their own way to make their own mark,” mentioned Buhai, “and sometimes you pull it off, and sometimes you don’t.”
Given the starry headlines of 2024 – with the dynamic one-two punch of Nelly Korda’s seven-win season and Lydia Ko’s fairy-tale run into the LPGA Corridor of Fame – some gamers had been shocked to see a schedule come out that confirmed little development. Official cash for 2025, so far, is up $3.6 million from final season.
“We’re moving in the right direction all the time, but the schedule is very much major heavy,” Eire’s Leona Maguire mentioned two weeks in the past on the CME Group Tour Championship.
“The purses in the majors do disguise some things, I feel like, and the gap between us and the men seems to be growing rather than us catching up. … There couldn’t possibly have been any better golf played. I’ll just say that.”
Nelly Korda poses with the winner’s trophy after successful The Annika pushed by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Membership in Belleair, Florida. (Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Photos)
Because the tour units out to search out new management, Tim Erensen of Outlyr, a worldwide sports activities, occasion administration and way of life advertising company that runs quite a few LPGA occasions, mentioned it’s necessary to discover a chief who can drive company assist to the tour and its tournaments.
“We need help with marketing partners,” mentioned Erensen, noting the extensive hole between the LPGA and PGA Tour on this space.
For former World No. 1 Stacy Lewis, communication must be a precedence in whoever is available in subsequent.
“You’ve got to make the tournament sponsors, the players, the tournament directors be on the same page more,” mentioned Lewis, “more cohesiveness, more working together across the board. … Everybody’s got to work together for the same goal, and knowing what that goal is is important.”
For Buhai, the three most necessary areas for gamers in a commissioner are the flexibility to construct belief, communication and set forth a imaginative and prescient for gamers.
Stanford grad Andrea Lee was not too long ago elected to the LPGA Board and hopes that as a player-director she may also help the tour capitalize extra on the second.
“How can we market the tour better; how can we market the top players in the world a bit better?” Lee requested final month whereas on the CME.
“With women’s sports overall growing exponentially, the LPGA kind of needs to do the same.”
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Author : admin
Publish date : 2024-12-05 13:41:49
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