Why do golf tournament winners make a million bucks?

PGA tour has fifty times the revenue of track and field, plus multiple major sponsors.

Because it has a fan base that actually cares about the sport and rewards the sponsors with massive amounts of revenue. Plus, the PGA is a very well run organization with an incredible business and marketing plan unlike USATF or IAAF.

Econ 101- Supply and Demand

Carnivore 69 wrote:

PGA tour has fifty times the revenue of track and field, plus multiple major sponsors.

By 50x's you mean 500x's, and yes it is true.

Honestly... wrote:

By 50x's you mean 500x's, and yes it is true.

If by 500x's you mean 5000x, then yes it is true.

There's a whole lot that goes on at these golf tournaments besides the 72 holes ...there's a helluva lot of shmoozing with big bucks folks. At elite track meets, runners glumly warm yup, do their very brief events, maybe smile and wave once, and then leave.

Also, golf tournaments are full-fledged parties for the host city. The social scene around golf tournaments is like an outdoor club for the uppper middle class middle aged. At most US track meets, attendees are treated as second class citizens who rarely even deserve to be told the results.

Because golf is probably one of the few sports left that actually has some integrity.

Along these lines, many golfers watch golf. I know a lot of runners who would never sit down to watch a track meet.

Some runners dismiss "Gallowalkers" and those running at the back of the pack whereas I cannot recall a pro golfer making disparaging comments about a guy who has a 15 handicap.

Also, every golfer in the world can relate to hitting the "perfect" shot because everyone has done it at least once. A the same time, every pro golfer can understand hitting a really bad shot since it will happen in virtually every round.

While many suspect the demographics of golf are high income earners, I wonder about this since many friends who make median income levels play golf and I run with folks who make more than they do.

I have actually started to watch some golf. An exciting finish is fun.

Ask yourself where that money comes from and why someone is willing to put that much money up for them?

Nobody is being forced to put up a $ 3,000,000 purse, they do it willingly because they get something out of it.

A lot of commercials for beer, golf clubs, shoes, balls, expensive cars, etc. and people watching the show who will actually buy them.

If the demographics for a typical TV-track-meet could be shown to support the same things, Tim Broe would be making probably $500,000 a year and have free cars and stuff.

Until you can stop rich people from liking golf it will persist, get used to it.

I live in a very small town fifty miles outside of Pittsburgh. The town just hosted one of the most popular PGA tournaments in the country. Though I am not a golf fan I was very impressed with how well the tournament was managed. Here are some things I felt the PGA did right.

1) They got the town to support the event, despite having only a few restaurants and one hotel within 5 miles of the course. Most attendees willingly drove in from 50 miles or more each day. Many of the townspeople volunteered to help with parking, scorekeeping, selling programs, etc. It was quite prestigious to be a volunteer.

2) They started marketing the event nearly 12 months ahead.

3) The players were available to mix and mingle with the public for their two practice days before official play began. My dad got to see several of his golf heroes up close. The players freely sign autographs and get their pictures taken.

4) Arnold Palmer grew up near here so they played it up as Arnie's home.

5) Parking was free.

6) Kids under 18 got in free every day.

luv2run wrote:

Along these lines, many golfers watch golf. I know a lot of runners who would never sit down to watch a track meet.

Some runners dismiss "Gallowalkers" and those running at the back of the pack whereas I cannot recall a pro golfer making disparaging comments about a guy who has a 15 handicap.

Also, every golfer in the world can relate to hitting the "perfect" shot because everyone has done it at least once. A the same time, every pro golfer can understand hitting a really bad shot since it will happen in virtually every round.

While many suspect the demographics of golf are high income earners, I wonder about this since many friends who make median income levels play golf and I run with folks who make more than they do.

I have actually started to watch some golf. An exciting finish is fun.

You know, luv2run, we usually find eachother on opposite ends of most issues (politics especially), but here I can say that I completely agree with every point you make.

The people making the point that golfers schmooze are spot-on. I don't know how many sr.exec. offices i've been in that have the sr. exec with his arm around a golfer at an event. Corporate guys love sponsoring this stuff.

your all nyahs

PGA events are fantastic for local charities. One of the best things they do is the Pro-Am event that every stop has on Tuesday or Wednesday before play begins. Local executives, politicians, rich folks pony up a large chunk of change to play 18 holes with a pro golfer. Name any other sport that allows that sort of access to their elite? Batting practice with Bonds? H-O-R-S-E with LeBron? Warm up with Bekele? It never happens. Track is the same. Sprinters keep with their entourages, distance runners do their focused loner routine, and the field event participants seem to just appear from nowhere.

Who would have thought a "rich, white man's sport" would have more populist appeal than just about any other sport out there?

If you want to play 18 holes are pebble beach it's going to cost you a shitload of money; on the other hand, if you get there early enough in the morning you can run all 18 holes for free.

Why the "victim mentality" of so many on here? It's not like there is a big conspiracy vs t&f it's just not as TV friendly as other sports.

Like many have said already, it's supply and demand. The market takes care of the level of pay & prize money. The only thing we have is the shoe money. And to be honest, I've never purshased a particular band of shoe because a great runner wears them. I pull for Webb, but I don't wear Nike. I was a HUGE Rodgers fan growing up, but I've only owned 2 pair of Asics. So I don't really know how much the endorsement aspect corresponds to market success. (Although I'd be intresting to see a market survey.)

i agree, we dont wear shoes just because a certain runner does, and i doubt all golfers buy their clubs because tiger or whoever does. but what about the other sponsors and advertisers, i am sure people buy products from them. Track needs to look outside the box more, i did hear them mention home depot, visa, hersheys a good bit this weekend. i still dont see why athletes dont get sponsors from people other than shoes, i guess the companies dont think it would be a good investment. USATF needs to market athletes better, i know they have that youth better health program but i think there needs to be more, get them in the community of the meets, talk them up, offer "baseball" cards to the public that they can get signed. I am a pretty knowledgable track fan, but i admit i dont know who all the sprinters are or what some people look like, watching this weekends meet they would talk about an athlete and tell you to watch and i was focused on the wrong girl in the nike uniform. maybe they could use that bubble to highlight the runners like nascar does, pointing out place, pace, speed, etc. Also corporate sponsoring would make the races more interesting to common viewers, they could actually pick somone to root for. They could choose the Budweiser Guy, or the Lowe's Guy or Ebay Guy or whatever instead of 5 guys in the same nike singlet. Nascar has a totally different look to each car so you can identify with them, all ford drivers dont have the same car. Sorry this is long, but i think a lot can be done to make the sport exciting to non-track viewers, which would lead to more support of sponsors, which would lead to more sponsors, etc.

Man, even the NBA is thinking about having corporate logos on uniforms. Money talks.