E67: The future of golf’s pro tours

We talk to Chubby Chandler and Nathan Homer about the big business questions facing the professional golf tours in Europe and America. It’s a conversation that needs a bit of context, for listeners who haven’t been following what’s been happening in the golf business over the last month or so. First, there’s the obvious theme of how the four major championships and the two big professional tours in Europe and America have responded to the COVID shutdown. There’s been a marked difference in tone and ambition on either side of the Atlantic. The three American based majors went early with new dates in late summer and Autumn, while The R&A has cancelled the 2020 Open Championship entirely. Similarly, Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour has been very quick to publish rescheduled event timetables, which seem to many observers to be on the ambitious side, while Keith Pelley head of the European Tour has been far more circumspect, sending out an email to its playing members warning of the profound effect of the shutdown on the golf economy. The story was broken by James Corrigan of the Daily Telegraph who obtained a copy of Pelley’s email and made it public, read James’ story here...Pelley writes:“Our tour has enjoyed a significant period of growth in recent years, in terms of prize funds, playing opportunities and the overall standard of our events, as well as our broadcast product. The impact of the coronavirus has stopped this rapid momentum in its tracks, and it will, in fact, require us to reassess many elements. You should therefore be prepared that when we do resume playing, the schedule and the infrastructure of tournaments could look radically different from what you have been used to. Many of the things you have become accustomed to, such as top-class players’ lounges or courtesy car services will most likely assume a different appearance, if indeed they are present at all.Then it goes on to say "Prize funds will also most likely be different. … The reality is, the pandemic is going to have a profound impact on the tour financially, as well as many of our partners, both in sponsorship and broadcast areas.”Now, running in parallel to this story is the rumours of a breakaway Premier Golf League, funded by the Raine Group and investment from the Saudi sovereign fund.  In what seems like a lifetime ago now, Geoff Shackelford the blogger, podcaster and Golf Channel contributor broke the story and followed up with a lengthy Q&A with Andrew Gardiner, one of the key people behind the Premier League. I’ll put a link to Geoff’s piece in the show notes with this podcast, and it’s also worth listening to the recent State of the Game podcast with Geoff, Rod Morri, Michael Clayton and myself, where we go in to great detail on the issues arising from the story. (Geoff’s Q&A with Andrew Gardiner is here ).If I was to reduce the PGL to its bare bones, it takes the best 48 players in the world and puts them in to 12 franchise teams of four golfers competing for a world championship over 18 events through the season. So, a formula one of golf, essentially. So, for this podcast, I wanted the views of two people from inside golf to get their perspective on some of the questions that arise from all this. Chubby Chandler, founder of ISM and Nathan Homer of Now TV/Sky who was until last year the Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer at the European Tour.The first call I made was to Chubby, one of the most influential golf agents in the world, whose clients have included Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els and the cricketer Andrew Flintoff to name just a few. ISM is also an event promoter Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.