LPGA's worst nightmare. (AP/Damian Dovarganes)
Carolyn Bivens’ stormy tenure as commissioner of the LPGA is coming to an end. She has lost the support of LPGA members and has alienated her last sponsor.
The organization is in disarray; the prospect of its domestic schedule dwindling to 10 or fewer tournaments in 2010 is very real.
What happens next? Can the bleeding be staunched?
If Bivens is ousted after the U.S. Women's Open, as is widely expected, it probably will cost the LPGA at least $1 million to buy out the last two years of her contract. The organization is not flush with cash, which will limit its efforts to recruit a replacement.
One reason the LPGA has backed Bivens for so long is that she is the first woman to be commissioner of what touts itself as the oldest and premier organization in women’s sports. Having set that precedent – and rightfully so – the LPGA would seem obligated to find another woman occupy the commissioner’s office.
Donna Orender and Cindy Davis immediately come to mind as candidates.
Orender is president of the WNBA and is a former executive with the PGA Tour, where she was in charge of TV contract negotiations. Her husband, M.G. Orender, is a past president of the PGA of America and a golf course owner/operator, giving Donna that much more familiarity with the golf landscape.
Davis is president of Nike Golf, a post she assumed last January. She is a former marketing executive with Golf Channel and was an LPGA vice president in the mid-1990s. Davis has downplayed past speculation about her desire to run the LPGA, but she may reconsider since Nike, like every equipment company, is struggling in the global recession and long-stagnant domestic golf economy.
Both women are athletes, Orender having played professional basketball and Davis excelling at college golf. As such, and unlike Bivens, they understand the core appeal of the LPGA. It’s a sport, as well as a brand.
Unfortunately, either Orender or Daivs probably would have to take a pay cut with the LPGA, which isn’t very appealing considering the mess Bivens’ successor will inherit. Indeed, the LPGA may have to fold before it can be resurrected. Even optimistic projections about the post-recession economy caution that the free-spending 1990s and early 2000s won’t be repeated. With fewer sponsorship dollars available, and given the low rung it occupies in the hierarchy of sports, it’s doubtful the LPGA can survive as a standalone entity.
If it can’t, what’s the future of women’s golf in the United States?
Management powerhouse IMG could come to the rescue. The Cleveland-based company, best known for handling the business affairs of Tiger Woods, has expertise in golf tournament operations, sponsorship and broadcasting. It has a global reach. It represents more than 15 LPGA players, including Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbus and Yani Tseng.
Sure, it can be argued that IMG running the LPGA would be a gross conflict of interest. In reality, that line in golf disappeared years ago.
Nor is it for-fetched that the PGA Tour might absorb a failed LPGA sometime after 2012, depending on the outcome of upcoming negotiations for TV rights. Deals with CBS and NBC expire after the 2012 season, but the agreement with Golf Channel, which is owned by cable giant Comcast, runs through 2021.
It’s a given that weekend coverage of more PGA Tour events will migrate to Golf Channel, which already airs the Tour on Thursdays and Fridays, as well as all four rounds of some early- and late-season tournaments. NBC and CBS lose money on PGA Tour golf, especially when Tiger Woods is idle. ABC gave up on golf when the current deals were hammered out in late 2005. Don’t be shocked if NBC and/or CBS does the same in 2010, when the next contracts will be finalized.
Golf is a niche sport whose audience comprises a highly desirable demographic. It’s best suited for cable and live streaming on the Internet and mobile devices. Comcast is a leader in those arenas; there’s a reason why the staff at Orlando-based GolfChannel.com has grown from fewer than 20 employees three years ago to roughly 200 today (mostly in sales in marketing). When the Tour struck its unprecedented 15-year deal with Golf Channel, it was laying the groundwork for a de facto PGA Tour Network.
Hence, with Golf Channel eventually enjoying a near monopoly on the distribution of professional golf in America (the networks would retain the majors, The Players and perhaps the FedEx Cup playoffs), it would make sense for the PGA Tour to be the white knight that absorbs an ailing LPGA and integrates it into its collaboration with Comcast.
(Details about the LPGA’s new deal with Golf Channel are sketchy. The agreement may be in jeopardy if the LPGA continues to lose tournaments.)
Don’t forget, Ty Votaw, who preceded Bivens as LPGA commissioner, is now the PGA Tour’s executive VP of communications and international affairs. Votaw has been mentioned among the candidates to succeed commissioner Tim Finchem when he retires, which figures to coincide with the completion of the next TV negotiations.
Any acquisition of the LPGA by the PGA Tour, or some sort of strategic alliance, also hinges on the fate of the Champions Tour. If interest in the senior circuit continues to wane, there could be a Golf Channel programming void to fill in the not too distant future.
Whatever happens, the LPGA faces a challenging transition – assuming it even survives.
Check out National Sports Examiner Paula Duffy's take on the Bivens situation.
Comments
It is absurd to say that they are obligated to choose another woman. Leaving aside the blatant sexual discrimination (yes, sexual discrimination against men is sexual discrimination, how would the writer like it if his editor suddenly decided that it was time to employ a female correspondent, even if all the available females were less skilled than himself?), it is women who will suffer if the next commissioner isn't up the job, and this is a remarkable moment to ignore the fact that being female is not in itself a badge of competence to run a golf tour. I think we can take it for granted that the writer would be outraged by the suggestion of an all-male shortlist for the next PGA Tour commissioner. It is time to sit down and think about what fairness means in the 21st century. Contrary to seemingly widespread belief, it does not mean deliberately penalising men. Even feminists should realise that male victims of discrimination will often be their own sons and brothers.
I get where you're coming from, and so does the Supreme Court, as evidenced by its recent decision on the tests for firemen.
But I can tell you from experience that women in sports feel much more comfortable and confident around women administrators, reporters, officials, etc. I can't explain it, but that's the way it is. No doubt it has something to do with enduring decades of sexual discrimination, not only in sports, but in the workplace in general. (It boggles my mind that my mother was 6 years old when women gained the right to vote in the United States.)
No question, women are suffering because the LPGA made such a poor choice by appointing Bivens, who doesn't understand the essence of the brand she's trying so mightily to sell, as commissioner. But I also understand the symbolism of having a woman run the organization, which is why the LPGA deserves a mulligan when it comes to selecting Bivens' successor.
So because "women feel much more comfortable and confident around women administrators, reporters, officials etc" you will give them a licence to discriminate? Men may feel more comfortable around other men, but they are not allowed to discriminate. The double standard couldn't be clearer, and any justification you make for it is simply humbug.
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