Corporate golf is back on the hot seat 8 months after Northern Trust was raked over the coals in the national press with the PGA Championships descending on Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, MN. It seems as if Corporate America not only learned that sports hospitality is a sensitive issue in down times, but maybe learned it too well by pulling back too hard on sports marketing’s involvement on the ground at major tournaments.
As the Star Tribune points out in detail, Corporations are spending significantly less money than when the PGA Championships were in Minnesota only 7 years ago with corporate participation down from 140 companies to 110.
Corporations and businesses still yearn to entertain at these events, as it is a proven business practice, however most are victims of their own negligence as they have no concrete data to justify such practices. This point is punctuated by Bob Kleiber of the Minneapolis lawfirm Dorsey & Whitney “the bottom line is, these packages are expensive and it’s difficult to know if you get the bang for the buck. “ He continues with “You’ve got to weigh the benefits, particularly in this economy.” The irony of corporate involvement and the knee-jerk pull back is found in those statements by Kleiber. Don’t companies have the responsibility to weigh the benefits of marketing and business development spend in ALL economies, not solely the downturns? Especially when tools to effectively track sports tickets are not only available but inexpensive?
If firms had taken these measures, they would be able to continue with sound business practices without concern about negative PR, the government, or tmz.com as this article relays. There are multiple quotes from fortune 1000’s stating the purpose for their involvement ranging from “as one of the major employers in the Twin Cities, Securian has had a presence at the US Open and PGA Championship, because we believe these are opportunities for our region, because so much attention is focused on the event” to sports marketing firms justifying the event by it’s “unique structure.” Unique structure is not going to hold up when shareholders ask questions about this kind of corporate sports entertaining.
Are these acceptable answers? At one point, a Millsport exec quotes Kenneth Lewis of Bank of America (as “one exec”), one of hundreds of firms using effective sports ticket management, that for every $1 they spend, they make $10. Believe it or not, this is true for most firms working with a true provider.
It is discouraging that not only do the firms not have quantifiable data, but neither do the sports marketing “experts”. “Unique” is nice. Hard factual data showing positive business returns are bullet proof.
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