Keith Pelley, CEO of the European Tour
May 7, 2020 —The European Tour is in deep trouble, and it appears that the PGA Tour will come riding to the rescue. But at a price.
Since March, according to MorningRead.com, the European Tour has been canceling tournaments because of the coronavirus pandemic. In all, 16 events have been postponed or canceled, including the first scrubbing of the British Open since World War II. The tour has set July 30 as a date to resume play, at the Betfred British Masters.
Tour chief executive Keith Pelley is said to be working frantically to put together a schedule of 26 events to salvage a season, which would end in November at the DP World Tour Championship, the conclusion of the season-long Race to Dubai.
However, according to multiple published reports, the coronavirus pandemic will affect the European Tour much more deeply than originally thought. Pelley circulated a memo to players in April.
“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,” he said. “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.
“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.”
Neither Pelley nor PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been quoted for publication on the subject. But according to reports, both men are talking daily about forging some sort of arrangement – perhaps a partnership or an outright merger – in which the European Tour would receive at the very least significant financial help to remain afloat and viable. At most, it is speculated that the Euro Tour would become a subsidiary of the PGA Tour. If anything has been decided, it has not been made public.
While talks between Monahan and Pelley perhaps were begun out of the European Tour’s financial necessity, it also appears to be an effort to fend off organizers of the proposed Premier Golf League. The PGL has been floated by backers with deep pockets as an alternative global tour, consisting of 18 worldwide events featuring 48 of the game’s elite players. The proposed tour would start in 2022, with a total purse of $240 million.
Read more at morningread.com.
But what’s the potential for such a partnership?
