The fine folks at ESPN have just published a survey of 49 LPGA golfers prior to this week’s US Women’s Open (in case you would like to watch, it will be televised on Fox and FS1). The results revealed some interesting answers from the players.
According to the survey, the majority of women professional golfers feel the biggest issue facing them is the pay gap with the men’s tour with 78% of the survey participants believing they are not paid fairly. Interestingly, 92% of those surveyed think that there should be a working connection between the LPGA and PGA tours. 51% of those surveyed think that the LPGA needs to have a bigger footprint in the United States.
The survey about the LPGA contains both some truth and some fantasy. On the weekend prior to July 4, the LPGA staged the Women’s PGA Championship which pulled a .6 television rating on NBC and a total of 840,000 viewers. The winner, Danielle Kang, won $525,000. On the same weekend, the PGA tour’s Quicken Loans National on CBS had a paltry rating of 1.2 (down 30% from the prior year) with 1.9 million viewers. Kyle Stanley won $1,278,000 for the victory. If only judged by television ratings and viewership, the prize money paid to the respective winning golfers seems fairly much in line.
The men’s PGA Tour saw an incredible increase in ratings and, ultimately, prize money resulting from the advent of the entertaining Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson era beginning in the late 1990’s. When the networks started drooling over the increased ratings for golf coverage, the money paid for televised broadcast rights skyrocketed as several major networks bid-up the price in order to capture the wealthiest viewing demographic for potential advertisers.
The PGA Tour smartly locked-up a massive 9-year contract extension with the current networks in 2011 (when Tiger Woods was only 36-years old and still chasing Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championships). According to the PGA, the overall prize money for men’s golf tournaments nearly quadrupled from $80 million in 1997 to $280 million by 2011. However, since Tiger Woods’ legendary personal issues and chronic physical ailments have kept him off television for several years, the next long-term contract for televised golf rights will likely be for a shorter duration and more reflective of a significantly declining television audience.
Meanwhile, the LPGA lost their transcendent star in 2008 when Annika Sorenstam retired to start a family. Since then, the tour pinned its hopes that Michelle Wie would become the next LPGA superstar. Unfortunately, Wie has won only four events in her first eight seasons.
During that same time, the LPGA has seen a growing “Asian Invasion” with only four American female golfers among the top 20 money earners in 2016. Female golfers from Asia (primarily from South Korea) held the majority of the top 20 earnings positions. In 2017, the trend has expanded. Since the LPGA derives most of its income from stops within the United States, skyrocketing golf interest in South Korea has not helped to build a higher viewing audience in America.
The LPGA’s current less-than-lucrative television contracts will end in 2019. Like the PGA’s “Champions” golf tour for older golfers, the LPGA has recently begun to market its own “champions” events (albeit on a much smaller scale). Keeping familiar names in the public eye for a few more years should only help the sport.
But there is good news! In March, 2016, the PGA and LPGA reached an agreement to coordinate more and more aspects of business together – including, perhaps, development of joint events. For the ladies, the chance to increase television exposure and prize money awaits. The question remains as to whether the LPGA will be able to capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead.