LPGA Sponsorship Woes
And WNBA rookie Angel Reese's bills cost over $73,439 a year?!
The LPGA is searching for a new title sponsor for the Founders Cup. Technology firm Cognizant will not be renewing its sponsorship deal for the tournament, according to a report from Golfweek.
The Founders Cup, which is played in New Jersey, has been one of the more lucrative events for LPGA players outside of the majors. After Cognizant joined as a title sponsor, the prize purse for the competition increased to $3 million. Rose Zhang won this year’s Founders Cup, securing a check of $450,000.
It’s worrying that the Founders Cup has not yet secured a sponsor for next year considering the tournament typically takes place in May — early in the LPGA calendar. Golfweek reports that the LPGA may choose to back the event financially until a sponsor is found. The Portland Classic, which is the tour’s longest-running non-major tournament, hasn’t had a title sponsor the past two years. However, GolfDigest reports that the Portland Classic is in danger of folding without a sponsor.
"We're working hard to find a title sponsor and keep it on the calendar," Casey Ceman, LPGA’s vice president of tournament business affairs, told GolfDigest.
The Ford Championship is another event that could be missing a sponsor. Ford only signed on to one-year deal as title sponsor. The deal “symbolized the growth in women’s sport,” said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan at the time of the announcement.
The LPGA promises that more clarity will be provided on the future of the Founders Cup and other events at the CME Group Tour Championship in November.
It could be that the CME Group is providing more support to the tour — it’s already one of the tour’s biggest champions. Last year, the CME Group Tour Championship prize purse grew from $7 million to $11 million, with the winner receiving $4 million which was the biggest payout for any women’s sport.
The LPGA full season purse grew to $108 million in 2023, which was up 54% from just two years earlier, according to a report from the CME Group. While major championship purse sizes were up 80% from 2021. Large tournament purse sizes translate into an increase in player earnings.
Just because there isn’t a clear sponsor for several tournaments doesn’t mean it is necessarily bad news for the tour. There has already be a shakeup to the LPGA calendar for 2025 with the tour heading to Utah for the Black Desert Championship, which is expected to have an “eye-popping purse.” It could just be that priorities are shifting for the LPGA and its sponsors.
On the back of a stellar season for the WNBA, demand is high for sponsorship amongst teams and players in the league. All eyes will be on the LPGA to see if the surge in interest in women’s sports via the WNBA has parlayed to other women’s sports leagues. However, a great article from Complex this week points out there isn’t exactly parity when it comes to those exciting WNBA sponsorship deals.
The best of the rest
The UK government is launching a “Women’s Sports Investment Accelerator” to attract private investment into UK women’s sports. Coordinated by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) the scheme will facilitate conversations between 20 women’s sports league, including the WSL, investors, and industry experts. Consulting firm Deloitte will also be working alongside the DBT on this program; it follows on from a pilot program undertaken in 2023/2024.
Google developed Pixel FC Academy to equip women’s football creators with tools, training, and connections needed to move forward in sports media. The five-month program is created by Google and is in partnership with Arsenal FC, Liverpool FC, and the FA.
Fortuna Investment’s Justus Parmar speaks to Yahoo Finance about the huge investment opportunities in women sports. “Relatively speaking, the buy-in is actually significantly cheaper,” he said.
The Chicago Red Stars had its own Social Network-esque moment this week as the team dropped the “red” from its name ahead of the NWSL 2025 season. The NWSL team is now called the Chicago Stars. I guess it’s cleaner?
Nashville officially enters the race to become the next NWSL expansion team. HerGame, a group of investors who brought forward the bid, will be competing against groups from cities such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, and Philadelphia.
In or out?! A goal from Amanda Nilden in Chelsea’s match against Tottenham Hot Spurs in the WSL has everyone asking if it’s time for goal line technology. Another option that could be rolled out for women’s games is VAR Lite, which aims to be a more affordable version of VAR.
WNBA players have decided to opt of their current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which they had the option to do before Nov. 1.
Speaking of the WNBA, league winners The New York Liberty are early favorites at the bookies to win the 2025 league title. Though I am not sure next season is on the team’s mind just yet, I loved seeing these photos of the Liberty team partying in the Financial District earlier this week.
Both NBA and WNBA players will be wearing Nike uniforms until 2037 under a 12-year contract extension. Financial details of the deal were not released.
I can’t help but feel a little cynical on this report about NBA franchise holders not being happy about the lack of financial returns from the WNBA despite its stellar season. It sounds like they might just be a bit bitter because the WNBA is getting more attention… plus don’t they know how growth investments work? The spectacular success of this season was never going to translate immediately into financial returns.
What do you think?
Is WNBA rookie Angel Reese’s comments on her $73,439 salary not even paying one her bills out of touch?
My take: We can all agree that WNBA players need to paid more considering the attention coming into the league and when you compare their salaries to those in the NBA. And yes Reese’s comment was said in jest, but it was still out of touch. All my bills combined would come to less than $6,000 a year. The comment says more about her money management skills than it does about the WNBA’s salary tiers. It’s also a joke that risks polarizing the audiences that the WNBA aims to attract. The average annual mean wage in the US in 2023 was $65,470.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Image source: Brandonrush, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
