Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Flat screens flatlined this sponsorship

Last weeks announcement that Corning was ending its 32 year LPGA tournament in Corning NY really did not come as a surprise.

What came as a surprise is the reason.

The directors felt that it could literally blame poor attendance and lack of volunteers as its reasons for canceling its sponsorship.

In reality, this is what is happening:

Corning failed to mention that credit markets are so tight that they can't renegotiate debt at cheap rates anymore. The reason they have debt in the first place is because during the Internet boom, Corning went hog-wild into the fiber optic business, jumping on the debt-for-growth bandwagon and leaving their legacy glassware business in the dust. At the time it probably looked like a good idea...but not now...with mountains of debt as high as flat screen inventories at Best Buy.

That's what I would have liked to have seen in the release. But they passed the buck.

This is just one of many sponsorships that are going away. It's not just Corning. Looking at the history of Cornings LPGA beginnings, reveals a new, old world where the LPGA and other sports associations will have to base their realities:

"The tournament purse, which started out as $100,000 – with the winner getting $15,000 – stands this year at $1.5 million. This year’s winner will collect $225,000, two and a quarter times what Penny Pulz earned in 1979."

Tournaments that do not adjust for this reality, will be extinct...like the LPGA Corning Classic.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Watchers take cover as Bill Murray tees off | ajc.com

Watchers take cover as Bill Murray tees off | ajc.com

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New Tools for MyDailySlice readers!

I've recently added a couple awesome new tools that will allow you to really get inside the uniqueness of the game of golf.
Two new social network tools: Twitter, and ShareThis, will allow you to follow not only my thoughts, but thoughts of some of the best writers of the sport, as well as the best golfers in the world.

How you say? Well, you can follow me on Twitter...and here's the cool part...you can follow the Twitter-ers that I follow as well...which are pretty unique to the game of golf.

Go on...click my Twitter link to see who I follow...I'll wait.

Pretty cool, huh?! I know that you might not be really interested in my timely diaper changes to my future LPGA star...but I do know you are interested in what Stewart Cink is doing right now!

Now for the second app: ShareThis. You can now read the articles that I read, and have inspired me to post...for well over 3 years now...That's 300 in Second Life years!
I read a lot of great stuff during a week...and some of it gets lost in the noise of everyday life, but now I can feed what I'm reading right to my blog post so you can get inside on some of the uniqueness of golf...the essence of what I find interesting.

You might call my blog with these new apps a mashup of what makes MyDailySlice tick.

This will give you more updates to read, and will truly be what I envisioned when I started my blog so long ago: To be a daily slice of golf.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Inside Augusta National Golf Club - Portfolio.com

Inside Augusta National Golf Club - Portfolio.com

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