There are multiple articles and sources for this if you Google a bit. Here are 2 that are a bit different in what they point out.
This is one of the best marketing positions by any organization ever.
PGA donates less than 5% of their revenue.
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This is how Public Balance Sheets are done. You are aware of this? All Professional Sports Foundations do the exact same thing. Or wasn’t I clear about that? Now look up what the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL charitable foundations do. Don’t just single out the PGA. All said the IRS recognizes the PGAs $3B+ as Charitable Donations. I didn’t set-up or make up the laws. AND again… this will all go away if the Camel Tour is allowed to poach the PGA membership! I already quoted you on the Ricky Clemons article… read it for what it says. Here’s the direct quote from Mr. Clemons who is grinding a racial bias axe: “None of this is meant to diminish the significance of the charitable work that the PGA Tour actually supports.” AND if you don’t like what The PGA Tour does and how they do what they do… don’t watch it and don’t support any of it! That’s why they make the ON/OFF button on your remote control! My personal support goes to PGA Tour and it’s affiliated tours and businesses, The LPGA and the DP Euro Tour. Now ask me how I feel about the NFL and their policies and contributions on CTE and why I won’t ever go to a game or buy their gear?
I’m not saying the PGA Tour is doing anything illegal, but they are just not donating $3B…I think I was clear about that?
I didn’t watch any tournaments this past weekend. I did play in one. I really don’t care about the PGA Tour’s squabble with the LIV Golf Tour. They are just golf tournaments. I didn’t follow the Depp-Heard trial either which is about as meaningful as golf in the grand scheme of things.
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Kev…that’s not what the IRS says. The IRS says it’s $3B. I’m not going to argue with them. They do the audits. Ever argue with the IRS? I have… 2 things to tell you. First: I lost the audit dispute. Second: With them it’s you’re guilty until you prove your innocence. All these reporters and journalists can break down anything, any way they want. If the PGA Tour was misrepresenting their balance sheets it would be Major News! If the IRS says it’s $3B and the Tour promotes what the IRS says, I kinda have to go with that. They are alot, alot smarter than me! Here’s a way to help you understand charitable donations. I have a car that I want to donate. Street value of the car might be $1000. You donate it and the organization writes you a receipt—all legal mind you— for $4000. The IRS accepts that as a charitable donation of $4K. Did you cheat? Did you misrepresent? No and no. Those are the rules and laws
If you can show it to me I’ll believe it, but I don’t think you can. They can certainly claim to help generate that much, but that’s it. You can see some of their 990’s here.
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Oh and yes I was audited by the IRS once years ago. I found them to be quite civil although slow to deal with. There wasn’t really a winner. I made a mistake in my filing, which they caught and I corrected it and actually came out ahead in the end.
Under Schedule 1 on the 990, 501Cs that accepted contributions from the PGA Tour in 2019… $47M to all charities and organizations and another $2.5 to foreign charities… I only did 2019…I don’t have that kind of time to review everything really quick. That $3B is cumulative over lets say 40 years. I read their entire tax return. Amazingly, Streels & Spieth were compensated $2.5M each for serving on the players board… So there ya go! Monahans pay of $5M was barely 1.5% of revenues as the CEO/Commish…I don’t think that’s outrageous by todays standards.Ya gotta go down to the donations portion when you answer yes
I didn’t say the IRS were mean to me. I said they audited me in 1988 and I ended up owing a couple Gs in taxes on a mistake I made. They waived the Penalties, but not the interest and that’s when I decided to use a tax professional so that wouldn’t happen again.
The math doesn’t add up. Divide $50MM into $3B and you get 60 years. Their biggest year was like $50MM so the average must be less. They have been around 93? years, but they would still need to donate over $30MM each year. There wasn’t that kind of money years ago. So again, I believe the $3B number, but it did not come directly from the PGA Tour, but from the tournaments.
I was surprised those players were paid that much for their board service. I’m guessing that doesn’t take up a lot of their time. Personally when I hear that someone is paid millions to run a non-profit I think that sounds fairly profitable…at least for them! lol
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Kev, I don’t know how far that number goes back… it could be going back 70 years for all I know. I know, I’m seeing $50M alone for 2019. 2018 was $42M, 2017 was $47M. The other sports combined aren’t that. The NBA just committed $100M to some charity over the next 10 years…so that’s only $10M a year and they aren’t donating more than that to other organizations annually. The other sports combined aren’t $50M for 2019. I read the numbers, there is really no incentive for them to misrepresent. The fact is going to remain, if the PGA Tour doesn’t do what it has to do to protect itself and it company and Brand…all of this goes away! The tour first made its charitable mark in 1938 at the Palm Beach Invitational, which raised $10,000. I looked at the 2006 returns and the tour made $830M in revenues and had contributions of $33M to 501c’s… about 4% So yea, I believe $3B in total contributions over 84 years is totally possible.
Just to add a few pieces of tinder into the flame.
The admission charge for the first inaugural event of the LIV Tour was pretty high for the local standards. In fact, much higher than the local Scottish Open and The Open with a larger field of competitors.
So, obviously, the admission hike still not able to off set the “investment” they put in to lure the players to the roster. I wonder what else they could do ( quickly within a few years ) to off set the huge initial sunk cost to shell out to get the players to enroll.
I still don’t see any commercial value in itself. Plus all the current sponsors to the PGA and R&A probably will not want to sever their existing tie with the both the entities.
We can tell more when the LIV Tour gets to the Statewide golf courses to see if there be any support for value.
Like I said, if it fall down hard; there be heads rolling on the ground.
They end up giving the tickets away for free.
First off looking out how LIV players performed in the US Open,they didnt. Coincidence or do they just know that they cant compete on the highest level? (DJ possibly an exception)?
The only reason anyone is talking about LIV is the amount of money being thrown around. No one cares about 3 rounds (and if only doing 3 rounds, why Thursday-Saturday? Surely Friday - Sunday is better for the public?) or the Fireballs vs the Whatevers.
Guess I don’t see what it brings, other than being FTV (for how long?)
None of the golfers participated in the LIV did well in the U.S. Open. Their ambition/motivation had been filled by the massive amount of sign up bonus.
What’s the price of the first place U.S. Open comparing to the LIV perk?
It is mucky that the suspended players could play the U.S.Open? Or the suspension only apply to the none Open USGA sanctioned events?
This reminded me of the similar situation of the equipment section of the industry.
Remember the “new and better” only came out every 3-5 years? Then the Taylor started the whirlwind of new drivers every year then several times s year? All other OEM followed the trend.
What happened? The golfers/consumers got numbed from the marketing. The anticipated new equipment release became a none-issue.
The LIV Tour will kill off the interest and the anticipation of the traditional annual events like the 4 majors and many of the local events.
Ticket sales will be lowed for everyone.
Like I stated, LIV better have lots of "B"illions for the years down the stretch to make it work. I’m not saying it’ll fail for sure but, not many new ventures could muscle in the existing market share with the financial backing and the commitment to make the entrance a success.
Amazon is one rare example and it is still not turning a steady, decent profit now. I know some of the “founding angels” had pulled most of their participation out long ago, only keeping a minor interest .
You are correct! The 54 camel tour does not require sponsors! They have literally Billions to burn for no reason other than for Greg Norman to get his life long wish to put the screws to the PGA Tour. That’s the deal. I can’t blame any player to take 9 digit paydays, that’s multi generational cash. Can’t blame them one bit, obviously they are not in the elite group any longer as proven by the level of play at the US Open and will lose OWGR rankings points quickly as there is not enough strength of field, 54 hole events and no cuts…so they will be gone soon. Only major champion exemptions.
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9 figured pay-day is huge, it may lose some of the luster with the inflation and what’s going on around us.
They probably think that they do not care if they were shunned upon by fans and friends. I see there are a few more decided to join the LIV tour.
No one, not even a Nation could afford a financial lost like this in the long run. Amazon did not lose this kind of numbers when it started off.
Greg Norman is still living in his dream, but I’d bet he start to feel the pressure now, it showed in the media photos of a frustrated tired and stressed-out man on the edge of going over.
9 digit payday… uhhh… you’re not really affected by inflation… I mean you could buy 5 ferrari’s and still have $98.5M left…LOL. That kind of payday is more than alot of Billion Dollar companies make in Bottom Line profits… They aren’t hurting!
According to your age, you have not seen it and probably with most of the populations who’s not interested in history.
Currency, whether it’s in the digital form, printed form, or backed by an economic body or simply created out of thin air. it’s only as good as there is a support level.
Have you heard of the time when currency was not dealt with their face value but their weight in bundles? We’re in the transition of a total digital currency. May or may not come during my lifetime but it is coming. All the resistance to have digital currency, centralized personal data… all just delaying the process.
When money is no good, it does not matter whether one has a 9 digit in the bank or 4 digits in the balance.
You have to understand the back ground of Sam Snead to understand why he does not trust bank completely and he told a story of his mother insisted that he kept the small piece of farm land in case of “bad times” . “You can always come back and raise your own crop and chicken.”
People grew up through the hard times understand this. Money is a vehicle to get the task done, to get to the end of the journey but never was the means to relying on, and be horded.
Old wisdom prevails that no fortune last more than 3 generations. I firmly believe this. Money is a digit in the financial institution, I’d be happy if my kids will have enough to do the things they want to do and have a normal life.
Reading this thread, the only reason LIV gets talked about is because of the amount of money being thrown at players. That will wear thin and then its up to the product to perform.
On current performance that product may be built on sand…
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Money kills everything! Now you have a few guys grumbling about guaranteed monies. Well, IMO, that’s what your sponsors are for. This is coming from guys that just don’t want to work as hard or that they’ve hit a swing slump. What kind of Brinks Truck do we think made a drop in Brooksies bank account. I would bet 1.5 times more than DJ, but that’s a guess. All said, have we noticed Brooksie hasn’t really been able to work through his injuries recovery, he’s recently married to a his sweetheart, he toiled on some tough tours for a while, it’s not fun for him. I think he’d rather be on a private boat in the Bahamas. Well the 54 camel tour is for you.