Wall Street’s Worries Hinder Sales of U.S. Open Golf Tickets

The U.S. Golf Association is struggling to sell corporate hospitality packages and tickets for this year's U.S. Open at Bethpage outside New York as companies downsize or opt out of sports entertainment.

On April 14, more than 1,000 weekly and daily ticket packages were made available for public purchase through local and New York state golf associations, Rand Jerris, a spokesman for the Far Hills, New Jersey-based USGA said in a telephone interview. More tickets are likely to be put up for sale as the June 18-21 tournament at Bethpage State Park approaches.

"Given the current economic climate, I think it's understandable that our sales of corporate hospitality tents and tickets are down," Jerris said. "There have been corporations that originally committed that have pulled back. They're downsizing their commitment."

Jerris declined to name specific companies. He said the demise of many Wall Street financial institutions has had a direct impact on ticket sales.

Several companies who had planned to buy 100-person tents have downsized to one table or several tables in a larger tent, Jerris said.

Many companies that received federal bailout funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program are shying away from sports entertainment after receiving criticism by members of Congress.

Northern Trust Corp. was targeted in February for entertaining employees and clients at a company sponsored U.S. PGA Tour event. The company said it will repay $1.6 billion in bailout funds "as quickly as prudently possible."

No Entertaining

Wells Fargo & Co., which sponsors a PGA Tour event in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Morgan Stanley, a sponsor of the Memorial Tournament in Ohio, recently said they won't entertain executives or clients at the tournaments.

At Bethpage, hospitality packages on the course range from $32,500 for a table that seats 12 inside a pavilion, to $230,000 for a 40 foot-by-40 foot chalet, which includes furnishings, air conditioning and seating for 80 guests. The more expensive package comes with 100 weekly tickets and the option to purchase 75 more weekly packages.

"It's from the pool that are typically purchased by the corporations, that we haven't sold," Jerris said. "We haven't hit, and don't anticipate to hit, those numbers. Feeling that we're down already, we're going ahead and releasing those tickets to the public."

He declined to discuss how much may be lost from the unsold tents, citing the association's practice of not breaking out financial figures from specific tournaments.

Corporate Sales

Typically, the USGA withholds between 8,000 and 10,000 weekly tickets for purchase by corporations, Jerris said. As the current allotment of 1,000 tickets is bought by the public, the USGA will likely release more tickets if corporations don't buy them.

"We're reserving tickets in anticipation of more corporate sales," Jerris said. "It's an ongoing sales effort. We expect by the week of the Open, we'll be sold out."

When the U.S. Open was last held at Bethpage in 2002, the golf organization sold 77 hospitality tents, helping it generate $92.6 million in revenue for its championships that year. While the USGA doesn't break down its revenue totals for the U.S. Open alone, the 2002 tournament was its most financially successful at the time, Jerris said.

The group had anticipated selling the same number of hospitality packages this year to the event in Farmingdale, New York, Jerris said. So far, they have sold enough for about 50 tents, about the same number they had for the 2007 Open at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh, Jerris said. That year, USGA revenue was $100.9 million.

After the 2008 event, where 70 hospitality tents lined the fairways of San Diego's Torrey Pines Golf Course, the USGA pulled in $114.4 million in annual revenue.

"There was certainly a hope and an expectation that we would be somewhere around the '02 numbers, but we're obviously in a different world right now," Jerris said. source>>>

Read More