The PGA Tour continues to rotate its title sponsors.
The Tour announced on Wednesday a new event for July 2024 in Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. It will be an opposite-field competition. But there are more changes to come.
Golfweek learned that AT&T asked to discontinue its sponsorship of the AT&T Byron Nelson at the end of this year.
The search is underway for a new title holder of the Tour’s long-running Dallas tournament, which will be played at TPC Craig Ranch, a suburb of McKinney in Texas, this week. Multiple sources claim that the Tour was ready to sign a deal with Raytheon Technologies – one of the world’s largest aerospace and defence manufacturers – but Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan cancelled it at the last moment because the company sold missiles to Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. State Department approved the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia in August. They were expecting to purchase 300 MIM-104E Patriots made by Raytheon Technologies for over $3 billion.
The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund is the main source of public anger over the launch LIV Golf. This new league, which has attracted several Tour pros, and will be playing 14 events in this year, many of which are in the U.S.A., is funded almost exclusively by the fund. The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which was established in 1971 to allow the Saudi Arabian Government to invest in projects and companies, is estimated to be worth more than $650 billion.
Saudi involvement led to accusations of sportswashing, a term that describes the use of games to clean up an image and to launder a reputation while masking repression and authoritarian rules. The Tour’s decision to partner with Raytheon, given the company’s business relationship with Saudi Arabia, would have exposed the Tour to public relations damage.
Unnamed tournament director said, “The optics weren’t good.” I give Jay credit for making the correct call.
Monahan, when asked to comment last week on his role as a title sponsor searcher and scuppering a deal at the Wells Fargo Championships in Charlotte, said that the Tour does not comment on potential sponsors.
He said, “That’s a no-comment.”
The AT&T Byron Nelson Tournament director Jon Drago did not return a call.
AT&T is a major supporter of golf, sponsoring Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Masters. They also sponsor Jordan Spieth. AT&T replaced printer maker HP as the Nelson’s Title Sponsor in 2015. It then gave up the title sponsorship of AT&T National, which was held at Congressional. Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and CEO and independent director of the Tour Policy Board at the time, stepped down from the company in 2020.
Nelson, a local legend and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, will be the sixth winner of the tournament since 2000 if a new sponsor joins the team for the next year.
Since 1968, Salesmanship Club has operated the tournament which raises $172.5 Million for Momentous Institute. This makes it the most successful charity in the Tour.
By: Adam Schupak
Title: PGA Tour rejects Raytheon Byron Nelson sponsorship due to Saudi missile deals
Sourced From: golfweek.usatoday.com/2023/05/12/pga-tour-saudi-arabia-missile-deal-byron-nelson-sponsor-raytheon-att/
Published Date: Fri, 12 May 2023 18:51:22 +0000
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