European Tour

[Deleted member 15344]

Does it really care about "European Viewers" anymore ?

With all these season ending events being held over in the Far East and the joint venture with the Asian Tour people in Europe ( unless they get up at midnight ish ) wont be able to see the events unfold

i normally watch the WGC and the big events but didnt see a single ball being hit at the recent one

Also when able to watch these events and no one is there - empty crowds at these big money events - so its purely not about attraction in the local area but more about the millions being offered by big companies ?

Is it worth calling it the European Tour anymore ?

And will it effect golf in the UK and Europe ?

 

[patricks148]

its been like this since i started playing in 2006.

Not sure anyone is worried ( at The ET) about who comes to watch it, if anymore. Just as long as they are getting a reasonable prize purse.

not doubt they would even take it to the south pole if some one wanted to pay for it there.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I think it's a good thing, an attempt to break up the monopoly of the PGA and European tours and create more of a 'world' tour. Even the PGA tour has now started holding events in other parts of the world. When you look at the dominance of Korean women it's clear that golf is no longer a western stranglehold.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I think it's a good thing, an attempt to break up the monopoly of the PGA and European tours and create more of a 'world' tour. Even the PGA tour has now started holding events in other parts of the world. When you look at the dominance of Korean women it's clear that golf is no longer a western stranglehold.

But no one goes to watch the events mate ?

The crowds are sparse but the sponsership money is vast - as is the appearance money for some
?
I wonder if there is any stats etc to show the effect of the events in China etc ?

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Golf will/has prostitute itself for the big sponsorship fund just as football did, its all about corporate business now.

 

[Slab]

A bit like the SPOTY I wouldn’t get too hung up on the name and it’s the same as the NFL staging games in London, I doubt all their home fans are thrilled about

Golf is following a tried/tested model (not saying its right) and ultimately I guess they’d like it to be a global event attracting as much cash and exposure as possible

Would the Race to Dubai even exist if it wasn't in Dubai?


The 2015 Race to Dudley perhaps

 

[ShankyBoy]

I'd say not, all it cares about is the ££, which is fair enough, need the big prize funds to bring in the big names.

I will watch yesterdays play tonight, no biggie for me, I won't be getting up to watch these in the middle of the night.

 

[rksquire]

I'd say they care, but only to the point that networks are prepared to pay for the product; if Skys viewership dips to the point that they are no longer interested in paying what they currently pay, then they'd worry. As for feet on the ground, they have to find a finite number of courses and they take the decision to spread it around. However, they could guarantee near sell out crowds if they had an Irish Open and a Northern Irish Open, as well as other UK events, dispensing with some of the poorer attended ones elsewhere. But, the principle remains that they are widening the market and at some point that may translate to feet on the course.

I think they care, but at the minute they're looking at a notional big picture. Unfortunately, I think the PGA have stolen a march on them, and they are playing catch-up.

 

[dufferman]

If we're to believe what we're always told - that Golf in the UK is in decline - then no wonder the ET are off to emerging markets like Singapore etc. More chance of getting future generations involved who are seeing their national golfers play. Dubai isn' too bad, it's usually an 8am coverage on Sky Sports. Not sure if that's from the early tee off though.

 

[Deleted member 15717]

If we're to believe what we're always told - that Golf in the UK is in decline - then no wonder the ET are off to emerging markets like Singapore etc. More chance of getting future generations involved who are seeing their national golfers play. Dubai isn' too bad, it's usually an 8am coverage on Sky Sports. Not sure if that's from the early tee off though.

Going out to watch the Dubai Desert Classic in February....first tee time out there is 7.30am local time, and they are roughly 4 hours ahead

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I think all this will/had lead to lower numbers of people playing the sport, as it is not freely available to view/watch.

Shame all the tv rights and events are moving away I think personally.

Big business is just buying everything up, a shame.

 

[Tongo]

I raised the same point during the WGC last week and was informed that the players don't care cos the prize money's huge and that the players don't care that there's no-one watching cos they don't have to worry about mobile phones going off, people walking to the next tee and the general nuisance that is the hoi polloi.

Funny how the point that I made last week, which was readily dismissed, is now seen as an issue.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

But no one goes to watch the events mate ?

The crowds are sparse but the sponsership money is vast - as is the appearance money for some
?
I wonder if there is any stats etc to show the effect of the events in China etc ?

Yep I agree but it's actually the same at a lot of PGA events. Apart from the marquee groups there is virtually nobody else watching. I went to a Champions tour event this year and followed the last couple of groups on Sunday, around the greens you could easily get a space against the ropes.

 

[dufferman]

Going out to watch the Dubai Desert Classic in February....first tee time out there is 7.30am local time, and they are roughly 4 hours ahead

I see! In that case we must pretty much miss entire groups. Is it a 2 tee start or all through the day? If the tee times are all through the day they may not put the "best" groups to watch on TV till mid-morning to get coverage over here?

I know when I went to Wentworth last year to see the BMW I wandered by the 1st at like 3pm and the final groups were teeing off!

 

[chrisd]

and when we host an event in the UK, the attendance figures are spectacular like at Woburn recently!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Like it or not the Far East is a huge market and it can only be a matter of time before the men start to break out and become as dominant a force as the lady golfers. It makes perfect sense for me to see the ET using this market to promote the game and their tour. If the ET doesn't it would and probably is anyway, that the PGA tour will do so in the coming years

 

[Deleted member 15344]

So some changes announced today for the ET

Players now have to only play 5 ET events to keep their membership but it doesn't include majors and WGC events

The head of ET no longer sees the PGA as the flagship event, because it doesn't have a big a prize fund as the US Pga event that same week so now the DP event which has a restricted entry is now the flagship event and it's not hosted in Europe. So the flagship event is determined by its prize money and will be missing a good percentage of its members.

 

[dufferman]

So some changes announced today for the ET

Players now have to only play 5 ET events to keep their membership but it doesn't include majors and WGC events

The head of ET no longer sees the PGA as the flagship event, because it doesn't have a big a prize fund as the US Pga event that same week so now the DP event which has a restricted entry is now the flagship event and it's not hosted in Europe. So the flagship event is determined by its prize money and will be missing a good percentage of its members.

Good news is Paul Casey can qualify for the Ryder Cup now, since there's only 5 events.

Bad news is come 2018, most players will be playing the 5 minimum to qualify for team Europe in the Ryder Cup I imagine!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Good news is Paul Casey can qualify for the Ryder Cup now, since there's only 5 events.

Bad news is come 2018, most players will be playing the 5 minimum to qualify for team Europe in the Ryder Cup I imagine!

Casey hasn't got ET membership next year and it's actually no real difference as it used to be 13 including WGC and Majors so it was 5 ET events anyway

 

[dufferman]

Casey hasn't got ET membership next year and it's actually no real difference as it used to be 13 including WGC and Majors so it was 5 ET events anyway

I understood he would take up ET membership if the number of events dropped? I know he has played a few over the last few months, usually from the Irish open time onwards?