Morgan Stanley cuts its USPGA tour sponsorship
The Memorial Tournament sponsors have changed from Morgan Stanley to Nationwide Insurance. Nationwide is also currently sponsoring the USPGA’s Development Tour.
The Memorial Tournament confirmed this in an official statement issued on Friday which stated, “Nationwide will become the presenting sponsor of the Memorial Tournament, beginning with the 2011 event. Nationwide and the Memorial have mutually committed to a six-year initial relationship through 2016.”
Regarding the previous sponsors Morgan Stanley, this firm has been the chief financial provider of the USPGA tour for the past seven years. They recently declined the renewal option of their contract with the Memorial Tournament which had already ended last year.
As for the reasons behind this decision, reports suggest that the firm, which is considered a financial giant in the US with running businesses despite recession and not in need of a bailout by the US Government, is trying to keep a low profile at the tournament so that it won’t catch the eyes of the taxation authorities.
The PGA Tour has been experiencing such back outs since the last two years. At first, it was the Buick that took a huge lot of sponsorship out. These sponsorships included biggest auto-makers and financial investment companies. During 2008 to 2010, when this process of dumping was in process, two PGA Tour events had to be dropped. Moreover, in the same tenure massive sponsorship deals that were struck with Tiger Woods also got cancelled.
At present, most of the companies are not ready to sign with the USPGA Tour. Meanwhile, Nicklaus, the builder and owner of Muirfield Village along with his son Jack II, who is the Memorial Tournament's general chairman, have come up with a new venture and they have signed a deal called the Columbus Partnership. This contract states that the group will try to persuade new sponsorship deals into the PGA tour.
Moreover, there are speculations that Deutsche Bank is considering the termination of its sponsorship contract with the TPC Boston. However, Deutsche Bank of America’s chief executive, Seth Waugh dismissed these speculations and said that they will remain at the back end of the championship for two more years.
To wrap it up, Morgan Stanley has stroked the deal off with the USPGA tour as its major sponsor.
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