“Pay for play”: How wrong is it?
Everyone agrees that “pay for play” is wrong. The problem is not everyone thinks it is a huge problem.
For the fans who are not familiar with the term, here is another term for the concept: appearance fees.
All golf tours have rules that explicitly forbid members to accept appearance fees. The rules also cover tournaments and events that are not part of the official season calendar.
What is the need for the rule that appears to be quite harsh on the players? The tour management, players and sponsors all have differing opinions that highlight the muddy waters of the issue.
The issue of appearance fees came into the limelight after the allegations were raised against the Greenbrier Classic. The management of the tournament and the course where it was held was accused of offering money to players to lure them to appear in the
said tournament.
According to the details, Jim Justice, owner of Greenbrier Resort offered some form of compensation to top players in order to confirm their participation in the tournament. The players were none other than Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
In a CBS report, it was alleged that Woods was offered a hefty $1.5 million. Phil Mickelson was another name in the report with an alleged $1 million pay to play fee.
Many observers feel that the issue is not as important as many think. The issue is very important for tournament organizers and sponsors, who have the responsibility of making the event as attractive as possible.
This means that if an event does not feature top players, it does not draw a large crowd and consequently, the revenue from the event falls. This revenue is the most important statistic that tournament organizers are concerned with.
Tournament organizers say that the issue of appearance fees is trivial. A well connected source established that many top players have just one or two yearly slots available for minor tournaments.
In the words of the aforementioned source, “Their discretionary opportunities are fewer and fewer. We really do become affected by that”.
The sponsors also see no problem with the issue. A common practice these days is to factor the appearance fees in the cost of total sponsorships. This is one of the reasons why many players oppose the ‘pay for play’ fees given to top players.
The total prize money for the tournament goes down as sponsors divert money from the prizes to the appearance fees. Many players have protested against this, saying that the lesser known players suffer because of the smaller share in the monetary prize.
The practice is openly carried out in Europe, where it is customary to offer an appearance fee to top players in order to expedite their entry.
Many American golf personalities have cited the European example time and again but professional golf bodies across the US are adamant that the practice does more harm than good.
The issue of appearance fees will continue to rear its head in the future. To dampen the issue, the trend is rapidly moving toward paying players for social appearances, hosting a coaching session or doing a club endorsement.
Many players often take the middle ground and ask a donation to a charity instead. While this is very commendable, the question that many ask is: is it alright to give donations to a multi-millionaire?
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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