I won tickets to the PGA Championship at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa from Homeland and KYIS fm on Thursday. It was great, the promo ended at 7pm - I rolled in at 6:55pm and they called and told me I won at 7:05pm.
The Championship was amazing. Unfortunately, you can’t have cameras or cell phones (you have to check them at the gate), so I don’t have any pics to share. The two tickets were VIP tickets, so my Dad and I were living the high life. We were dropped off right at the gate (spectators had to walk about 1.5 miles) and when it got too hot (which was frequently!!), we would just head over to our sponsoring tent, PepsiCo, for some free drinks and food. (At $4/bottle for water and Gatorade, we would have spent about $60 on the amount that we drank!)
Being the tech geek that I am, I noticed all of the broadcast gear that CBS and TNT Sports had set up. It is quite an operation! Something hit me while I was walking jogging with the HUGE crowd mob that was following Tiger:
Golf has completely sold out to television.
The PGA understands that there are five million more people behind that camera. There is no doubt that when you are at the PGA Championship, it is a TV event. Roving cameras are directly on the course, with no regard to the spectators view. The tee-times of the players start with the high scores first - why? So, the good players finish up right in the middle of prime time when it gets exciting. Nothing like seeing Tiger sink a putt to win it. What does this sellout bring in? Over $300 million in television contracts and “when players with a tenth of the talent of Tiger Woods are still becoming millionaires, there are plenty of smiles to go around.”1
What do you need to sellout to and bet the farm on? I know that I have a few areas that I need to go all in.
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