There it was for everyone to see on the PGA Tour website:
TOUR Generates $190 million in charitable impact for 2018.
Really?
Seriously?
You mean to tell us that the PGA Tour is bragging about $190 million and note it uses the term “charitable impact.”
That is so very sad.
First let’s remind everyone that the ever-greedy PGA Tour had reported revenues of $2 Billion, yes with a “B” and that was back in 2016. Over the past two years, the Tour has continued to do monster deals that will do nothing short of fattening itself to the tune of Billions, yes, with a “B.”
So for discussion sake, let’s say the Tour did in excess of $2.5 Billion last year, the number was probably more.
Did we mention that your good old PGA Tour is a not-for-profit entity?
Okay, back to that $190 million of “charitable impact.” That number represents about 7.5% of what the big fat ever-greedy PGA Tour hauls in if we go on the assumption that the Sheriff of Nottingham (aka Jay Monahan) and his Ponte Vedre-based henchmen took in $2.5 Billion last year, and that may be low.
So basically because it uses the term “charitable impact,” the Tour is basically boasting about the sweat equity of others when it comes to actually raising said charitable dollars.
Here’s what even more head-scratching. The Tour is counting ALL its events from ALL its tours — PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Web.com Tour, MacKenzie (Canadian) Tour and Latino-America Tour and, oh yes, the China Tour, whatever the heck that is.
So that $190 million is scattered over more than 100 events which boils down to a piddling $1.9 million per event.
Heck the Salesmanship Club in Dallas can raise that much on any given weekend if they so desire, tour event or no tour event. Same for other groups like the Thunderbirds out in Phoenix and all the other local good guys and gals who go out and glad-hand for those charity dollars. Last I checked, Jay Monahan and his merry band of Henchmen didn’t make any charitable solicitation calls.
Which brings us back to this 501-c-3 “Not-For-Profit” cloak that is cooler than Harry Potter’s Cloak Of Invisibility.
The PGA Tour’s cloak makes taxes disappear.
Where can we get some of those?
Various people have been hammering the tour besides us.
Greg Norman did back in the day and still does today.
“I’ve been asking for an independent audit for years to make sure there is full financial transparency, and it has never been done,” says Norman, who through his business is still affiliated with the tour, running three tour events.” The Tour counters and says it “has a significant amount of financial disclosures and is audited,” though its auditor is PricewaterhouseCoopers , which is also a marketing partner of the tour.
For other players, ignorance is fine, as long as the ever rising tide of prize money continues to flow.
The tour has also come under fire from outside sources, like Congress, mainly because of its nonprofit status. Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma once introduced an amendment that would not allow sports leagues to remain tax exempt. Didn’t get anywhere. The tour pays no federal or state taxes on its $998 million in investments, which includes some $675 million in player retirement benefits. That is an old number, that account now exceeds one billion.
Back in 2011 the tour, for all of its financial activities, paid less than $800,000 in total taxes.
So when we glanced at that headline on the tour’s website, it simply looked laughable.
By the way, the Tour is going to start building a new mega-headquarters up there in Ponte Vedre to house the Sheriff and all his henchmen and henchwomen.
It will be a modest 187,000 square feet.
Don’t be surprised if that price tag runs past the $100 million mark.
Doesn’t matter.
The Tour has money to burn, that’s a given.
Not-For-Profit.
It’s a beautiful thing.
6 Comments
singlewhite
any comparisons of any other large sports leagues that are non-profits and what they ‘give’ to charity? would be nice to see where the PGA tour fits in versus other leagues.
thx, m
Tom Edrington
Sounds like a good project, we’ll check that out, I do know the NFL stepped up and gave a LOT more money to the Houston Hurricane relief drive, the Tour, which has an event in Houston, gave an embarrassing #250,000. An LPGA star gave more than that out of her own account.
lhunt
Thanks for your terrific article that pulls aside the charity ‘mask’ of the PGA,!!
For years the PGA has unjustifiably boasted of raising Billions for charity, leading most to assume it generously gives big checks to local charities before slithering off to the next event. It’s been my belief that most of the PGA’s charity is purely its take from the whopping entry fees paid by pro-am participants. Why else would they so assiduously require the Pros to play in the pro-ams?
Tom Edrington
Correct, correct and correct, the locals do ALL the heavy lifting, what the tour should do is match what the locals raise and DONATE!!!
mike
It’s called “capitalism”.
The pro game is the ultimate meritocracy. The players are contractors, and if they don’t play well enough, someone better replaces them.
And many of the players sponsor their own charities.
So, $190 million is chump change? Are you going to tell that to the beneficiaries? I imagine they’re pretty stoked by the help.
Let’s install Alexandria Occasionally Coherent as Commissioner. Or perhaps Bernie Sanders. Except that eventually you would have no tour to write about.
Tom Edrington
Mike, your thinking is flawed when you went to “capitalism”…..that implies “For-profit” and the PGA Tour guises itself as a Not-for-Profit and that is where the hypocrisy lies, maybe Apple, IBM and all the fortune 100 companies should try it but they couldn’t get that shield…..and, in fact, $190 million is chump change to the PGA Tour…the least they should do is match what the locals raise every week at their events….seems fair to me…and remember there’s a difference between “Capitalism” and “Not-For-Profit”……no problem with Capitalism but pay the tax man, the PGA Tour does not.