The PGA Tour seems to be under deep waters in recent times. With sponsors, viewership issues, delayed merger with PIF, and whatnot. We are sure all the issues are bugging the Tour, but one that may be hurting the most might be losing out on sponsors.

The Shriners Children’s Hospital has sponsored the PGA Tour event held in Las Vegas every year, including the current one since 2007. This is one of the longest title sponsors for any tournament on the schedule of the Tour. But it turns out they have ended the sponsorship with the event without mentioning any specific reason, once again putting Jay Monahan in worry.

A few hours ago, Josh Carpenter reported the news to his official X account. “Shriners Children’s Hospital is no longer the title sponsor of the Las Vegas PGA Tour event. No explanation given, but the sides are calling it a mutual decision,” he wrote. Is this the first sponsor hiccup Tour faced this year? No!

RBC Bank sponsors two events on the Tour: RBC Heritage and RBC Canadian Open. The former is hosted every year on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina at the Harbour Town Golf Links. RBC has been the title sponsor of the event since 2012. However, it looks like this year, the Tour is in danger of losing the partnership. It has no plans to commit to another multi-year extension until there are changes made. “We are all watching the PGA Tour right now trying to sort through a business model that has been under some significant strain and has still not fully resolved itself and that’s still TBD (to be determined). It’s required a lot of patience from the players and it’s required a lot of patience from sponsors and fans,” said Mary DePaoli, the bank’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. 

The $242B sponsor paid the Jay Monahan-led Tour $25 million to become the title sponsor this year. This is mostly because of the decrease in the viewership rate, be it the signature events or the majors. DePaoli and the RBC Team are sure displeased, as she also mentioned, “It’s like they’re flying the plane and building it at the same time. That’s probably not far off. If some of these outstanding questions can resolve themselves in the short to medium term, and we can start to put some of the static and changes that a lot of people were not too pleased with behind us, professional men’s golf can get back on track and going in a positive direction again.”

But that is not all for the thought that Jay Monahan is to receive this year. There is another bad news that has crept in. Now the question is, what exactly is causing the drop in viewership, which has led to so many troubles for the Tour?

The commercializing goal of NBC

According to a Sports Business Journal report, the PGA Tour averaged 2.2 million viewers on the final round of telecasts during the 2024 regular season. This suggests that the non-major events have faced a drastic drop of 19% as compared to the previous year. While big names like Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Bryson DeChambeau moving to LIV Golf might be a concerning reason, there is more to it.

NBC did not renew their contract with Paul Azinger in November 2023 due to disagreement. They offered him a contract with lesser pay, and well, the budget has gone through cut after cut since he joined in 2018. Trying to make things affordable, they cut down on several resources. 

“Occasionally, you lose the airplane or the blimp,” then “lose the speed shots and then the big camera that covers the ball from the tee as it flies over the water,” he added in his interview with Golf Week. He also claimed that the channel plans to only invest in the players. While there are no certain reasons as to why there is a drop, according to Azinger, the commercial interest of NBC could be one of them. Additionally, with the cameras missing a golfer’s putt or moving slowly, the golf world has shared its concerns several times, but there have been no changes made.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments section below!