Cristie on LPGA Compensation and Demographics

[bangkokbobby]

Cristie Kerr Interview After #1 Ranking

Addressing each issue, for the Asian question she pretty much gets it right. I would add that a big inspiration for the Koreans was Se Ri Pak's 1998 rookie season, particularly her U.S. Open victory. That inspired a lot of young girls to play golf. Many of those 8, 9, 10 and 11 year old girls from 1998 are LPGA stars now. In fact, in Korea they call them "Se Ri's Kids". A similar phenomenon is happening now with figure skating after the success of Olympic Gold Medalist Kim Yeon-A (Yuna Kim).

For the disparity in women's golf and men's golf, well let's be honest, the popularity just isn't there here in the States. When the interviewer mentions #2 Phil Mickelson he never explains who Phil Mickelson is. Any casual sports fan knows. But if he mentioned Na Yeon Choi, that would be a very different story. Even names like Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Se Ri Pak don't have as much impact outside of our niche fandom as we would hope. They are known by some but nowhere near the fame of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Ernie Els. Cristie mentioned women's tennis and men's tennis being closer in compensation equality, but the history of well known stars in women's tennis is much greater than the LPGA, particularly here in America where Serena Williams is arguably just as well known, maybe more well known among casual sports fans, than Roger Federer.

All in all, a nice interview. And what is unspoken here is how much having an American #1 changes the marketing of the LPGA. When Ji Yai Shin ascended to the #1 spot earlier this year there was no interview like this with Fox Business Channel, even though Ji Yai's English is probably good enough to handle one.

[heddwyn]

Americans are really quite parochial, which is why American athletes are generally better known and interviewed whereas foreign athletes are not. It is your media's fault that golfers like Shin and Choi are not better known.

Btw, would the public be aware who Laura Davies or Karrie Webb are?

The video wasn't available to me, but your report sounds as if it was good.

[ctmurray]

One way to increase name recognition would be to have crossword puzzle writters start putting in LPGA players names in the puzzle. I will bet ELS shows up in about 70% of the puzzles I work on. Even when his game was in the dumps I was reminded of him on a regular basis.

[bangkokbobby]

Originally Posted by ctmurray

One way to increase name recognition would be to have crossword puzzle writters start putting in LPGA players names in the puzzle. I will bet ELS shows up in about 70% of the puzzles I work on. Even when his game was in the dumps I was reminded of him on a regular basis.

Were you able to play the video...somebody from another forum also told me they had problems viewing the video.

70%? Are these regular newspaper crossword puzzles? Of course, on the LPGA with so many Parks, Kims and Lees they would have to include full names

[ctmurray]

Speaking of less common sporting events. For some reason this cycle I am catching quite a bit of soccer and this morning I am watching Tour de France.

Cristie has a point, in the US there are quite a number of sports to watch. It helps if you events are televised and on normal cable or over the air. I am surprised she said she did not know why the LPGA purses were smaller than the men. The comparison to women's tennis misses an important point, the women play the same event as the men (at least the majors) and get similar crowds and similar TV coverage. This advantage of playing at the same venue really helped women's tennis build the audience and marketing power. Now golf won't ever do such a thing as play the same event for men and women (except the Olympics), so the LPGA has a harder row to hoe regarding bringing in the people to events, getting on TV and thus building marketing power required to get the same pay.

Another comment, her sponsors contribution is less than her winnings, so we can guess at the amount. I am not sure about Phil, but I am pretty sure that Tiger made much more money in sponsorships than winnings. Again relates to the visibility of the players. I do think there are some sponsors who should be targeting women that should flock to the LPGA.

[ctmurray]

Originally Posted by bangkokbobby

Were you able to play the video...somebody from another forum also told me they had problems viewing the video.

70%? Are these regular newspaper crossword puzzles? Of course, on the LPGA with so many Parks, Kims and Lees they would have to include full names

I got the video fine. I am in the US and maybe that helps?

[ctmurray]

Originally Posted by bangkokbobby

Were you able to play the video...somebody from another forum also told me they had problems viewing the video.

70%? Are these regular newspaper crossword puzzles? Of course, on the LPGA with so many Parks, Kims and Lees they would have to include full names

Yup - regular US crossword puzzles use ELS quite a bit. I do one every night to relax before going to bed.

[bangkokbobby]

Originally Posted by ctmurray

Speaking of less common sporting events. For some reason this cycle I am catching quite a bit of soccer and this morning I am watching Tour de France.

Cristie has a point, in the US there are quite a number of sports to watch. It helps if you events are televised and on normal cable or over the air. I am surprised she said she did not know why the LPGA purses were smaller than the men. The comparison to women's tennis misses an important point, the women play the same event as the men (at least the majors) and get similar crowds and similar TV coverage. This advantage of playing at the same venue really helped women's tennis build the audience and marketing power. Now golf won't ever do such a thing as play the same event for men and women (except the Olympics), so the LPGA has a harder row to hoe regarding bringing in the people to events, getting on TV and thus building marketing power required to get the same pay.

Another comment, her sponsors contribution is less than her winnings, so we can guess at the amount. I am not sure about Phil, but I am pretty sure that Tiger made much more money in sponsorships than winnings. Again relates to the visibility of the players. I do think there are some sponsors who should be targeting women that should flock to the LPGA.

Excellent observations. I think I once saw one of those Forbes top paid athletes lists and Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam made the Top 50, IIRC. Those two made more in endorsements than on the course, but as you point out and Cristie alluded to, we can imagine the Michelle and Annika endorsement levels are the exceptions, not the rule.

And yes, playing at the same events for tennis has helped the women (along with the fight for equality by Billie Jean King and others in the 70s...including the Battle of the Sexes match against the late Bobby Riggs, even though he was older and nowhere near his playing days ability)...they are adding two more "co-ed" events next year to go along with the Slams and the events at Indian Wells and Miami.

2 new combined tennis events in 2011 - Tennis - Yahoo! Sports

Also, while I am against the way they wanted to penalize the English rule proposed by Carolyn Bivens (that is, the potential loss of your card), I do think the fact that if you notice from the videos I post of tennis players, everybody speaks English to some degree no matter what country they are from, which makes it easier to market them here in the States. Now, do not misunderstand me, there are many reasons tennis players speak the lingua franca of English, including many foreign players training in the States at a young age (for example, Maria Sharapova training at Bolletieri's) and the knowledge that the WTA, unlike the LPGA, is a true international tour, with a long list of tournaments all around the globe on different tier levels, not just 2 or 3 on an Asian swing like the LPGA, so tennis players know they need to speak a common language for survival on tour. In women's golf, a Korean player can just play in Korea or a Japanese player can just play in Japan their entire career and just come to the States (if they qualify or are invited) to play a Major here and there, so at a young age they don't need to work on their English.

[NTB]

Christie is not at the top of my list as far as who I follow on the LPGA.
But she really cleans up good is very articulate.
Thanks BKB you always post great stuff.

[bangkokbobby]

Originally Posted by notaxbill

Christie is not at the top of my list as far as who I follow on the LPGA.
But she really cleans up good is very articulate.
Thanks BKB you always post great stuff.

Thanks, NTB...you know, I was in a "lively" discussion on why I dislike Cristie in another thread...I don't really dislike her...that's too strong...I don't dislike anybody on tour...she's just not a favorite...there's a difference...that said, I have huge respect for her game and her charitable work. I have pointed that out as well in many threads and blog postings here, on the SS.com board and my personal sports blog.