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Notebook: Women's Sports Marketing Go for Gays or Not?By Jaime Diaz
The WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks created some recently by entering into a marketing
agreement with Girl Bar, a 12,000-member nationwide lesbian social club.
Conservatives decried the deal, calling it the latest example of moral
depravity, while liberals praised the move, saying it shows that the U.S. has
become more tolerant. Abstaining from the debate was the LPGA, the preeminent
women's sports
organization.
The L word has long been taboo among members of the LPGA, founded in 1951. The organization's executives and players are in general accord that acknowledging the presence of lesbian golfers and fans on their tour only gives ammunition to those who are fixated on the sexual orientation of women athletes, and that such an acknowledgement would result in a loss of sponsorship dollars and endorsement opportunities. Thus LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw was in a tough spot when he was asked if his organization would consider a marketing approach similar to the Sparks'. "The first thing to make clear is that we are very much an inclusive organization that markets to all groups," Votaw said last week. "However, we're dealing with different animals. The Sparks are a new franchise with lagging attendance and are doing everything they can in their market. We're a national governing body and market on a national basis, so instead of targeting our audience with a BB gun, it's more effective to use a shotgun approach. As far as how to market the individual community for each tournament, that's each tournament director's call." Mark Hersch, director of the LPGA's Michelob Light Classic in St. Louis, says, "We don't market to the gay and lesbian communities, but we don't market to any particular demographic group. I could see doing that in L.A., Palm Springs or the San Francisco area, where alternative lifestyles are more readily accepted." Sandy Sachs considers Votaw's and Hersch's statements to be disingenuous. Sachs, along with her life partner, Robin Gans, founded Girl Bar and for 11 years helped organize Dinah Shore Weekend, which in recent years has drawn about 5,000 lesbians to Palm Springs for activities that include attending the LPGA's Nabisco Championship. "When we first tried to reach the LPGA leadership to work with us on bringing people to the Dinah, we couldn't get them to call back," says Sachs. "The people behind golf are mostly white-bread, Southern guys who are flat-out stuffy and about 50 years behind the times. But the LPGA needs the corporate dollars these guys control, so everyone in women's golf is afraid of the word lesbian." Sachs is all business when it comes to sexual preference and sports. "The Sparks aren't saying that their team is lesbian or that they're promoting lesbianism," she says. "Our deal with the Sparks has nothing to do with the players; it has to do with the bottom line. A lot of lesbians like sports, and their dollars are as green as anyone else's. As much as I would like to think the Sparks did this for social advancement, I know better. They did it to reach a fan base that will buy tickets." Hersch says the issue is "like Velcro" to the LPGA. "It's a stigma that will always be associated with the tour," he says, "but does that mean we should market to [lesbians]? I don't know." Sachs has no such doubts. "My advice to LPGA officials is not to worry about it so much," she says. "The LPGA's approach has been an example of the saying, Whatever you resist, persists. Resisting the reality has brought the LPGA negative publicity, but if the tour looks at the Sparks thing, it will see that the national media have put a hugely positive spin on it. People know lesbians watch sports, and they can handle it, so let's stop the ostrich thing. Let's get real."
World Golf
League
If you're a weekend warrior who has a better shot at making a hole in one than qualifying for a PGA Tour event but who can't help wondering how you'd handle the fast greens, the cameras and the putt at 18 for thousands of dollars, then the World Golf League was made for you. The league gives men and women a shot at playing under Tour-like conditions -- with a manicured course, scoreboards, Golf Channel coverage and a press room -- and, most important, for serious money. In 2000, the league's first year, about 7,800 players signed up for local qualifiers and 200 reached the national tournament at Mission Inn Golf & Tennis Resort in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla., where winners of the four flights, based on handicaps, earned $30,000 apiece from the $200,000 purse. Tour pro Fulton Allen took the championship flight. This year World Golf League founder and CEO Mike Pagnano expects at least 75,000 golfers to sign up. When the finals are held November 1-3 at Ocean Ridge Plantation in Sunset Beach, N.C., he hopes to see a total of 400 players in eight flights competing for $1 million -- $45,000 to every winner, with the next nine finishers in each flight also cashing checks. "The money is going to be nice," he says, "but it's really the feeling that all those players are going to remember." The money that makes that feeling possible comes from the $95 entry fee. A golfer can advance to regional qualifying by joining three other World Leaguers in a foursome for 18 holes at a course of the players' choice (low net score moves on) or by finishing among the top 25% in a one-day qualifier at a course designated by the league. A player can attempt to qualify as often as he or she wants, for an additional $25 a try. Regional qualifying will take place at about 60 courses across the U.S., with the low 400 rounds (50 players per flight) making up the field for the national finals. Those who qualify for the finals will lose their amateur status. (The USGA prohibits amateurs from playing for, or accepting, a prize worth more than $500.) "We can't keep people from forming a commercial entity," says Marty Parkes, the USGA's senior director of communications. "Our biggest concern is that people know what they're getting into." Issue date: May 21, 2001
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