Double post, but worth mentioning in both places:

Talk about lazy journalism and editorializing. Christine Brenann of USA Today takes the cake with this half-assed column that backs the LPGA Tour’s English communications policy. It doesn’t really bother me that she is ok with the policy. I have heard arguments in favor of it that are at least thought out and have some independent analysis. Brennan, though, simply took what Bivens said at face value and now she’s a-ok with it.

If [all those people criticizing the plan] had done that, it would have been noted that the LPGA and the PGA Tour have almost nothing in common, except for the word golf. While the PGA Tour is swimming in cash, most LPGA events live and die by selling the opportunity to play with the pros in weekly pro-ams. It’s an experience unique to golf, akin to an NBA star having to play a basketball game every week with sponsors in different cities or a major league baseball player having to spend hours helping the owner learn the basics of playing shortstop.

This is not an idle exercise for an LPGA player. She is expected to interact, offer advice and tell stories with her foursome, which is filled with sponsors or their customers paying anywhere from $4,000 to $12,000 per person for the experience. If those sponsors can’t converse with the player (65% of LPGA events are in the USA), the tournament often hears about it. And if the tournament doesn’t do something about it, the sponsor might decide not to come back next year, especially in these tough economic times.

This might sound a bit unusual, but it’s the way the LPGA stays in business.

“A pro-am is largely responsible for making LPGA events possible,” Commissioner Carolyn Bivens said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It is the single largest source of revenue for a tournament. There are no domestic TV rights fees. This is our oxygen. It’s that important. As recently as the past two weeks, I’ve had tournament directors tell me they are getting complaints (about international players who cannot speak enough English to talk to their pro-am partners). We have to be aware of that, because we’ve had sponsors who say they have had a bad time and might pull out because of it. That’s our reality.”

Basically, she was sold in a 30 minute convo with the Commish. She did little or no independent thought about how critical it is for the LPGA Tour to find out the other barriers to the next level beyond simple English – English so simple that the LPGA wasn’t willing to label their requirement even as proficiency (which would be like passing Spanish I and being able to say Yo quiero ir a la biblioteca).

There’s more to it than that.

Geoff Shackelford has figured out what I mentioned in this space, using this piece as a guide: this is all just a smoke screen. Re-read Bivens’ quote about how sponsors may pull out because of English speaking players, or the lack thereof.

I watch CNBC from time to time. (I am NOT American business, though.) They have been running this ridiculous series hosted by Maria Bartiromo – the Money Honey (TM, no joke) – called The Business of Innovation. The latest episode in the series that I saw before I passed out the other night was called “Innovate or Die.” It’s a pretty strong title, but that’s not what caught me.

What did was the CEO of LG. LG is Korean-based, if I recall, but is a global company. They have required all of their employees to speak proficient English. It is the official language of the company. Why? Because the CEO feels it is important to have a common language among employees and to speak the global business language.

It didn’t really change my mind on this policy, but is interesting to consider.

Carolyn Bivens is on the bandwagon for the Olympics crowd, right? And, of course, the Olympics has two official languages – English and French (dead language). For as much as Bivens claims that Eun-Hee Ji’s English-less acceptance speech in Rochester was what set into motion this plan, I am much more likely to believe that Bivens drew upon her experience with the Olympics to bring the policy forward at this time.

Anyway, was pointed to the Sirak interview with Bivens in Golfworld and found many of the gems I heard on Golf Central last night as I was catching up on the golf world.

First, I find it hilarious that Carolyn was surprised about the backlash to this issue. From the piece:

Bivens was both surprised and angered by the reaction to the proficiency policy. “I find it troubling that media that does not know the whole story would jump on a racist bandwagon,” Bivens told Golf World. “If these players don’t take this step [and learn English], their ability to earn a living is reduced. They will be cut out of corporate and endorsement opportunities. I can’t imagine that someone who has thought this through does not realize that in opposing this measure they are penalizing the very people they are trying to help.”

At times, I really am convinced that Bivens has good ideas, but just fails so much in executing and communicating them that it is stunning she got the job based – in part – on her marketing background.

The issue of an “official language” of the United States has been brewing for probably a decade, and most intensively in the past few years with politicians discussing immigration reform. For the LPGA Tour to inject itself into the debate by making English a de-facto official language and then be stunned when the Tour becomes a lightning rod for both sides of said issue leads me to believe that this was not thought through well.

Even critics of the policy understand the benefits of learning English. I said as much in my qualified first reaction to the policy. But, again, mandating English as a condition of employment seems to be taking it way too far. Considering that the future of the LPGA Tour is likely not in the United States, it also is extremely hypocritical and comes across as biting the hand (and foreign money) that is feeding the Tour’s bank accounts.

To me, this policy is beginning to come across as a back door excuse for lousy sponsorships on the American part of the Tour. Sponsors for US events are dropping like flies (Safeway, Ginn, Fields, Semgroup) and it appears that the Tour is hemorrhaging on that front. Perhaps instituting said policy is a way of saying to sponsors and fans that they feel they have identified a problem with the product and want to correct it. There’s no easy way of saying that the nationality of players winning and dominating is a problem, so they tried this as an explanation.

Moving onto the motivation for the policy:

Of the three areas the LPGA has identified as linguistic trouble spots — media interviews, victory speeches (where sponsors are praised) and the pro-am competitions — the pro-am is unique to professional golf and is perhaps the tour’s strongest arguing point. Ichiro does not have to interact with four fans one day of every week. The cost of entering a four-person team in an LPGA pro-am is around $24,000; if the pro can’t speak English it creates an awkward situation.

Sure, that’s possible. But pro-ams are not exactly fun for players that speak English well. I was fortunate enough to caddie for Christina Kim in one about four years back in Kutztown, PA; a now dead event. She was her usual effervescent self to the execs from Wrangler Jeans that we were with for the day. But that was not true for all of the players in all of the groups. Some appeared to be the total opposite of chummy with their playing partners. More often than not, the pro-am is a disappointment.

I would wager, though, that this will ultimately end in the Tour having said policy, but with fines instead of suspensions.

Yesterday, my initial gut reaction on this LPGA English requirement business is that it was necessary, but hypocritical. (Some folks who read it definitely missed the point. Some focused on the English-being-biz-language part, which was a mistake.)

I’ve had some more time to think about it since I’ve been traveling on the road over the past day and here’s my final conclusion.

The LPGA shouldn’t make players learn English. The stars of the Tour should certainly be encouraged to speak English because it improves their marketability, etc, and can only help the players in their opportunities across the world. But it should be a requirement of membership. Doing so is taking it too far.

The players intrinsically know the value of knowing English, Chinese, Japanese, and any other language. They know that their marketing opportunities and the growth of the Tour is somewhat limited by their ability to communicate with the world. If they choose not to learn a reasonable standard of English – and other languages – then the Tour suffers and they do also.

This is particularly true of the LPGA Tour, whose growth in Asia trumps that growth made in America. For the Tour to get more exposure, better sponsors, etc, the Tour needs every advantage in marketing – including breaking language barriers.

Still, the Tour exists for its players. Carolyn Bivens has said so herself in media interviews. She has also said that it is her goal to get better purses, benefits, etc, for the players. If that is her goal, then she is working for the players. The players do not work for her. Therefore, to make such a requirement out of English goes back on the very nature of her work.

Without the players, the Tour is nothing. The players make the Tour what it is. With that in mind, it should be their choice to learn English – or any other language – because it is their responsibility and freedom to define how the Tour grows globally.

I blogged as neutrally as possible at Waggle Room about the story out of last week’s meeting of South Korean players at the LPGA Tour Safeway Classic in which Commissioner Carolyn Bivens revealed that the Tour would demand English proficiency for players having been on Tour for two years or more.

After taking some time to think about it – the hypocrisy of Bivens, the importance of English in this culture and the world, and the struggling sponsorship situation – this is a must for the LPGA Tour.

Does it wreak of hypocrisy? Oh yeah. Carolyn Bivens has been on record talking about how Asian players strengthen the Tour and has followed the money that comes with the advent of Asian dominance of the Tour. There’s a legitimate Asian swing with another potentially developing in the early part of the season because of struggling Hawaiian events. Bivens wants to follow the money from Asia and Asian fans, but also demands the players speak English.

But, English is the language of this Tour. At least for now, the Tour is US based. The language spoken here – predominantly – is English. Sponsors sign advertising and sponsorship agreements in that idioma (a lil Spanish joke). They pay thousands and millions to play with Tour pros. Any players paired with these groups that speak poor English have a tough time making the experience enjoyable, or at least not totally awkward. With how much sponsorship is struggling here in the US for the LPGA Tour (and golf in general), it would seem that any measure would help.

Invariably, this language requirement will help the Tour here in the States, especially with fans and media that find connecting with Asian players next to impossible at times. Certainly, this is not true across the board. One need not look further than the great LPGA-niched blogs that I reference to know that hardcore, good LPGA fans don’t care about any language except that of golf. It is a unifying language to the truest of fans. But for those who don’t speak golf, they want English to understand the game’s up and coming stars.

Americans tend to root for people who are somewhat like us, or at least willing to immerse themselves into our culture. So many people think of Annika Sorenstam as an American though she clearly isn’t. It’s the lack of a language barrier and years of excellence that have made our fans so grateful and respectful of her.

Se Ri Pak is a great example of the evolution of feelings of fans for Asian players. When Pak (really Park) arrived ten years ago and took the game by storm, she didn’t speak a lick of English. She has worked hard, though, to learn and become proficient in the language. It has made her more endearing to fans who are more likely to think of her like Annika than Na Yeon Choi. Still, there is a gap there because she still gaps in the language.

Do I think it’s fair how players will be targeted? No. Does it seem like a suspension of membership for not knowing English is awfully harsh? Yes. But, it does seem important that the Tour make strides to get players proficient in the global language of business. Otherwise, the Tour cannot cash in on opportunities around the world – something it desperately needs to do given the current sponsorship situation.

It is simply my hope, though, that this does not become an arbitrary witch hunt as part of an attempt to Americanize the Asian stars. They offer the same Five Elements of Celebrity as a player of any other nationality. To ask them to shed any more of their natural diversity and cultural appeal other than their language would be too much to ask. Hopefully this does not set such a precedent.

We’re going to keep with the running LPGA theme today – though I will post the pic of the guy getting choked in Canada and some bikini babes from the Russian Open. This is an interview conducted by Ed Pazdur for Executive Golfer Magazine with LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. I don’t have a date for this publication because, unfortunately, there isn’t one on the webpage.

The interview covers a variety of topics with a very light tone. It does present good background on a her tenure to date – at least through the middle of 2007. I found this section on Bobby Ginn particularly interesting given the news over the weekend:

“You must have a criteria in mind for approving a sponsor, a location, and a date for any given tournament. Right?”

“Right,” she said. “A lot of things have to come together for a tournament to be born. There has to be a spot on the schedule for that geographic region with a golf course that can accommodate the fans, has enough parking, and a sponsor that’s interested in that particular part of the country.”

“Based on your criteria for sponsors,” I suggested, “Bobby Ginn has certainly raised the bar for professional golf tours and for fans in particular. The inaugural LPGA Ginn Open in Orlando last April was getting billed as four days of golf and music.”

It pulled 51,378 fans for the tournament and over 9,500 at the concerts, televised over seven hours of national exposure, had over 100 media reps, sold $178,000 in merchandise, and provided the LPGA’s third largest purse with $2.5 million—all to the benefit of the LPGA.

“Bobby Ginn is a wonderful partner,” said Bivens. “His courses are spectacular. His organization goes out of its way to make sure that women have the very best hospitality, that caddies are taken care of, and that fans are well accommodated.

“He does the best job of bringing in local galleries through radio ads, outdoor billboards within 75 miles of the course—and outstanding evening concerts.

“Bobby’s impact on the LPGA goes beyond tournaments,” said Bivens.

“Would you say he’s a great model for others to follow?” I asked.

“Absolutely!” declared Bivens.

Bivens certainly is right. Bobby Ginn and his company really put a lot of effort and money into making the Ginn sponsored events into a big deal. He has put together opportunities with the Golf Channel, Annika Sorenstam, the PGA Tour umbrella of tours, and other places in the sport. It is curious, though, that the LPGA Tour was knocked off of the totem pole in lieu of retaining sponsorship with the Champions Tour – arguably a weaker product. (But, given the financial reach and muscle of the PGA Tour, that may not be true.)

The US economy is stagnant right now. Commodity prices – especially those for oil – are through the roof. Bank liquidity and credit markets have proven to be trillion dollar messes. The dollar is losing its value against global currencies because of our large national debt and artificially low interest rates. It is a difficult market for anyone to make sustain their financial well being, much less make gains.

It is in this economic reality that the LPGA is trying to grow its tour, its brand, and its purses. Since Carolyn Bivens has taken over as Commissioner of the Tour, she has been spearheading efforts to bring in sponsors that will commit to higher expenses, bigger purses, and larger ad buys. Bivens has been trying to increase the profile of the Tour by holding events in larger markets and taking significant portions of the Tour outside of the United States.

After taking over for Ty Votaw as Commissioner in late 2005, Bivens made immediate changes. Using her leverage as head of the Tour, she increased the annual sanctioning fee for each tournament from $18,000 to $100,000. She effectively forced out the Wendy’s event in Dublin, Ohio, because of the changes. Simultaneously, the Tour gained several international tour stops and large financial commitments from leading credit and banking companies, MasterCard and HSBC.

Looking for another stream of money, Bivens tried to amend the credential rules for the press such that the LPGA Tour would retain rights to photography to use for the Tour’s own purposes. She lost that battle, but did negotiate a contract with a photography firm that would pay off the LPGA Tour.

In her pursuit of larger purses, she cast aside some events that were not willing to compromise their long-standing dates on the LPGA Tour schedule in favor of new events with more money. The ShopRite Classic in Atlantic City was such an event. In exchange for the loss of such an event, she negotiated a very lucrative sponsorship deal with the Ginn Company – a real estate firm out of Florida – that would go on to produce two events with huge paydays: the Ginn Open and the Ginn Tribute.

Just this summer, the LPGA has taken steps to gain ownership over more of its events in order to generate revenue through merchandising, ticket sales, and the other sources of money that they do not see from events they do not own. The LPGA Championship will be owned by the LPGA Tour starting in 2010, go on without title sponsorship, and allow the Tour to flex slightly more muscle in negotiations with broadcast partners for the 2010 television contracts.

The point? For Bivens, she has won some battles and she has lost some. Despite the resounding criticism of her during the 2006 season, last season seemingly produced results for the Tour. This week, though, was another example of how Bivens may be having a losing year for many reasons out of her hands.

SemGroup, an energy company, filed for bankruptcy protection after the SEC conducted an investigation of the company. The Ginn Company also indicated this week that they would no longer sponsor the event hosted by Annika Sorenstam – the Ginn Tribute – because of financial difficulties attributable to a $25 million commitment to golf sponsorship. Both events boasted purses on the high end of those offered on the LPGA Tour schedule.

Other tournament sponsorship appears to be in question, as well. Earlier in the year, Safeway pulled out as sponsor of the Safeway International in Arizona. An extremely popular event with fans and players, the long-standing tournament is struggling to find a new title sponsor. Fields, the sponsor for an event in Hawaii, is also unlikely to remain a title sponsor and the status for that event is seriously in question. Speculation is rampant regarding up to a handful of other LPGA Tour events.

All of this comes during one of the most crucial seasons in the Tour’s history. Annika Sorenstam is stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the season to pursue other interests. The biggest draw in women’s golf – other than Michelle Wie – is leaving the game with a certain heir in Lorena Ochoa, but a significant gap for the way the Tour is marketed in the mainstream. The rise of Asian players and their increasing tally of victories may be leading to problems with an American sporting public that loves to root for the red, white, and blue.

The Tour is in the midst of a television negotiation that will dictate its viability for financial and fan growth in the next four or five years. It is yet to close a deal on a cable partner, but signs point to the Golf Channel. Bivens seeks a contract in which the LPGA Tour will be paid for broadcasting rights of its product – something the Tour has never enjoyed in the States. With the biggest draws in the game either leaving or dormant, though, that negotiation may prove to be more difficult than it was just a year prior.

In spite of all of the bad news, though, the Tour remains a strong brand overseas. The Tour announced a partnership with Grand China Air to present a limited-field event in October with a $1.8 million purse. There is talk of an event in Dubai. Grander still is talk of turning the LPGA Tour into a global circuit with more invitational events and rebranding the Duramed Futures Tour into a women’s golf version of the Nationwide Tour.

It is uncertain how the Tour will look after this season. With at least two events already declared dead or on life support, the schedule will certainly have a different feel. If more rumored struggling events fall, then the Tour may face serious financial difficulties in trying to present a full schedule – particularly with a $500,000 sanctioning fee for new events.

With a string of good news and sponsorship overseas, though, the LPGA Tour could evolve in the opposite direction of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour has made strong efforts to become more Americanized in its presentation. Few official money events are contested outside of the United States, and just one out of North America and the Caribbean. The World Golf Championships are a mockery of the title in that they are played only in this country.

Meanwhile, the LPGA Tour may have to move significant portions of its operations outside of the United States in order to grow. Asia and the Middle East present a lot of interest and a lot of capital that the LPGA Tour may not be able to turn from in the coming years. At the risk of alienating a fan base that has been incredibly loyal the product over the years, financial realities may dictate to a Tour that seeks to grow will have to follow the money. In the end, tough, is financial growth worth potentially sacrificing the fan base?

First, on Friday, Semgroup filed for bankruptcy protection.

The SemGroup Championship has been played in May at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow, but it seems likely a new title sponsor for the event will be needed, as Tulsa-based SemGroup LP filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after losing a reported $2.4 billion in hedged trading on the oil futures markets.

Doug Eibling of Octagon, a sports management and marketing company that owns the LPGA event, said Friday a search has started to replace SemGroup as the title sponsor.

The bright side of this is that there may already be other sponsors coming to the table.

Eibling, the tournament’s director, said that as SemGroup’s troubles became public knowledge this week, Octagon received calls from three potential title sponsors, which he declined to name.

Who knows how reliable that statement is, of course, but you have to take it on face value. This is something the LPGA probably did not see coming. If you have been watching the stock market of late, though, you would know this is a distinct possibility because of a SEC investigation into the organization.

Also, even if the event remains, it will likely not attract the same caliber of field it once did because of the number of players sponsored by SemGroup – Cristie Kerr among them. Still, it would be a great event to salvage since it is played on a major championship layout.

If that was not bad enough, there was arguably worse news reported by Ron Sirak on Saturday about the Ginn Tribute. Namely, that it’s done.

The Ginn Tribute which, along with the Ginn Open, has a $2.6 million purse, the richest of any U.S.-based LPGA event except the U.S. Women’s Open, will not return in 2009, multiple sources told Golf World. While neither the LPGA nor Ginn would confirm the demise of the Tribute, which is played at RiverTowne CC near Charleston, S.C., neither expressed optimism about its future.

“If I had to handicap the situation right now I would say that it is less than 50-50 that the Ginn Tribute will happen in 2009,” LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens told Golf World at the Evian Masters. “That said, we will have a tournament to replace it.”

Of course, Commish Bivens is really leaving herself open to some criticism here. She basically killed off the ShopRite Classic just outside of Atlantic City – a well-supported event that the players liked – in lieu of giving the Tribute this date.

Unfortunately for the LPGA Tour, this event never really got off of the ground. Poor weather last year led to lousy attendance. The event brought in local Beth Daniel as the Tributee of the event in the hopes of drumming up additional interest.

The biggest problem, though, was getting into a relationship with a real estate company. Given the downturn in the real estate realm, this was inevitable anyway. Even worse, though, is that Ginn bit off way more than they can chew. By taking opportunities to sponsor four events – 2 LPGA, 1 PGA Tour, 1 Champ Tour – they were on the hook for almost $25 million in sponsorship dollars.

Sirak mentions that the Ginn Open may become the new Ginn Tribute. But that would throw a wrench into the rumor that Ginn would like to step up and host a LPGA Tour major. Again, it would be in the best interests of the Tour not to do that.

Geoff Shackelford was forwarded a letter sent to LPGA members regarding the Wie DQ. This was drafted in light of “countless feedback e-mails, blogs and phone calls to LPGA headquarters.” I don’t feel I had an inaccurate impression of what happened. After reading the letter, that reaffirmed what I basically copied and pasted from the AP.

There was this about Sue Witters, who apparently got a bad rap from the AP.

I addition, there has been some misunderstanding about comments made by Sue Witters, LPGA director of tournament operations and the lead official in this situation. The initial AP story that ran misquoted Sue. Acknowledging the error, the AP ran a corrected story. However, for those who only viewed the original story, it is important to know Sue’s comments in the press conference were referencing her own emotion when she had to notify Michelle; the comments were not directed at or describing Michelle. In fact, Sue represented the LPGA in a way that we can all be proud of. She handled the situation with the utmost care and attention.

Witters was the woman who was quoted as saying that her DQ of Wie was like telling a child (that believes) that there’s no Santa Claus. I never read into that quote that Witters was poking fun of Wie, but apparently others did.

Like I mentioned on LPGA on GNN this week, this incident and the problems in administering drug testing to start the season are an indication that there are administrative issues with the LPGA Tour. I’m not going to start declaring crisis because that’s dumb. But I am willing to say that the LPGA Tour clearly has some issues that it needs to address to avoid gaffes like this in the future.