Building An Impressive Team...But At What Cost?
And who are they trying to impress?
Well, for starters, Golf World's Ron Sirak who lauds Tim Finchem's hiring of Wie agent Ross Berlin for an unspecified job at an unspecified (and surely bloated) salary:
Tim Finchem must be a fan of the National Football League. The PGA Tour commissioner seems to have a personnel strategy favored by many NFL general managers going into the college draft: accumulate the best available athletes. That's the context within which to view the return of Ross Berlin to the tour after a year chaperoning Michelle Wie for the William Morris Agency. This was not an isolated move but rather part of a grand plan.
And...
To prepare for the future, Finchem is staffing his ship with an impressive array of talent. In less than four years, he has hired Rick George from the Fore!Kids Foundation, Dave Pillsbury from Nike and Ty Votaw from the LPGA, as well as rehiring Berlin. Expect an announcement in the near future that several of these executives will take on expanded responsibilities.
In Berlin's case, we'll just take an announcement on duties before we make him the next commissioner.
Also in Finchem's burgeoning talent pool are Joe Barrow, who runs The First Tee, and co-Chief Operating Officers Charlie Zink and Ed Moorhouse, who have been long-time tour employees.
Of course, Finchem -- and the board, which will make the final decision --
Uh, the non-player portion...
can always take the route followed by any good NFL general manager not happy with his team. He can go outside the company for a high-priced free agent. But this much is obvious: Finchem is building an impressive team, for now and the future.
Look at how much this line of succession nonsense is costing (according to the October Golf Digest, but not posted online). All are 2004 salaries:
Tim Finchem $4,067,318
Charlie Zink $1,227,634 (co-COO)
Ed Moorhouse $1,227,634 (co-COO)
Ron Price CFO $742,049
Henry Hughes (Chief of Operations) $572,773
Bill Calfee (Nationwide Tour chief of operations) $513,518
Jeff Monday (tournament development) $486,409
Bob Combs, (VP Communications) $458,737
Rick Anderson (General Counsel) $345,648
Rick George (Valiant Competitors Tour) $322,269
Ruffin Beckwith (World Golf Foundation) $284,037
Sid Wilson (VP player relations) $256,112
And that doesn't include Votaw or Berlin's salaries.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at 04:11 PM
Reader Comments (15)
Nice gig for them tho. Wonder if they need a trial lawyer from Chicago with a single digit handicap to help with their branding efforts?
The Commissioner was asked repeatedly during this past January press conference to reveal what the latest 6-year TV rights fees ARE. Finchem's response, "I'm not going to be revealing that information, we've never done it before, and we're not going to be doing it today". Well that's convenient for whom? This executive staff is "SUPPOSE" to be working for this membership, wouldn't it be imperative for the membership to know what those rights fees are worth?
Our annual financial report to the membership reads like a Norte Dame - Florida State football program. Who earned the most first downs, who had the most points converted, who did this and that. Well, players already know what other players have done through the course of the year by just looking at the year end money list. All the meaningless pie charts and graphs don't even mention the salaries from Ponte Vedra Beach above (convenient once again), and I know those numbers above are not considerate of the deferred compensation that is being handed out loosely. In some instances you can double some of those salaries above to reflect the real take home pay. Then there are the TPC network golf courses and the revenues those are generating with the 501 C-6 LOGO. Also, the liscensing (over 100) agreements attached to the 501 C-6 LOGO. In this football program we're never shown what these generated revenues are. Convenient for sure, but what are the ROYALTIES worth, and how are they being diverted back to the players that have signed away all of their marketing rights to the organization. It's one thing to give up all those rights (right TIGER), and another in completely knowing what those generated marketing strategies are worth to the organization. Some may recall Tiger getting into it with the Commissioner over Tigers image plastered on Mercedes ads liscened out by the PGA TOUR when it is Buick that Tiger actually endorses. Slight conflict of interest I'd say, (could be why Tiger skiped the Mercedes) anything though to generate a buck. Speaking of entrepeneurialship, last year the Commissioner was caught selling driving range passes to the general public at TPC Sawgrass. A $10,000 dollar fee got you, JOE PUBLIC, a spot at the back of the range with all the PGA Tour pros. Like having a backstage pass, and all the balatas you could hit. The $10,000 dollar fee caught my attention because at that amount it might accidently not get reported. So it's fascinating to me to see all the creative money generating schemes, and not get to see a full accounting of these resources.
The easiest way for me to sum this topic up; We have a money manager who never lets us know what he's doing or what the balance of our accounts are......would this make any of you nervous????
Player's earnings, what's that have to do with the price of bananas in Panama?
Sorry, little joke. A columnist suggested that as a title for the Senior Tour, instead of Champions Tour. I should have linked to the post on that. I'm one of those people that thought Senior was just fine!
I agree with Brad, you've lost me too.
http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/pa/info/faq.jsp#minimum
"Tim and the PV boys are justifying the cash they pay themselves is because of their assertion that they are responsible for the large paychecks"
There you go again, justifying the prive of tea in China to the Executive Salaries. The question I suppose Mr. Murphy should answer is; "Are players setting the salaries of the executives they have hired to operate their business affairs"? As a non-profit it would seem the players are the commodity and have incorporated as a trade union 501 C 6, therefore those salaries should be at the memberships discretion. As a lawyer Smolmania, wouldn't you first check the PGA Tour's bylaws? What Mr. Murphy has been advocating is a close look at how the organization is actually operating in distribution of deferred compensation, that's what I get out of his example. Even you yourself point out that it is Tiger by far who has lead to the greatest increase in golf's exposure, but it would appear that the (caddy) Commissioner loves padding himself on his back pocket.
One further point, those salaries above, are these individuals operating off of an employee expense account? Would that expense account be funded with independent contractor, liscensing agreement generated funds? Are pro golfers of PGA Tour given a stipend with regard to an employees expense account, if there is one?
If I were a player (Mr. Murphy) those would be the first three questions that I'd want to verify first. If said answers provide an unsatisfactory result, then the next two questions regarding bylaws would be how, and why.
Baseball players during the season pay $40 dollars a day dues to MLBPA. Small fee for the protection of their rights. During the season, while traveling, playing, eating, and sleeping with the ball club their expenses are $0.
Q: What is the minimum salary of a Major Leaguer?
A: The minimum salary for the 2006 season is $327,000.
Q: What is group licensing?
A: Any company seeking to use the names or likenesses of more than two Major League Baseball players in connection with a commercial product, product line or promotion must sign a licensing agreement with the MLBPA. The license grants the use of the players' names and/or likenesses only and not the use of any MLB team logos or marks. Examples of products licensed by the MLBPA include trading cards, video games, T-shirts, caps, a wide variety of other products such as pennants, posters, pins, action figures and advertising campaigns for a wide variety of products and services.
Q: How is licensing revenue distributed?
A: Players receive a pro rata share of licensing revenue regardless of popularity or stature. Each player share is determined by his actual days of Major League service in a given season.
I have an X-Box and remembered my Tiger Woods golfing game by EA Sports.
http://www.easports.com/games/tigerwoods2005/
Does the PGA Tour divy this licensing revenue up?
Can you walk and chew gum at the same time? If yes you need not apply.