“Evidence is also mounting that the assets of the estate will be only a fraction of the amount needed to satisfy the anticipated claims against the estate"

Not a huge shock here, but it looks like Stanford Financial has few assets to pay off investors or "Eagles for St. Jude."

Speaking of that program, it appears that primary sponsor Stanford has been erased from the program website already, even though it had been announced at one time. At least, I can't find their logo anywhere. Not counting Vijay's shirt (left).

"It's not the clients and company executives who suffer if companies cancel their events. They'll find other fun things to do that weekend."

The WSJ's John Paul Newport on the PGA Tour sponsorship issues from this week:

Golf, with its traditional fat-cat image, is an easy target for abuse, some of it deserved. I'm one who has long believed the game skews too fancy for its own good. But the trouble with this week's rabble-rousing, apart from whatever damage it does to the effective business practices of banks and other troubled companies, such as the automakers, is the chill it casts over the entire microeconomy of golf, and of sports in general.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how the drying up of corporate outings to golf resorts, mostly for fear of projecting the wrong image in the current economic environment, was creating travel bargains for the rest of us. But it is also devastating the golf resort and hospitality industry. The same holds true for the drying up of client entertainment at golf and other sports events.

"It's not the clients and company executives who suffer if companies cancel their events. They'll find other fun things to do that weekend. It's the 20 guys who valet-park cars for minimum wage plus tips, the 15 cooks in the kitchen, the six dishwashers, the rigging guys who put up the stage, the housekeepers who make up the hotel rooms where people stay," said David Israel, a TV producer who is involved in the sports economy as vice chairman of the California Horse Racing Commission and past president of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.

And...

"It seems to me that if the goal is to get the financial system working normally again, you've got to let businesses do what they know how to do best to make money," Mr. Israel said.

“Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders"

Wells Fargo guy on the event formerly known as the Wachovia Championship: “Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders," which, after run through the MBA Jargonometer, means, "We aren't going to become the next Northern Trust.

First reported by Sports Business Daily and fleshed out by several including Bloomberg's Ari Levy and David Mildenberg, we see the first PGA Tour event going retro. Presenting, the Quail Hollow Championship.

Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf and Chairman Richard Kovacevich are among executives who won’t receive bonuses for 2008 because Wells Fargo didn’t meet its performance goals, the bank said today in a regulatory filing. Separately, Wells Fargo changed the name of the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the Quail Hollow Championship and said it won’t host client events tied to the tournament. Wells Fargo acquired Charlotte-based Wachovia in December.

“Anyone who is taking any type of TARP money is going to have a harder time sponsoring these kinds of events,” said David Lykken, a consultant at Mortgage Banking Solutions in Austin, Texas. “These are legacy ventures.”

And the spin...

“Promoting this event with our brand could send mixed signals about our priorities to many of our stakeholders,” said David Carroll, a Wells Fargo executive, in a statement.

Wachovia renewed its contract with the PGA in 2008 and extended it through 2014. Wells Fargo still plans to honor sponsorship obligations and hasn’t determined what the tournament will be named in future years, spokeswoman Mary Beth Navarro said in an interview.

Ron Green Jr. quotes the club president and tournament director:

“All of us involved with the tournament have enjoyed the last six years and are looking forward to doing something very special with the tournament over the next six years,” Quail Hollow Club president Johnny Harris said.

“We have been working diligently to do what is necessary to produce the premier stop on the PGA Tour and we feel strongly this will do nothing but strengthen the golf experience for our players and patrons.”

Is that a nice way of saying people really don't like to see corporate logos everywhere?

And this is beautiful...

“This clarifies a lot for us,” Hougham said. “Now there is a name that can stay on the tournament for the next six years. We’ll work with the bank after this year’s event and we hope they stay involved.

“With the new name, it gives us a solid brand to build on for the future, just like we built the old brand.”

Oh yes, this is prime branding 101 textbook stuff!

Northern Trust Hostage Crisis Enters Day Three: Media Steps In To Defend Tour And Sponsors

Isn't it wonderful seeing everyone get along, and more importantly, sticking up for the PGA Tour as a viable and reasonable marketing tool. Well, until it has to stick up for itself.

John Powers says Northern Trust should give back the TARP money and keep on sponsoring golf tournaments.

Garry Smits takes Maureen Dowd and TMZ to task for stretching key facts and writes that TMZ should have stuck to what it knows -- Jessica Simpson's weight or whether Jennifer Anniston still pines away for Brad.

Andrew Malcolm says a conservative watchdog group wants to know more about the relationship between Northern Trust and the Obama's.

And Ron Sirak really lays into the Dowd column, doing the PGA Tour's job of laying out talking points to defend golf sponsorship (okay, maybe minus the Tiffany trinket bags for a while, eh?).

That there is much reform needed in the U.S. economy seems to be indisputable. The business practices of the financial services industry, in particular, need serious scrutiny. No one can argue with that. But the scope of the problem extends well beyond professional golf tournaments and entertaining at those events. To rip golf is an ill-informed, easy way out -- a smokescreen retarding real reform.

What seems to be happening is that golf has become a convenient scapegoat for frustrated pundits and politicians who rely on the fact that an ill-informed public can be manipulated. Golf is not the enemy here, nor is the PGA Tour. The sport, in fact, is an extremely effective and cost-efficient marketing tool.