Senator Introduces Legislation To Deny Tax-Exempt Status To Non-Profits With Revenues Greater Than $10 Million

Rick Cohen of The Hill reports on Senator Tom Coburn's legislation that would deny tax-exempt status for "professional sports leagues with revenues greater than $10 million."

The bill has not been posted but you can read the Senator's talking points here which include a misspelling of Commissioner Finchem's name.

Ryan Ballengee broke down the talking points and noted this:

In his talking points, Coburn also suggests PGA Tour executives and its players — labeled “independent contractors” — make way more through the 501(c)6 structure than other trade organizations. For example, PGA Tour players and sponsors have raked in millions while taxpayers effectively subsidized the tour’s operations. In 2010, the tour paid its (sic) five of its most successful golfers a combined $37.4 million. That same year, sponsors — who pay to have their brands advertised at tournaments and on television broadcasts — received $44 million of the tour’s $1.4 billion revenue (sic). Tim Fincehm, PGA Tour’s commissioner, received a handsome sum of $3.7 million in 2010 from the nonprofit PGA Tour itself and $1.5 million from its related organizations.

Wait until the Senator sees Finchem's 2011 pay and the other executive compensation.

Tour Championship Ratings: 1.6 Overnight, Down 27%

From SportsMediaWatch (thanks reader Irwin):

Final round coverage of The Tour Championship, the final event in the PGA Tour FedEx Cup, earned a 1.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon — down 27% from last year (2.2), but up 14% from 2011 (1.4).

The 1.6 overnight is the third-lowest for final round coverage of the event since the FedEx Cup began in 2007.

In addition, the 1.6 is the third-lowest for any FedEx Cup telecast on broadcast this year (eight telecasts). Only Saturday’s third round (1.4) and last week’s Sunday rainout coverage of the BMW Championship (0.9) earned lower overnights.

Speaking of Saturday’s third round, the 1.4 overnight marked a 36% decline from last year (2.2) and a 27% increase from 2011 (1.1).

For some context, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, which probably cost the sponsor 1/4th of what the Tour Championship costs Coca Cola, delivered a 1.3 on a Sunday morning in July!

At least they aren't Houston Astro numbers.

A New Low: The FedExCup Rap

The word pathetic comes to mind annually when watching the PGA Tour attempt to make FedEx feel like they are getting their $50 million or so dollars for sponsoring the lamest "playoff" in sports, but rarely are the attempts in any way awkward, brutally annoying or disturbing in the amount of man hours so clearly devoted to the cause.

Until now.

Alex Myers posted the video of the agonizing "FedExCup Rap" put together by the PGA Tour, perhaps in conjunction with NBC because I do think I remember waking from one of my Tour Championship naps to the frightening image of Charl Schwartzel attempting to be cool, then turning the channel.

If you want to feel the agony of the entire sad spectacle, Ryan Ballengee has transcribed the lyrics.

FedEx this baby down to Guantanmo. Priority Overnight!

Bob Hope Estate With Golf Component: $27.5 Million

The Toluca Lake estate that was Bob Hope's home since 1939 until his passing is billed as having a golf course, though I can only see one green and a bunker in aerials.

Still, it's near Lakeside GC and looks pretty swell. From LA Observed:

Added to with strategic purchases through the decades, the Hope compound is the largest and last intact estate from the heyday of Valleywood, and has to be one of the most valuable residences left in the Valley and within the city limits of Los Angeles. The property a short chip shot from Lakeside Country Club — and with its own small golf course — is being marketed to celebrities and show business money.

Tour Championship Win: Henrik Stenson's Amazing Resurgence

There's a lot about to admire in Henrik Stenson's Tour Championship and ResetCup wins, but mostly it's his resurgence that Doug Ferguson highlights in his game story from Atlanta.

Including this:

Stenson, who two years ago was outside the top 200, moved to No. 4 in the world.

Bob Harig noted this about Stenson's summer and early fall.

Starting with the Scottish Open in July, Stenson's results read as follows: T-3, 2, T-2, 3, T-43, 1, T-33, 1. That's six top-three finishes, including two victories, in eight events. Stenson was runner-up at the Open Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, third at the PGA Championship, then won two of the four playoff events.

And while there is a sweet justice in Stenson replenishing bank accounts wiped out by fraudster and former PGA Tour sponsor Allen Stanford's Ponzi Scheme, John Strege puts that in perspective:

To what degree money became an issue after his losses in the Stanford Financial scandal are not known. What we do know is that he kept his pants on this week, its pockets are now flush with cash, and he again ranks with the best players in the world.

"Life is ups and downs -- stock market, golf," he said recently. "Everything kind of goes in cycles. I think when you're not getting what you want and you have to work hard for it and then you get the reward, it's going to feel better than if you get it all the time, I guess. But it's life in general. It's going to be highs, it's going to be lows, and we move on."

The highlights:

2013 Tour Championship Final Round Open Comment Thread

The final day of the Tour Championship is mercifully upon us. The points reset has done its job, preventing season-long points leader Tiger from winning the FedExCup after a lousy few days at East...wait, what?

Breaking: Steve Sands reports a scenario in which Tiger could still win if Henrik Stenson were to break all of the clubs in his bag and have to finish with his putter, posting something in the 80s. The tension is killing me already.

Good news: sources say the algorithms are well rested, so let the code do it's job and enjoy the final official PGA Tour event of 2013...until they start again in a little over two weeks.

WSJ On Tour Wives: "They are, as a rule, uncommonly pretty, but mostly under the radar."

John Paul Newport hangs out with tour wives and provides a nice picture of the behind-the-scenes life.

He also tells us about a few wives who are multi-talented and play a role in their husbands' job.

Like many of the wives I talked to, Diane Donald can't believe she's married to a sports star, much less that she doesn't have a career of her own. She grew up in Chicago, the daughter of a working mother. "I was in day care from 3 months old, that's how much of a career woman my mom was," she said. She got a journalism degree at Northwestern (where she met Luke). After graduating she started in a job that paid $25,000. "That was for an entire year," she said. "That's less than Luke was making in a bad week." Especially once the kids came, it made no sense for her to continue.

Unlike athletes in team sports, pro golfers are independent contractors, so wives are key parts of the family business. A handful are involved directly with the golf side of things. Patrick Reed's wife, Nicki, was on the bag last month when he won his first Tour event, at the Wyndham.

Billy Horschel's wife, Brittany, serves as a kind a traveling coach. She played golf at the University of Florida (as did Billy) but had to abandon her own pro dreams after a series of wrist surgeries. She sits in on Billy's lessons with instructor Todd Anderson and helps during tournaments to keep Billy on plan. She has a sports-management degree from Florida.

"All the wives help manage their husbands in one way or another," she told me.

Tiger Runs "Out Of Gas" & Schedules Only Get Worse From Here!

It was a pretty shocking admission for physical specimen Tiger Woods to say his Tour Championship second round fell apart because he "just ran out of gas" and calling the ResetCup series of events (even with a week off) "a long grind." (Mark Lamport-Stokes reports.)

And guess what? The 2013-14 season starts in three weeks and next year's playoffs do not include a week off. But there is a week after the playoffs so you can rest for the Ryder Cup in Scotland.

In 2015 the Presidents Cup, presumably soon after the FedExCup, will be in Korea on the moundiest looking course you'll ever see.

And do we even want to talk about the mess that is 2016? Ewan Murray did in assessing (and agreeing) with Woods' complaint about fatigue.

Woods was right to point to a condensed schedule from the Open Championship to this, the climax of the FedEx play-off events. He also predicted that matters will become even more hectic in 2016, when golf returns to the Olympic Games in Rio.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the stars getting older while Commissioner Blankfein's vision for non-stop golf plays out.