Ryder Cup turnover booming
Ryder Cup Europe releases its 2021 financials
Ryder Cup Europe released its 2021 financials this week, showing the results of the match at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
There was a significant increase in turnover and operating profit, compared to earlier years when matches were held in US. The explanation in the annual report is rather thin: “Income was recognised in 2021, a match year with an away event, principally relating to sponsorship and host nation contracts with additional revenue merchandise.”
Matches played in the USA are the responsibility of the PGA of America which I will return to in a later post.
Home matches are the primary source of income for Ryder Cup Europe:
Turnover from home matches includes income from ticket sales, hospitality, TV rights, sponsorships and merchandise sales.
The 2023 Ryder Cup match will be played at the Marco Simone club in Rome, from 25th September to 1st October 2023. Without any disruption, this event might be expected to generate over £100 million of Turnover ($115 million) and £30-35 million ($34-40 million) of Operating Profit for Ryder Cup Europe LLP.
The stakes are high for the PGA European Tour and PGA of America as they use participation in the Ryder Cup as leverage over players in their ongoing conflict with LIV Golf.
By way of background, Ryder Cup Europe LLP is effectively a partnership:
I’ll address the importance of Ryder Cup income to PGA European Tour in the coming weeks once the Tour’s 2021 accounts are available.
The Professional Golfers’ Association was established in London in 1901 and has over 8000 members mainly based in Great Britain and Ireland.
Ryder Cup European Development Limited is owned by the Ryder Cup European Development Trust, which is in turn controlled by the Confederation of Professional Golf Limited, an association of 32 national PGAs in Europe with a combined membership of over 12,500 professionals.
(Incidentally, CPG is based at the Centurion Club in Hemel Hempstead where the first LIV Golf event was played in June.)