Advertising on Professional Golfers' Apparel

Players Get Hundreds of Thousands for Wearing Logos on Shirts & Caps

Aug 30, 2009

Firms pay millions to put their names on golfers' clothing and equipment, hoping to reap millions in publicity and sales. But Ryan Moore is not playing the logo game.

Tiger Woods and a few other rich golfers probably know exactly what they will wear each day of the 2010 Masters Tournament April 8-11. According to Bill Pennington of the New York Times, the players' shirts, pants, caps and perhaps even their shoes are carefully color and style "scripted" months before a major tournament. That allows the sponsors to prepare for the sales rush they expect if their players are competing for the Masters title on the last day of the tournament.

The sponsors "script" the clothing because they don’t want to spend thousands on advertising and not be ready to respond to the sales demand that can come with winning a tournament. Tiss Dahan, director of global apparel at Adidas Golf, told the Times that a winning player "can raise sales 10%" if he is wearing an Adidas shirt.

"You get somebody playing well in clothes that look good, it really moves the needle for apparel," Dahan said.

It’s mostly due to the television coverage that players get in the final rounds of a tournament. When TV cameras focus tightly on a player, the audience is likely to see the sponsor logo on his shirt and his cap.

Similar to TV Product Placement

It’s similar to a subtle product mention or product placement in a television drama, except that the golf sponsors pay the players instead of the television people. And if the player doesn’t do well, the sponsor might not get any television coverage at all.

But even rank-and-file professionals can take in big bucks by wearing sponsor logos. According to golf.com, the annual payments for a 120th ranked play would run something like this:

Although the sponsor name on the bag may be bigger than it is on the shirt and cap, it doesn’t get as much television coverage because it is carried by the caddy, not the player. Shoe logos don’t bring much because they are seldom seen on television.

Ryan Moore Passing Up $300,000

The above payment estimates were made by golf.com through a survey of "some of the game’s top agents and player representatives." The website was trying to determine how much money Ryan Moore was passing up by declining to wear sponsored clothes, logos or equipment. They estimated $300,000, which is more than some players win in tournaments all year.

Moore's policy of not wearing logos attracted attention after he won the Wyndham Championship tournament in August. That brought his 2009 tournament winnings to $1.9 million, so it might be said he doesn't need another $300,000. But then most players wouldn’t need it since by August, 69 players on the PGA tour had already won over $1 million in 2009.

Moore Won $918,000 in Wyndham Championship

Moore’s agent, his brother Jeremy Moore, told Darren Rovell of cnbc.com that Ryan is "not against sponsorships or endorsements. He just wanted to focus on his golf game." That focus paid off when he collected $918,000 for winning the Wyndham, highlighting what had been a so-so year for him.

Ryan "doesn’t want to be a billboard," Jeremy Moore said. "He doesn’t want to look like a NASCAR driver with logos everywhere. Ryan is a unique person and he wants to do his own thing."

It’s a bold, expensive principle for a 27-year-old trying to make a living on golf courses every week.

Reference: "Golfers have clothes laid out for them," by Bill Pennington, New York Times, 7.12.09

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