Ginn Resorts in deep crap, ends PGA & LPGA tourneys

[2muchcoffeeman]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/ap_on_sp_go_ne/glf_ginn_sponsorship_ends_5

The sports news:

Ginn Resorts is ending all golf sponsorships immediately, sending two tournaments into an uncertain future.

The real estate company said Wednesday it no longer will host or produce its two remaining events — the LPGA's Ginn Open and the Champions Tour Ginn Championship. It also will drop its sponsorship of Cristie Kerr, the last player wearing the company's apparel after Annika Sorenstam's retirement. ...

Losing the Ginn Open would figure to be a major hit to the LPGA. The event's $2.5 million purse was the third-largest on that tour in 2008, behind only the U.S. Women's Open and the Evian Masters.

If the Ginn Open is not replaced or restructured quickly, that would mean the LPGA Tour will offer only 30 events this year, with nearly $7.5 million less in prize money than players vied for last season.

Ginn still had three years remaining on its title sponsorship contract with the Champions Tour. PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw, who learned of the decision from a press release, said the tour had been willing to work with Ginn during the economic crisis.

The rest of the bad news:

"This wasn't something that was done lightly," Robert Gidel, Ginn Development's president and CEO, told The Associated Press. "We got to a point where we had to give up on hope as a strategy. We just now have to figure out what's in the best interest of our people, and I think that's where a lot of companies are these days."

Ginn said late last year that it was dropping the PGA Tour's sur Mer Classic because of the ailing real estate market. But the LPGA event in Reunion, Fla., and the Champions Tour stop in Palm Coast, Fla., were both to be played on Ginn courses.

Last week, though, Ginn ended its real estate sales and marketing operations "due to the loss of revenue" that was the primary source of funding the purses and buying television coverage for the LPGA and Champions Tour events.

"We did the best we could, but the economy got the best of us," Gidel said.

So maybe somebody on a business or golf beat can answer this question: How much trouble is Ginn in?

 

[playthrough]

Between golf and NASCAR, Ginn sure came in with a bang but went out with a whimper. And fast.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Between golf and NASCAR, Ginn sure came in with a bang but went out with a whimper. And fast.

Looking back, Ginn Motorsports was probably that company's high point.

 

[wicked]

How much money did Bobby dump into the race team?

 

[Bob Cook]

The company is in deep ****, with multiple threats of foreclosures, lawsuits and banks calling back loans to be paid in full this very moment. The company probably doesn't last the year.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

How much money did Bobby dump into the race team?

Given that ...

The company is in deep ****, with multiple threats of foreclosures, lawsuits and banks calling back loans to be paid in full this very moment. The company probably doesn't last the year.

... the correct answer is probably "too much."

 

[wicked]

Well, yeah. I kinda figured that.

When I saw he was unloading his team as quick as he did, I figured something had to be up.

 

[Mark2010]

I suspect the end of the corporate sponsor gravy train, for all sports, is near.

 

[Batman]

I suspect the end of the corporate sponsor gravy train, for all sports, is near.

So do teams get wise to this and start catering to the average fan again? And is it too late to get them back, given the way many teams have continually flipped them the middle finger for the last 20 years?

 

[poindexter]

Did somebody say Cristie Kerr?

 

[cranberry]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

 

[Double J]

That picture never gets old.

 

[lono]

I remember when Bobby Ginn came into NASCAR and all the B.S. he slung about sponsor synergies and how his business model was going to revolutionize the sports. Uh, huh.

 

[Bob Cook]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

Unfortunately, if Ginn goes belly-up, it's possible the course goes down with it. I've had relatives in Florida tell me of friends who bought in a golf-course community at the end of the boom, ended up being one of the few actual residents, and watched the golf course in the back yard turn back into nature. Not that the world needs more golf courses, but these folks didn't buy where they did to be close to fire ants and alligators.

 

[cranberry]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

Unfortunately, if Ginn goes belly-up, it's possible the course goes down with it. I've had relatives in Florida tell me of friends who bought in a golf-course community at the end of the boom, ended up being one of the few actual residents, and watched the golf course in the back yard turn back into nature. Not that the world needs more golf courses, but these folks didn't buy where they did to be close to fire ants and alligators.

These are pretty high-end courses -- Watson- Nicklaus- and Palmer-designed along with Anika Sorenstam's golf school. I'd think they'd be worth saving by someone at the right price but, yeah, I guess they cold turn back into swamps.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

Unfortunately, if Ginn goes belly-up, it's possible the course goes down with it. I've had relatives in Florida tell me of friends who bought in a golf-course community at the end of the boom, ended up being one of the few actual residents, and watched the golf course in the back yard turn back into nature. Not that the world needs more golf courses, but these folks didn't buy where they did to be close to fire ants and alligators.

As a native Floridian, I can only say this: If you live down here, you're close to fire ants and alligators. Snakes, too.

 

[hondo]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

Unfortunately, if Ginn goes belly-up, it's possible the course goes down with it. I've had relatives in Florida tell me of friends who bought in a golf-course community at the end of the boom, ended up being one of the few actual residents, and watched the golf course in the back yard turn back into nature. Not that the world needs more golf courses, but these folks didn't buy where they did to be close to fire ants and alligators.

What a shock: Bobby Ginn runs a company into the ground. There are still cars in Hilton Head with bumper stickers saying, "Honk if Bobby Ginn owes you money."

He'll re-invent himself in 5-10 years and sucker more people.

 

[Bob Cook]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

Unfortunately, if Ginn goes belly-up, it's possible the course goes down with it. I've had relatives in Florida tell me of friends who bought in a golf-course community at the end of the boom, ended up being one of the few actual residents, and watched the golf course in the back yard turn back into nature. Not that the world needs more golf courses, but these folks didn't buy where they did to be close to fire ants and alligators.

As a native Floridian, I can only say this: If you live down here, you're close to fire ants and alligators. Snakes, too.

Of course, the real estate agents don't tell the non-native Floridians buying these places about that stuff.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

Unfortunately, if Ginn goes belly-up, it's possible the course goes down with it. I've had relatives in Florida tell me of friends who bought in a golf-course community at the end of the boom, ended up being one of the few actual residents, and watched the golf course in the back yard turn back into nature. Not that the world needs more golf courses, but these folks didn't buy where they did to be close to fire ants and alligators.

As a native Floridian, I can only say this: If you live down here, you're close to fire ants and alligators. Snakes, too.

Of course, the real estate agents don't tell the non-native Floridians buying these places about that stuff.

Who's buying these days?

 

[poindexter]

Doesn't surprise me. I played in a charity tournament earlier this month at the Ginn Reunion and I'd guess there was about 30 percent occupancy in the homes and condos surrounding the courses. If anyone wants a great deal on a golf course condo in the Orlando area -- and these are beautiful places -- I'm sure they can do pretty well there.

Unfortunately, if Ginn goes belly-up, it's possible the course goes down with it. I've had relatives in Florida tell me of friends who bought in a golf-course community at the end of the boom, ended up being one of the few actual residents, and watched the golf course in the back yard turn back into nature. Not that the world needs more golf courses, but these folks didn't buy where they did to be close to fire ants and alligators.

As a native Floridian, I can only say this: If you live down here, you're close to fire ants and alligators. Snakes, too.

Of course, the real estate agents don't tell the non-native Floridians buying these places about that stuff.

Who's buying these days?

Simon Cowbell