PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem addressed the potential effect the economy could have on the tour and its sponsors this year and beyond. He expects some attrition but seems confident the tour can survive while losing very little. Of course that depends on the breadth of the economic slump. Finchem said at a press conference on Wednesday at the Bob Hope:
``I think we will lose some sponsors in this cycle the next couple years. don't think there's any question about that. The challenge is to retain a hundred percent [the number of] sponsors. You've got to replace sponsors in a downturn, and when the economy being as dour as it is that will present some real challenges. . . . I think we will, but we won't know until we're done doing it. So we are very concerned about that.
``We have a great group of sponsors, I think they have gotten a lot of value from using our platform over the years. Times are tough, we're going to take our knocks, but in [Arnold Palmer's] words, he thinks that we might come out of this better than maybe some other businesses.''
Finchem has asked for cooperation from the players, requesting that they play more events and also be more visible and accessible for sponsors. The tour is reluctant to drop its purses any, however, and has actually raised many of them this year. That might lead title sponsors to believe the tour is unwilling to negotiate and will drop their sponsorships. The tour may be in more trouble than Finchem is willing to admit.
