2 weeks Ago
The next Ryder Cup is 11 months away, but the contest between the United States and Europe is already causing drama as it has been revealed that fans and, remarkably, volunteers are being forced to dig deep into their pockets. Fans were outraged when it was published on the Ryder Cup website that a single general admission tickets will cost an insane US$750 at Bethpage Black in New York, and they were ropeable when Golf.com reported that volunteers will have to pay US$350 to help during the three-day event.
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Tournament hosts, the PGA of America, have made volunteers pay for the privilege of holding a scoreboard, a ‘quiet please’ sign or marshalling fans before, but it is believed the US$350 sum is the dearest amount ever charged of volunteers at any of golf’s major events. The ‘volunteer package’ will include an event uniform, a bag, a pin, food during shifts and a tournament credential. Meanwhile those outside the ropes will have to fork out three times more than attendees at last year’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome.
Augusta National Golf Club is one of the most exclusive places in golf, but fans who attend the final round of Masters next year will pay $US600 less for a regular day pass. Another way of looking at it is a New York resident can play Bethpage Black along with eight friends on a weekend for the same price as a ticket to the Ryder Cup. The figures are dumbfounding and as a result, social media went into overdrive with criticism of the prices.
Average golf fans expressed their disappointment, and they received strong support from PGA Tour player, and fan favourite, Joel Dahmen who could not believe what he had read. “Have you seen the insane ticket prices to next year’s Ryder Cup?! Lemme see if I can pull some strings here..
.,” he posted on X. Dahmen’s views were shared by golf writer Dan Rappaport who accused the PGA of America of a “a money grab” and hoped that they would reconsider their pricing structure to allow fans to spend a more reasonable amount of money to be a part of the action.
“$750 for a GA ticket to the Ryder Cup to the Ryder Cup is a *joke*,” he wrote on X. “Family of 4 would be $3000! Bethpage is the people’s country club and a massive place – this just comes off as a money grab. “Still, plenty of time to fix it.
Let’s hope the PGA of America will.” It is no secret that men’s professional golf has been embroiled in controversy surrounding money in recent years. Since the emergence of LIV Golf, there has been seemingly endless squabbling over millions of dollars and this pricing drama makes little sense when mulling over the facts of the Ryder Cup.
Players play for free. They don the blue or red purely for the pride and passion of representing either the United States of America or Europe. Last year’s event in Rome brought in an estimated $US88.
7 billion in sponsorship revenue from partners like Aon, Citi, DP World, Hilton and Rolex. Viewership records were smashed in Europe last year, while golf broadcasts regularly attract strong viewership figures in the United States. Merchandise sales are always through the roof.
When you add them all together, it does not indicate that there is a need for higher costs for attendance. Extracting as much money from fans as possible is an ever-increasing issue around the world and it has been in the spotlight recently in American sport. Baseball’s World Series begins on Friday (Saturday Australian time) between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the cheapest ticket to attend Dodger Stadium is going for more than US$1,000.
The organisers of such prominent sporting events are making it clear that they have no interest in making tickets more affordable. It is a view that the PGA of America’s tournament director for the Ryder Cup, Bryan Karns supports as he excused their pricing by saying they are simply pushing themselves into the upper echelon of sporting experiences. “We looked at pricing and we were able to tap into data from all these different venues.
And we were able to see what people pay, and that really drove this,” Karns said. “In terms of our position in this landscape – where do we feel ourselves? “There are people who have the Ryder Cup on their bucket list in the same way someone would have a Yankees opening game of the World Series on their bucket list. “Ultimately that’s where we felt like we are.
We’ve got a lot of people, the demand is at an all-time high for this event and so we wanted to make sure we priced it appropriately.”.
