SBS Saves Kapalua
The 11th green at the Kapalua Plantation Course
With the auto industry in freefall, the 56-year-old Mercedes-Benz Championship appeared to be on its last legs. And, well, that seems to have been the case. The tournament, which opens the PGA Tour each year at Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui, has a new title sponsor: SBS, or Seoul Broadcasting System, out of South Korea.
There was a pall hanging in the air after this year’s tournament, with folks wondering if 2010 would be the final year of the PGA Tour at Kapalua. Tournament director Gary Planos was cautiously optimistic. ”You know, right now we just have to wait and see where this crazy world is taking us,” said Planos in January. ”We are good through January 2010 and I’m sure there will be discussions next week and early in 2009.”
Things took a bit more of an ominous turn when Maui Land and Pineapple, owners of the Kapalua Plantation Course, sold the property to foreign investors in March. While the Kapalua Resort has maintained management of the course through a lease-back arrangement, Planos sounded a bit more worried about the future of the PGA event at that point. ”We still have the Mercedes-Benz Championship coming up in January, and we are still working on information beyond 2010 right now. We’d like to continue hosting the championship, but we need to see where Mercedes is and where the tour is. At this time, right now, the farthest we can look ahead is 2010.”
Finally, news came through last week that SBS has signed a 10-year deal to host the event at Kapalua through 2019. Planos, responding to the Maui News from the Players’ Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, sounded relieved:
”There were times when I was wondering if we were going to have anything after 2010, but my confidence with what the resort can do and has done, and our relationship with the PGA Tour has kept my head high,” Planos said.
In a separate deal, SBS extended its exclusive right to broadcast PGA Tour events in South Korea by seven years, until 2019, as well. This is a significant strike back for SBS, who lost the LPGA SBS Open at Turtle Bay this year to rival J Golf, who also assumed exclusive LPGA rights in South Korea.
-Bryan Fryklund
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