THE PGA HAS announced that FedEx will continue as the title sponsor of its end-of-season playoff series, the FedEx Cup, for a further five years.
According to the New York Times, FedEx pays the PGA Tour around $44 million per year for naming rights to the competition and the season-long points scoring system.
The value means the US-based logistics company, which also title sponsors the FedEx St. Jude Classic, contributes more money to the Tour annually than any other title sponsor.
FedEx is solely responsible for funding the $35m prize pot for the Cup, which includes a $10m bonus for the eventual winner, representing a unique construction for Tour prize money contributions.
For regular PGA Tour events, which carry a title sponsorship value of between $6m and $10m at the top end, the source of prize money is two-fold with nearly 70 per cent coming from the PGA – money from TV rights deals goes directly into the PGA purse and therefore contributes to prize funds indirectly – and the remaining 30 per cent from the title sponsor. The rest of a sponsor’s investment goes towards event organisation.
The renewed sponsorship deal with FedEx compliments two long-term television renewals for the Tour. Signed in August 2011, US networks CBS and NBC will broadcast the PGA Tour across America until at least 2021, guaranteeing significant exposure opportunities for all event title sponsors.
Negotiations for FedEx were led by Kevin Demsky, director of sports marketing. The deal will take effect from 2013 and run through 2017.