It’s no coincidence that the Falcons and Braves will play on the road this weekend.
The teams annually ask their leagues to attempt to schedule them out of town when the Tour Championship is played here, not because they’re afraid to compete for ticket buyers with a golf tournament, but as a gesture of support for an event that has become a fixture on the city’s sports landscape.
The Tour Championship opens for the 11th time in Atlanta today, when the top 30 players on the PGA Tour’s points list will tee off at historic East Lake Golf Club.
The tournament, the finale of the tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, will be here at least through 2016 — the duration of sponsorship contract extensions with Coca-Cola, which is the event’s “presenting sponsor,” and Southern Co.
The tournament generates up to $35 million per year in economic impact for the metro area, according to a study commissioned by the Atlanta Sports Council, and also generates global exposure from telecasts. More tangibly, the event has raised $11 million for charity, principally the East Lake Foundation and The First Tee program, in the 10 years it has been played here.
Unlike some marquee sports events that can be lured to a city only once every decade or two, and even then require elaborate bids involving public funds, the Tour Championship has made East Lake its home. The event has been played there annually since 2004, as well as in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
“It’s not like taxpayers have to spend dollars on a bid, [as they do] to get the Super Bowl, but this is an annual event that drives the same kind of value over years,” said Todd Rhinehart, the Tour Championship’s executive director. “Coca-Cola and Southern Co. said, ‘Yeah, we want to keep the event in Atlanta for the next six years,’ and those six years will bring $200 million in economic impact to metro Atlanta.”
Atlanta hasn’t had a spot on the regular, full-field PGA Tour schedule since 2008, when the loss of the title sponsor spelled the end of the AT&T Classic (earlier known as the BellSouth Classic).
“Well, that’s what we are. We’re [Atlanta’s] regular PGA Tour event now,” Rhinehart said. He said it’s “highly unlikely” the city would get a second annual PGA Tour event, but added that there has been talk of bringing an LPGA event back to Atlanta or perhaps a Champions Tour event. “I think either of those could work,” he said.
This year, of course, metro Atlanta had another event. The PGA Championship, one of golf’s four majors, was played at the Atlanta Athletic Club in August.
“We thought the PGA Championship would take a lot of business away from us. We really thought from a corporate perspective if we stayed flat, it’d be good,” Rhinehart said.
Instead, he said, ticket sales are about even with last year — tickets remain available for all four days of the tournament — and sales of sponsorships and hospitality packages are up about 10 percent.
The tournament last year raised $1.1 million for The First Tee, which provides access to golf for disadvantaged youth, and the East Lake Foundation. The event casts an annual spotlight on the East Lake neighborhood, which has gained national praise for its redevelopment model.
“It takes annual giving to keep these programs in place to change people’s lives,” Rhinehart said. “I think that’s where the tournament helps the foundation, providing not just a local but a national platform to tell the story that this is working, and there is still work to be done.”
Among the tournament’s new initiatives this year: a benefit dinner in May that was attended by Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, Southern Co. CEO Tom Fanning, East Lake Foundation founder Tom Cousins and about 60 other CEOs. Also new: “Birdies for East Lake,” a fundraising program sponsored by department-store chain Belk in which fans make a donation to the East Lake Foundation and guess the number of birdies that will be recorded during the tournament. The grand-prize winner gets five days at a luxury resort in Mexico.
“We’ve had an ongoing relationship with the East Lake Foundation ... and just thought this was a great next step,” said Dave Penrod, chairman of Belk’s Southern division. “We were thrilled to be able to do it.”
The tournament typically draws about 100,000 fans (80,000 last year, held down by heavy rain on the final day), with 80 percent coming from within a 50-mile radius of Atlanta and the others from about 35 states. Rhinehart said fans returning this week will notice a number of changes, ranging from a new logo featuring the iconic contour Coke bottle to new refreshment stands with the PGA Tour’s first digital menu boards.
Some 1,350 volunteers will work the tournament, each having paid $60 for the privilege.
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