Are you entertaining as many people as PGA Tour players?
No, because we don’t get the same opportunities to get on TV as the men do. It’s because our TV deal is 12 years old, and is actually being renegotiated by the PGA Tour for us.
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Do as many spectators come out for LPGA Tour events?
If men’s and women’s golf switched places on TV for a year would the LPGA get the same ratings as the men the previous year?
So DM him
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Close to seeing equal sized purses.
If they switched places for an entire year I would think yes. You also have to switch out all of Rickie’s commercials with a women of his caliber on the LPGA. People go to golf tournaments to watch their favorite players. Most people don’t have a favorite player because they don’t know any of their names. If the women were on TV and every other commercial during the broadcast you would have more favorite players, more discussion about them, and more butts in the seats.
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@iacas Refuge experience
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Saying that women shouldn’t get paid as much because they don’t bring in as much is a very lazy argument. And it completely falls apart when the women are given equal treatment. Just look at the US Soccer program. At one point the women’s National team was much more successful, was bringing in more money, and was more popular than the men’s team. But the men still paid significantly more money. Why do women basketball players make significantly more money in Russia? Why do women golfers make significantly more in Korea?
Unfortunately it’s going to take some creative thinking and outside the box ideas, but I think we are much closer in golf than people think. If done right, I could see the LPGA actually flipping the script and making more than the men within the next 10-20 years. But the LPGA is going to need the right people to bring them over the line.
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Not really, but thanks for your concern. 
Exactly this. In a world where ESPN is able to create a market for TELEVISED POKER, the idea that there is insufficient interest in the Women’s game to give them prime-time network coverage seems disingenuous at best.
Why do folks watch televised poker? Because it’s relatable, and the lay audience thinks “hey, I could do that.” As both the NLU Crew and Mike Whan have pointed out, the women’s golf game is far more relatable than the men’s game.
The obstacles are mostly production related. As Mike Whan also mentions, because the LPGA does not have the same liquidity, it is harder for the league itself to invest in some of the add-ons that the men’s game has and viewers have come to expect (more cameras, shot tracer, quick measurements on every single shot, etc.). Add those in and it becomes easier for networks to buy in. Added technology also helps play up the “relatability” aspect of women’s golf.
I think televised LPGA events really are one investor or network away from taking off like wildfire.
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I disagree, but am glad and respect that you shared your opinion.
I agree. And in today’s age of content creators and streaming services, that one innovative idea is easier than ever to implement. Imagine something in the realm of Drive to Survive or Hard Knocks to build interest in players? It at least appears on the outside that the LPGA players would be much more open to something like this than the PGA Tour players. And the thing with golf, most people follow a few players. So if they start connecting with women golfers instead of men golfers, they will start watching them more.
Simply falling back on the “well men bring in the big money” without looking into why they bring in the big money is just one of the lazy excuses we’ve used for years to keep the status quo.
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I’m not sure what the solution is, but right now LPGA broadcasts (note: broadcasts, not events, players, venues, etc) are basically just worse versions of PGA Tour broadcasts. The formula is the same just with fewer cameras, commentators, and graphics. I’m not sure how much of the broadcast the LPGA controls vs. the networks control, but doing something different seems like a good idea.
I guess I am not as optimistic as you guise. Given this post started with a poll what are your thoughts of when the someone would step up and do this? From the responses it seems most are thinking this is many years out. Who are the viewers that are going to be picked up or targeted with some investment to bring in “cool” ideas to make viewing more entertaining? Just thinking about myself, I watch a ton of golf (probably 80% PGA), if the LPGA were to bring in something to try and grab fans by being more entertaining sure I would probably end up watching more LPGA. If the LPGA got the same TV slots, brought in innovative new ideas, etc. is the LPGA picking up me as a viewer (shifting more viewing time from PGA), a casual fan who now thinks LPGA is more entertaining (due to innovative ideas), or a non-golf watcher who is drawn in by the better entrainment factor. All that being said I guess that is why I am not as optimistic it would be a wildfire like shift.
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I would love to see the LPGA get the ability to do these things. LPGA events are awesome to attend (we had a local one up until a few years ago) and attending both PGA and LPGA events it’s no comparison. The women are fun, seem to enjoy playing more and have WAY more fan interaction. The men are a bunch of overpaid spoiled babies half of the time, we all know that.
I would love to hear LPGA players mic’d up, etc. I think we would find it is a much more entertaining product.
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“I wanted to discuss how I think I know more about the economics of women’s professional golf than…checks notes…the person who runs women’s professional golf.”
This is a magnificent thread. I particularly like the part where OP refuses to engage with either the possibility that he could be wrong about the economics or the possibility that it was a bad idea to start a thread for the express purpose of trying to garner support for his baseless argument that women’s golf is inferior to the men’s game in some insurmountable or fundamental way.
Always great to see a serious, empathetic discussion where OP keeps an open mind. Can’t wait to hear about how I and countless others have misinterpreted his allegedly nonexistent tone.
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I’m optimistic because of the current state of media. My kids will almost certainly not have cable like we know it. They don’t watch TV. They watch YouTube, Netflix, and Disney +. They aren’t going to sit and watch network broadcasts like we do. I think if the LPGA can look at things differently and tap into that streaming arena, they have a chance of building something that will eventually be bigger than what the men have. The men will always have an advantage and can catch back up. But they could make them work for it.
I think it’s all of us sitting right here. We’re the ones that tune into NLU videos (I don’t know if it helped, but I would guess being part of the NLU Cup didn’t hurt @LPondgolf with her fans). We’re the ones that would binge watch a “behind the scenes” show for LPGA golfers. If they can get in front of the wave and start this now, they will pass the men in popularity as network TV slowly dies. And once they become more popular, the corporate dollars will follow.
The sad thing with our world, they have to work harder to get to top and will have to constantly work harder to stay at the top.
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I sometimes watch the LPGA Tour events because they seem to show more shots and focus more on the golf rather than “later tonight on CBS…” and all that other junk. You think the LPGA coverage itself is worse? Obviously they don’t have the best announcers, but Judy is solid, and they seem to show more golf. Could be wrong about that, just my perception.
Fans would likely say that’s true in all sports, I think, and the women seem less likely to curse? 
The LPGA Tour players are almost always more accessible, more willing to do things for fans and sponsors, so this seems like a no-brainer way to get people a bit more “involved” or interested.
Doesn’t automatically mean he’s right. Look at the poll. Most people seem to think we’re farther away from it than what Whan seems to think. How would he have voted in the poll: inside five years?
Where’s the evidence that I am wrong about the economics? Not just opinions, or a knee-jerk reaction, but actual information that says what I’ve suggested might be true about the economics isn’t true?
That’s not what’s happening here, but hey, troll on.
There’s tone, only it’s whatever you’ve injected yourself. Doesn’t mean it was present coming off my keyboard.
Way to further the discussion, as usual.
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Well you have now made me more optimistic, at least for the next generation. I admittedly don’t watch much LPGA, I don’t know why, I should. I think its just one of those things that all goes in with this discussion I think I just watch the PGA because it is familiar.
Having just admitted I don’t watch much LPGA, I read this and was thinking “that would be sick, I would definitely watch” and maybe that would lead me to watch more LPGA. Wish I could find out. Has the LPGA been doing any of the pre-tourney charity match-like stuff the PGA tour has done a few of - like the one yesterday? I think that could be something to start with.
Is the poll fact or opinion?
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