LPGA

[Putty]

I do not think morality and business are mutually exclusive but this comes down to basic survival when the economy is tough and the LPGA is effectively implementing its ability as a BUSINESS to keep sponsors involved and funding the tour.

“This is an American tour. It is important for sponsors to be able to interact with players and have a positive experience.” Kate Peters, executive director of the LPGA State Farm Classic.

Many of the tours players ( including the korean contingent) support this idea as they know that there paychecks are directly tied to sponsorship of events.

"Korean-American Angela Park said the rule is fair and will be good for the tour and its players."

Seon-Hwa Lee, a two-time winner in 2008, “The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors,” she said. “Everybody understands.”

"Jeong Jang, one of the most engaging Koreans on tour, walked away from the Safeway meeting onboard with the tour."

USPSA is not funded by sponsors whom we make our living from, there may be exceptions that I am unaware of as a B shooter. This is not a morale issue, or an insensitive attempt to curb the competition from the tour that has been dominated by foreign players.

[Flexmoney]

I couldn't care less about the LPGA. More fundamental to me is pure competition. And, for that matter, the lack of protectionism.

I'm a fan of money. If that is what the LPGA is about, that's fine by me (fwiw).

The dilemma, for me, is when the sport is compromised in favor of the business.

[HSMITH]

Golf at the professional level is funded by two things, marketing equipment to consumers and entertaining clients. As a byproduct the tournaments raise incredible amounts of money for charity.

Equipment marketing is language neutral.

The entertainment of clients is the bigger driving force in professional tournament golf. Title sponsors and all of the other sponsors spend the money to entertain their clients in hopes garnering positive publicity and securing business, why else would they spend the money? The Pro-Am days before the tournament are a HUGE draw, if you spend the money you can put your valued client on the course playing a game they love WITH some of the best players in the world. If your clients can't interact with the players it becomes a spectator sport. Why spend the massive amounts of money on a spectator sport? At that point there are a dozen other ways to sponsor sport and entertain clients. You can't put your client on the track to race with their NASCAR drivers, or anything else. Golf is the one sport left where an ordinary player can actually participate with the best the world has to offer.

The LPGA is a business, and their decision makes complete sense. Their decision may not be appreciated by everyone but it is an effort to protect their business and I support that. Their business success is what makes this all possible for the players in the first place, without the LPGA running their business as well as possible these ladies would be playing for very small fractions of the purses in obscurity. Their sport would probably look a lot like ours.

I don't think the sport or the competition level will be compromised at all, they have given plenty of notice and the requirement isn't at all unreasonable in my mind.

[Michael Carlin]

.... Golf is the one sport left where an ordinary player can actually participate with the best the world has to offer.

I do not play golf at all, and there are some who would argue that I do not shoot as if I do that either, but SHOOTING is another sport in which the "duffer" can participate next to the best. I am surprised that shooting was not recognized in the quoted post. Just an oversight I presume?

[wide45]

Any professional sport, is a show. The terms of employment for the performers are negotiable. The producers of the LPGA have set new terms.

[HSMITH]

You can shoot with some very good shooters, but you can't (normally) shoot an Area match or larger with TGO, not even a sectional. The Super Squad takes the very best in the game and puts them all together and the average shooter has little chance of shooting with them. If you don't live in an area where one of the top shooters lives your chances of shooting on the same squad is pretty low.

[schmitz]

...

Edited August 30, 2008 by schmitz

[AikiDale]

I neither play golf nor watch golf on TV.

My sense from this thread is it would be okay for the S. Korean women to play and no one would care if they spoke English if it were not for financially bad times. The perceived struggle is being used to justify making life difficult for a sub group who are otherwise doing very well in the LPGA. Those who support the imposition of the English language on the non English speaking players are advocating an end justifying the means position. The same rational was used to justify any number of ill treatments of less powerful peoples. Native Americans were 'encouraged' to speak English to make life easier for everyone for example. If the market position were reversed and sponsors were in need of players this discussion would likely not be happening.

To say 'nothing personal, it's just business' reminds me of any number of mafia movies....

Like I said, I do not have a dog in this fight, but my naive first impression is that I do not approve.

[Neomet]

At first it struck me as wrong because it was barring people from a sport but then I realized that the LPGA is not sport. It is a business and that business, just as the one I am in, can make english mandatory. It is just a little ugly when the veneer of what is advertised as sport is torn off and we are reminded of what the venture actually is.

[Punkin Chunker]

. . . What if...to shoot IPSC major matches, we were required to speak French (for instance) ?

Then every stage would start from the position of edit . . . ?

Had to edit . . . off topic, too easy a joke.

Edited August 31, 2008 by Punkin Chunker

[redmanfixit]

This would be a VERY good time to introduce Douglas Adams mythical Babelfish. Could make some money that way. Koreans are remarkably tough and stubborn. Ask a Korean war vet about it! I think the undercurrent is fear of someone that will work that hard and not complain! It would be good for more Americans to be at least bi-lingual, if not poly-glot. At least you need a nodding familiarity with Chinese and Spanish! We WILL be dealing with them. Many of those folks I know are wicked smart! Makes me squirmy! Happens to me a matches when I see someone smooth and fast and I feel the sensation of being slow and clunky.

A man who attempts to carry a cat by it's tail, will learn something, that can be learned in no other way!

Mark Twain

[Nemo]

¿Entonces Nike nunca hubiese auspiciado a Tiger Woods si éste no hablara inglés? No creo. Si como auspiciador tienes la oportunidad de tener en tu equipo al mejor o los mejores del mundo, no importa que idioma hable o hablen. Si a los espectadores no les gusta que el ganador no hable su idioma, entonces no están ahí por el deporte... Para esos espectadores sería lo mismo sintonizar el concurso de Miss Universo.

Mis dos centavos.

[Flexmoney]

Good 2 cents.

Nike sure does manage to sponsor quite a few sports stars that don't speak English (and many more that don't speak English well).

[Steve J]

Как жаль что я польностю забыл испанский язык кодга я научился говорить по-русски. Болше двух языков нет места в моей голове.

Edited September 3, 2008 by Steve J

[AikiDale]

¿Entonces Nike nunca hubiese auspiciado a Tiger Woods si éste no hablara inglés? No creo. Si como auspiciador tienes la oportunidad de tener en tu equipo al mejor o los mejores del mundo, no importa que idioma hable o hablen. Si a los espectadores no les gusta que el ganador no hable su idioma, entonces no están ahí por el deporte... Para esos espectadores sería lo mismo sintonizar el concurso de Miss Universo.

Mis dos centavos.

I do not speak Spanish. However, having learned from Albert Einstein one need not know the answer if one knows where to look it up, I turned to Google:

"So Nike has never hosted a Tiger Woods if he does not speak English? I do not think. If, as a sponsor have the opportunity to get your team the best or the best in the world, no matter what language to speak or talk. If viewers do not like that the winner does not speak their language, then they are not there for sport ... For those viewers that's the same tune the Miss Universe contest.

My two cents."

Well said Nemo! (Google may have a less than perfect translation, but I bet it is close enough....)

[AikiDale]

Как жаль что я польностю забыл испанский язык кодга я научился говорить по-русски. Болше двух языков нет места в моей голове.

Dayum. Couldn't find a translator for that Central Texas lingo....

[Flexmoney]

That might be better suited for women's tennis?

[Jim Norman]

I am bi-lingual, I speak American and am working real hard on English.

[Nemo]

I do not speak Spanish. However, having learned from Albert Einstein one need not know the answer if one knows where to look it up, I turned to Google:

"So Nike has never hosted a Tiger Woods if he does not speak English? I do not think. If, as a sponsor have the opportunity to get your team the best or the best in the world, no matter what language to speak or talk. If viewers do not like that the winner does not speak their language, then they are not there for sport ... For those viewers that's the same tune the Miss Universe contest.

My two cents."

Well said Nemo! (Google may have a less than perfect translation, but I bet it is close enough....)

Close enough...

[zhunter]

Having been a professional sportsman for 15 years, mainly competing outside of North America, and many times in non-English speaking countries, I do agree it is about the performance on the field that counts.

But golf is a unique sport in that the sponsors invited guests, clients, and top executives play with the professionals in a Pro-Am format the day before the tournament. Much of the sponsorship dollars are based on this very day. IF a professional is not able to converse with those being entertained by the sponsor, it is virtually a total loss for that sponsor. WHEN that is the case, those sponsors will look for other avenues to spend their money.

The LPGA knows this, they are addressing it. Like it or not, sports are a business.

[AikiDale]

Once upon a time there was a French woman at work. She was entertaining the folks at the water cooler by asking, "What do you call someone who speaks three languages?" "Trilingual," came the reply. "Yes" she said. "And what do you call someone who speaks two languages?" "Bilingual," chimed in another. "And what do you call someone who only speaks one language?" she sneered. After a moments silence she said "An American of course."

I smiled and asked if she spoke German. She said no and I said you're welcome. Everyone walked away from the water cooler....