When I worked in marketing for the New York Mets, one of my responsibilities was to get our players to interact with our sponsors. This was tougher than it sounds — although one might think that the players would realize that sponsor revenue was in part responsible for the exhorbitant salaries they receive, the fact was that most of the players just wanted to play baseball, play cards (this was in the pre-video game era) and chase women. Anything that interrupted their pursuit of these objectives was unwelcome.
Sometimes they would show up and make it clear that they would rather be anywhere else. Sometimes they wouldn’t show up at all. And there wasn’t much we could do about it — the contract language was vague, the team was winning, and Dwight Gooden had more leverage in these matters than Phil Bernstein.
So when the LPGA announced that beginning in 2009, all of their players would have to either learn English or find another way to make a living, I understood their reasoning, and sympathized — even as I knew that the policy would never stick.
A significant component of the LPGA’s marketing is pro-am events, in which golfers pay large sums to play a round with the professionals. The association makes a lot of money from the fees, and also hopes to gain positive word-of-mouth.
Part of the deal is establishing an atmosphere in which it all feels like a regular foursome. If the “ams” and the “pros” don’t speak the same language, they can’t interact much. Apparently the LPGA had been receiving some heat from amateurs who’d written large checks and then felt ignored on the course.
So the LPGA decided to force everyone to learn English. Which is kind of like burning down the house because there are ants in the kitchen. Kills the ants and creates all sorts of new problems.
The new policy angered many of the golfers, 121 of whom come from outside the United States. It created some bad feelings among major sponsors, many of whom have significant non-Anglo customer bases. And it got the attention of several governmental agencies, and probably would have wound up in court quickly.
So, inevitably, the LPGA announced yesterday that it was reversing course and revoking the rule.
Which means that they’re back to their original problem — pro-am events in which the pros can’t, or won’t, talk to the ams. It’s a problem they can’t just ignore. But if the players won’t learn to speak English, and the amateurs won’t learn to speak Korean, what’s the answer?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. In particular, I’d love to hear from the hundreds of new readers I’ve obtained by writing about Sarah Palin — even those who call her Sara Pailin.
Comments and suggestions from all are welcome — leave ’em in the Comments field below.
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