It Appears All Is Good For Colonial Invitational in 2018
Back in November and December, there was the real worry the long-running Colonial Invitational wouldn’t be able to find a white knight to save the event after sponsor Dean & Deluca backed out and the PGA Tour washed their hands of it, leaving it to club officials to scrounge up the estimated $12 mil to keep the event alive.
Well, the Star-Telegram’s Mac Engel reports the Colonial will be around for at least 2018.
Per club and city officials, Colonial Country Club has secured one-year contributing agreements with American Airlines, XTO and BNSF for approximately $2 million each to ensure the 2018 golf tournament will go off as scheduled. Bell Helicopter is also a possibility but, per sources, there is a better chance that AT&T will join as a sponsor as well.
The solution for 2018 Colonial is a one-year fix, and not a viable long-term alternative, according to sources. The PGA Tour has been working with Colonial on finding potential sponsors for 2019. A match has not been found, but club officials are genuinely optimistic about the future of the tournament, according to sources.
A “binding” contract is still in place for D&D and the PGA Tour, and both the Club and the Tour would prefer the company remains on in some capacity, if possible.
Because there is nothing in the contract that includes an actual penalty for a default. There is no precedent with the PGA Tour for what D&D did, so what the Tour is doing is unchartered area.
The club’s long-term desire is to escape the title sponsor business completely, and to end the uncertain cycle of hoping a company wants to partner with the event.
Especially, when Dean & Deluca didn’t even include Colonial in the event title. Please, no more omissions in that regard, okay?
Colonial was nearly in this exact situation in 2015 when Crowne Plaza ended its partnership with the tournament; the club went for months not knowing what the 2016 edition of the tournament was going to look like until the PGA Tour lined up Dean and DeLuca in February of 2016.
Considering the high cost of running this invitational, creating the independence Colonial desires to run its PGA Tour event simply may not be feasible.
As of today, The Colonial is still the Dean and DeLuca Invitational, but the name change is a formality.
Oops.
I find it curious that PGA Tour officials did nothing to help outside of extending their deadline a month–but will still jointly announce the news. So sorry on their part, but hardly surprising.
