Graham DeLaet’s breakout year in 2013 should translate into a sponsorship windfall in 2014
This story originally appeared in the January/February issue of Marketing.
Becoming an international golf star and generating millions in sponsorship dollars are closely linked. Just ask Graham DeLaet.
Graham DeLaet
Over the past year, the PGA Tour golfer from the small town of Weyburn, Sask. became one of the best players in the world, winning $2.8 million on tour and playing his way onto the International Team for the prestigious Presidents Cup.
This rising profile will be mirrored by the golfer’s increasing earnings from corporate marketing deals. DeLaet’s previous sponsorship arrangements—which included sports equipment maker Acushnet Co. (parent company of the Titleist brand), RBC and clothing maker Sligo Wear—all came due at the end of last year, meaning DeLaet is set to capitalize on new, more valuable deals.
“Graham is trending,” says Danny Fritz, DeLaet’s agent at SportBox Entertainment Group in Toronto. “Any company we’ve reached out to has wanted to have a call, whether they can afford it or not. It has allowed us to have conversations with companies that haven’t invested in the game.”
Like a NASCAR race car, every component of a golfer is up for sale. That means DeLaet should be able to at least double his on-course earnings in 2014, with sponsorship deals for the front of his hat, his clothing, golf clubs and bag that could total $5 million.
“I look at Graham as wanting to build an identity for him[self] and not around a specific brand,” Fritz says. “He has a unique personality, a golfer living in a hockey player’s body. We wanted to build brands around him while asking what are those brands going to do for him as well. And we wanted guarantees of the content they are building around him and how are they going to use him in their content to help build his brand, his Twitter followers and his fan base.”
DeLaet’s deals are a good barometer of interest in golf as a marketing vehicle in Canada, with companies like RBC, Shaw Communications and Canadian Pacific all utilizing the sport as a key component of their marketing strategies. RBC is the most aggressive, spending an estimated $30 million to have its logo on the shirts and bags of star golfers, as well as title sponsorships with the Canadian Open and the Heritage in South Carolina.
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• Shaw hits the links with PGA star DeLaet
Though DeLaet might not be as recognizable as a Toronto Maple Leafs star, the interest in him from across Canada makes him more valuable when it comes to marketing and sponsorship, says Fritz.
“Typically, the corporate world is careful at investing in an athlete in team sports where the focus is a city or region. You can’t invest in a hockey player in Toronto and try to sell him in Montreal,” says Fritz. “Golf is different. You aren’t restricted by where they come from or where they compete. It is more of a national appeal.”
Golf in Canada by the numbers
Total direct economic activity of golf in Canada is estimated at $13.6 billion, according to a study conducted for the National Allied Golf Associations.
Ipsos Reid says there are six million Canadian golfers, with one of the highest participation rates in the world.
The top corporate draw for golf remains Tiger Woods, who made an estimated $71 million off course in 2013, according to Golf Digest.
After winning the 2003 Masters, Golf Digest pegged Canadian Mike Weir’s off-course sponsorships to be worth about $4.2 million.
This story originally appeared in the January/February issue of Marketing, available now to subscribers and on your iPad.
