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TURKISH AIRLINES OPENNovember 3, 2018Keith PelleyAntalya, Turkey KEITH PELLEY: As you know, Saudi Arabia, is on our schedule for 2019 following Abu Dhabi and the OMEGA Desert Classic, Abu Dhabi is a Rolex Series Event, strongly three events in the Middle East and later on we have one in Qatar. As like many global companies, we monitor the situation in the areas countries, areas we play and the viability of the golf tournament, and I can simply say that the Saudi International is on our schedule in 2019, and I really don't have anything more to add than that. We are thrilled with our schedule, and Russell Kaymer this weekend in The Challenge Tour, there is no question the region and the Middle East with the DP World coming up is very important to The European Tour. Q. Was it discussed with the Saudi Consulate in Turkey? KEITH PELLEY: I'll come back to say that we monitored the situation of all the events on our schedule, and it is on our schedule in 2019. Q. Did any players express some disquiet of the timing of it so soon after these events? KEITH PELLEY: I have not talked to any players about Saudi Arabia in the last three weeks. Q. Under your contract, what does that law you to do and not do in terms of getting out if you wanted to? KEITH PELLEY: What does that mean? Q. Well, contractually, you have a responsibility to putt on the tournament but I'm sure there's out clauses depending on certain things. KEITH PELLEY: I think, Alex, I would say, and I will say it again, that the Saudi International is on our schedule. And we have heard some of the criticism of the region. Obviously freedom of speech is far more available now based on social media. We've heard. We've listened and we will continue to monitor the situation, and Saudi ain't is on our schedule. Q. Did you have any input from the Saudi end? Did they contact you to say -- KEITH PELLEY: I've had no dialogue with Madget (ph), who runs the Saudi Arabia Golf Federation or anyone in Saudi Arabia at this point. Q. How about your own government? KEITH PELLEY: We've had no conversation. Q. Sometimes other sponsors can bring a focus. For example, we all know that HSBC weren't happy about the R&A -- have you had any indication from any other sponsors that it might be un-wise to go with this event? KEITH PELLEY: I'll be very, very clear: I've had very little, in fact, no dialogue with partners, with our own government, with the Saudi Arabian Golf Federation or anybody from Saudi Arabia. Saudi International is on our schedule and we'll continue to monitor just like we would do with every other country. Q. Is the wider problem that once you start making moral judgments about countries that you go to, that you could have quite a limited schedule? Because you could say, that's not very good, that's not very good; is that the bigger problem? KEITH PELLEY: I think I'm going to continue to give you -- so you can continue to ask me questions and I'm going to continue to give you the same answer. Q. But in terms of monitoring -- not that you need to continue monitoring it -- is there not a point that you just think, do the English need to go to a place like that? KEITH PELLEY: I would say that we evaluate the viability. We monitor the situations in all our tournaments. When we say monitor, part of that is consulting with all our stake holders, which include members, including our board, our chairman, my own executive leadership team, our Tournament Committee, and we'll continue to monitor all the countries in which we play in. But I can tell you, as you can see, Saudi International in 2019 is on our schedule. Q. Didn't take much for certain players not to come here a couple years ago when it was admittedly a slightly different situation, but you've got a lot of top American players who perhaps aren't the most eager to travel. Are you confident that they will remain on board? KEITH PELLEY: I think if you look at -- and although it was a different situation -- monitoring the situation in Turkey is a good example of what transpired a couple of years ago. And we monitored it. In fact, I came over, as you may remember, after HSBC, I flew over here to see the status of the venue, working with the security and safety and I felt and we monitored the situation closely and we felt that the event was safe for our members, safe for our staff. So we proceeded with the golf tournament. So we continued to monitor situations all the time. We put on the golf tournament, their individual contract was that they decide that they want to play, or not want to play, regardless of where the tournament is, and that is their prerogative. Q. If one of your players did express some concerns, what would you tell them based on your experience of going over there earlier this year? KEITH PELLEY: The golf course is terrific. It's in excellent shape. And that's what -- that's the first thing that I would talk about. I always talk about the golf course. I always talk about what kind of shape it is in. And when you look at that Middle East swing, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, it gets three very strong tournaments at the beginning of the year. Q. Have any female members of European Tour staff expressed any reservations about the restrictions of what they can do? KEITH PELLEY: No. Q. The schedule is quite a healthy schedule. Is it one disappointment, The French Open, one year after a very successful Ryder Cup in France, not being a Rolex Series Event anymore? KEITH PELLEY: Well, The Open de France has got a rich history. Obviously we had a very good partner in HNA. We all understand what happened with HNA. We talked to a couple of other partners. Again, we were totally engrossed in The Ryder Cup and it was not feasible to turn one around that quickly. It will be a very strong tournament next year and will continue to be a very strong tournament. I don't know if I would use the word disappointment based on the fact that we had always realised that that could happen if, in fact, we couldn't replace HNA at that level. Now, we could decide to continue it ourselves, but we chose based on what has transpired in Abu Dhabi; some of the members have said it's very difficult with three Rolex Series back-to-back. We moved Valderrama into that week, which is a very good week for Sergio and some of the Spanish players. So I think France, with that golf course, at that time of year is another boost for us at the end of the year. If you look at the schedule for the last -- there's a lot of reasons for it. You look at the last ten or 12 weeks, they are very, very strong. Q. When you hear someone like Rory McIlroy say he probably won't play in Europe until The Irish Open, which is July, is there a sense that for certain levels of players, those at that level, that you're conceding the first half of the year to The European Tour? KEITH PELLEY: Well, we know the challenges with the global calendar. We've studied it, as you can imagine, forensically. When the move happened with the PGA Championship, that certainly changed things. I think we have a very, very strong schedule early, and then we have a number of really, really good tournaments during the actual strength of the American majors, but when you -- when you look at three majors in the US, and three WGCs, México not being in the United States, but proximity to it, you would have those six tournaments. It is very difficult for the top players -- and it is difficult for top players, to play both tours, and more and more are playing it. But it is difficult for them to come back for a week. We had this long conversation with Tommy, and I first called -- Tommy and I have been talking about the British Masters for some time. But the day after The Ryder Cup, we started chatting again about it, and we talked about that when you look at that schedule, we put it before the PGA Championship, and some players like to play the week before and some players don't like to play before the majors. Now, he was totally comfortable with it. But when you look at that one spot where I have, as we look at the schedule, we have a bunch of different colours, there is that one spot that once México starts, if we wanted to put a tournament, and a strong tournament -- we looked at two or three weeks where we could put a Rolex Series Event in there, and I sat down with every top member and they said, I wouldn't do that; I wouldn't do that, it's tough for us to come back, you've got the Memorial in there. So we have to look at what I see as the four areas of the schedule, which is very strong, which is at the beginning of the year, and prior to The Open Championship and after the Fedex ends and at the end of the season. So if we were to actually try to compete in that time where there are those three majors in the US, I'm not sure that that would be a wise way for us to not only spend our money and our efforts, but I don't think we would get top player participation. Q. There was an assumption that perhaps we would see a few more top Americans looking to join The European Tour and play the final series with the early ending of the Fedex. Any early indications that's going to be the case? KEITH PELLEY: We have a robust player relations department in the US that are having those conversations and they are obviously having a conversation right now with Xander regarding DP World. You'll see that five more American affiliates joined this year. Now, whether they take up membership next year, that's where we'll see. You only have to play four events to be a member. You can see that we changed our regulations, because we're anticipating that happening. So yeah, it's definitely a possibility. Obviously with the BMW PGA Championship for September 22, and back-to-back with the Dunhill, some of the players have said, can we play both. And it was an interesting discussion we had then with the British Masters behind that. The reason that the British Masters is not there before is because the Solheim Cup is there. When the Solheim Cup was requested from both SKY and the Scottish government, the Scottish government is a very big financial supporter of us in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, and that's why KLM is in the week before. We were going to put the British Masters in, but it's great that we were able to solidify a long-term deal for the Spanish Open. The promotor is the promotor from the Madrid Masters from the tennis, so that gives us a solid tournament in that particular week and that was the week they wanted. There were so many different juggles in the schedule, but at the end of the day, no question that we are optimistic that some of the top players will want to play. Q. Will the Olympics impact things in 2020? KEITH PELLEY: Not necessarily. We're looking at a couple of dates. When you look at the schedule in 2020, it is very tricky, obviously with the Olympics and The Ryder Cup. So there are less dates. Our aspiration is to have the schedule finalised. We have two good announcements coming up for 2020; the schedule announced, put to bed by Augusta. We're that far ahead now. We're starting to do long-term arrangements. I would like to tell everybody by the middle of April to be honest with you. There might be a couple of little -- but this year was far too late. Q. When will you sit down and discuss the 2020 Ryder Cup captaincy and when will that be announced? KEITH PELLEY: The process is as follows: There are five votes. There are the three previous captains, a representative from the Tournament Committee and myself. I have said this to everybody: We want to not proceed with any of our meetings until after the DP World. So the five of us will get together. We still have to actually vote on the representative from the Tournament Committee. Last year, or last time during the Thomas Björn selection was Henrik Stenson. That hasn't been determined as of today. Then we will have that discussion, determine who the captain is going forward, and I said, if you are successful, Pádraig, if you are the successful candidate, then we will advise at that point when we are going to announce it. Q. Before Christmas? KEITH PELLEY: Possibly. Q. How many any other names in the hat? KEITH PELLEY: Three max. Interesting thing, here is the way that I view it: We need to actually look at, even if there is a name, that that individual has not put forward, but if we feel, and that is what happened I guess many years ago with Colin Montgomerie, that if, in fact, we have somebody that we feel that this person would be better here and better suited here, and that we should expedite this, that's the conversation that we would have. Q. Is the Tournament Committee representative not necessarily the Tournament Committee chairman? KEITH PELLEY: No. The chairman last time was Thomas Björn. But actually, the last two, the representative was Henrik Stenson. Q. Going back to the prize fund issues. Is the British Masters there for supported by The European Tour? There's no sponsor? KEITH PELLEY: No, we have quite a few partners that have come in. Nobody has come in as title. But the way I look at it, and I find that fascinating that you say, is supported by The European Tour -- the way our business works is quite simple. We have generated from a sponsorship perspective, I think our number was somewhere around 40 million in 2016, and it was 70 million in 2017. We have completed 15 of 17 broadcast deals in the last year. We had 18 broadcast deals that were expiring. We have a couple of other announcements from a broadcasting perspective from a digital side that will be announced shortly. So our revenue continues to grow from a digital perspective, a sponsorship perspective, a broadcasting side, and how we elect to fund that, we fund it into tournaments. We supported -- and our objective is we support tournaments that we feel that are beneficial to our players; that are beneficial to that particular region. So take, for example, the Belgian Knockout. That was a conversation I had with Thomas Pieters. So we founded in terms of through all that other revenue that we generate, we supported that tournament last year. We will support it this year at a lower rate in the hopes of it will be self-sustainable long term. However, our philosophy is also changing based on the fact that it is tougher and tougher to create golf tournaments. IMG is no longer taking the risk in golf tournaments. Lagardère has come out of Sweden, so it's tougher and tougher. So now we operate and run 15 tournaments, which is significantly up from where we were, four or five, when I got here. So that's changing the way that we operate our business, and it's providing great opportunities but we're now in the midst of saying, okay, we're going to have a full team now in Sweden, a full team now in Germany. We've just taken over the Porsche European Open from 4 Sports and we've taken over the Scandinavian Invitational from Lagardère. So in terms of the -- you want to have a title partner. What we're really finding now is that it's important when we're finding sponsors, when we're finding partners, that the narrative needs to be much longer than four days. It needs to be -- because with all of the options that partners have now, and the pipeline that we have and the discussions that we're having, is terrific, but we have looked at that: I am not going to spend amount of money for four days; so the narrative has to happen through the entire year. So that's where we've actually changed that philosophy. Q. With that in mind, we spoke with Justin Rose at the British Masters when it looked like the tournament wasn't continuing, and he didn't want to be rude, but he said, there are a lot of tournaments on the schedule that probably shouldn't be there and possibly a quality-over-quantity approach might be better, with what you're saying is that something going forward? KEITH PELLEY: No, I wouldn't say that. I would say that all of our tournaments are incredibly important and they are all incredibly important to different members. You know, our two critical KPIs are playing opportunity and prize funds. The 100th-ranked player in 2016 made 275,000 Euros. This year, they are going to make over 400,000. We have this year on the schedule that's in front of you, there are just -- I think it's 4,200 or I think 4,382 playing opportunities, which is a little up from last year but it's five or six hundred more playing opportunities than a couple years ago. And as a members' organisation, that's key, providing opportunities for people that graduate out of Q-School or people that win The Challenge Tour in the Top 15 on The Challenge Tour. That's important for us. The British Masters, we had conversations, the British Masters was always going to be -- if you go back six or seven months ago, the British Masters, as I said to Keith Waters, is always going to be on our schedule. What we were trying to do was we had a couple of title partners that thought that if they came in, they were going to be the people that were the ones that brought it back. Again, we have been talking about it; I've been talking about what the next rotation is with a number of the players, right. What's fascinating now is -- and I'm not sure if anybody wrote it exactly like this, but in 2000, in the fall of 2000, Lee Westwood was the only English player in the Top-100. There's 11 now in the Top-100. Justin obviously would like to host it again, but there are many others. We talked to Paul Casey this week about it. There are many others, Matt Fitzpatrick, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald. It's a good challenge for us to have. Q. Do you feel that Rolex are getting their return, or a return on their investment in the Rolex Series, as far as the number of top players competing in their events? KEITH PELLEY: Really, so your question was do I believe that the Rolex Series is getting value -- and first of all, from our perspective, that would be a great question to ask Rolex, so the fact that it is part of the vernacular -- Q. I have. KEITH PELLEY: So the fact that it is part of the vernacular, when you look at the actual media value that they are receiving, I found it very interesting that SKY this week, who is our own partner, wrote a piece on their website and on social, totally on the valuation of the Rolex Series this year, not on the business side but strictly on each tournament, who won each tournament, Thorbjørn in Italy, and the whole works. It just spoke volumes of how that has changed our tour. I look at fields completely different, though, and I don't evaluate the fields strictly on World Ranking points. You can take the British Masters as an example, which had a stronger field, the CIMB, or the British Masters? If you look straight at the actual World Ranking points, you would say the CIMB. However, you look at British Masters, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, three in the top 50. CIMB had Justin Thomas, right. Now, if you go to the Top 30 or the Top-50s, based on where the actual World Rankings are and how many of the top U.S. players -- since 2015, the U.S. players have come up in the World Rankings and The European Tour players have gone down, as you all know. But if you look at that in terms of the top 30 and the Top-50, they haven't. And when you look at the legends category, they had Ernie Els. We had four former world No. 1s. Take Justin out, but we had Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer. Plus we had Pádraig Harrington who has won three majors and Thomas Björn who is the most recent Ryder Cup Captain. So from the consumer's perspective and from the partner's perspective, what's a better field? And these are the exact questions. So for example, somebody like Lee Westwood, who was at that particular time 123rd in the world, because he's only going to give you one world rating point, does that mean he is -- so another top -- and I won't mention any names -- player, what's going to resonate more with consumers. There is nobody in the world that has won more tournaments in different countries; Lee Westwood has won in 19 different countries. Gary Player has won in 13 and Tiger has won in 10. But we sit there and say, we take Lee for granted. That is my whole challenge when you're looking strictly at the strength of field. Q. Did Rolex agree to that? KEITH PELLEY: Yeah, this conversation -- to be honest with you, that's the conversation that we're having now. And this was brought up first at one of these Tournament Committee meetings. So that person has way more value than this person? That's not right. That's not the right way to look at and evaluate a tournament. You have to look at it from a consumer's perspective. And you know, there are different values to a top five player and a top five player here, and this guy might be a top five player this year; this might be a top five player next year; this player might not have the "It" factor; this one may. So it's very, very interesting when you start to study and you start to look at strength of fields. And I don't want to get into using individual names, but it's interesting. I think Rolex, it's a question for them, but we're thrilled with the media value and we're thrilled with what the Rolex Series has brought to the Tour. It's something everybody talks about. It's something everyone refers to. And it has given some great players some great opportunity to significantly strengthen their personal wallet. Q. And when does the contract renew? When does it come up for renewal? KEITH PELLEY: It's an eight-year. Q. Guaranteed for the next five years? Six years? KEITH PELLEY: There are different areas it can be adjusted, and obviously those are confidential. Q. Are you concerned about the growing presence of the PGA TOUR in Asia, that maybe one in Japan and CIMB goes off the schedule? KEITH PELLEY: Yeah, CIMB is leaving and I don't know if they will have anymore tournaments and Japan will take over from CIMB. The events, obviously a lot of our players go over there. Players that are actually world tour players will often play in Asia, which allows them to count a couple early in the year so that they can play more here in the summer. Perfect example is Thomas Pieters. Q. Taking over from Italy -- KEITH PELLEY: I don't know what -- I've said all along, The Ryder Cup in 2022 is going to Italy, and this week, Guy Kinnings was there for three days with our entire team. We saw the animated video of Marco Simone of what it will look like when it's finished. It's a construction zone now. Our team, European Golf Design is there on a weekly basis. We've redesigned the golf course. Construction has started. Lavinia Biagiotti (Cigna) who is the owner of Marco Simone is absolutely terrific. She's redoing the entire clubhouse. So Italy 2022 is a story that people talk about but you know, we had conversations this week about whether the opening ceremony will be in the Coliseum, and these are serious conversations with Italian decision-makers and officials. 2022 will be in Rome and it's going to be spectacular. It's 11 kilometres from the city. Our team is in there designing it and we can kind of create the amphitheatre that we did at Le Golf National. The one thing you will see in Italy, and you'll probably see it now at Hazeltine, you'll see four to six more video screens, and they will be just a little bit bigger. That changed I think the dynamic of the entire golf tournament was the size of those video boards. And I remember when we started to talk about it, there was some cop certain about making them that big, but I was really troubled being in Hazeltine with people 15 deep not being able to actually see any of the action. I think it was the game changer for Le Golf National, and even in the Village with 10,000 people in the Village, we had those two video screens, and that was the fourth variation of them, because I wanted them even bigger than that and I think it was a big game changer. Q. Would you say what happens in the political situation in Italy will have no bearing on whether or not The Ryder Cup is held there in 2022? We got past that; are there any concerns in changes in the government and whether they would continue to support the project? KEITH PELLEY: If the government all of a sudden said they are not supporting it for whatever reason, that would change, but that is not -- but that has never, ever been the case. That has just simply been speculation. We have constant meetings with the government. Q. The government -- KEITH PELLEY: But then they would have reneg on -- Italy has been absolutely fantastic in terms of the entire process to date. So I don't perceive any problems at all. We are just proceeding. The fact that the government now has funded Marco Simone, which is in the contract; it's happened and money has been transferred. So you know, construction is happening. The only thing that we have a concern with, the only concern that we have in Italy, is we were late getting the golf course started, and we want to have at least one Italian Open at Marco Simone prior to The Ryder Cup. Our timelines are tight. Q. 2026, when will you decide on who is hosting that and are many candidates lining up? KEITH PELLEY: After France, it was interesting, because the week after France, we had three or four calls regarding 2026. There are some options. You could probably determine the options. There's a lot depending on what happens potentially with the World Cup in the U.K. There are places where The Ryder Cup hasn't been back. So what we are in the process of doing with Guy, we had a full debrief on France on Tuesday and Wednesday. We have already started the conversations on what the process is going to be, but I think it's going to move very, very quickly. I think 2026 will be announced in the next three to four months. Q. What's the impact of The European Tour on having a successful Ryder Cup Team? KEITH PELLEY: I think it's more than just for The European Tour. I think it's for the game. This was obviously the largest Ryder Cup with 270,000 fans from 90 different countries and 40 broadcasters covering in 180 countries, when the social engagement was four times that of Hazeltine. Big sporting events are getting bigger and bigger, and this one is far beyond just a golf event. It's a global sporting, iconic event. I think it's fantastic for our game. I think it's terrific for the sport. I think it's terrific for all of you. It's something that certainly benefits The European Tour in many different ways, both financially and from what it carries as far as the players playing in tournaments. When you take a look at this tournament, you know, Thorbjørn won in Turkey two years ago and this year in Italy, but on the Sunday, he beat Jordan Spieth, and he became almost a household name. So now any tournament that he comes to, the value that he brings to the tournament is far greater, and that's one of the ways we reap the benefits. Q. What is the impact of Brexit? KEITH PELLEY: From our perspective, the only effect that Brexit can have is on FX in my opinion. Q. How would you assess your tenure thus far? Has it been more of a challenge than they expected? KEITH PELLEY: It's definitely that. It's definitely a challenge, there's been no question. It's been a lot of fun. The Ryder Cup was one of the most exhilarating things that I've been part of. It took far more time and far more of my time than I would have anticipated, which is why the schedule was a little bit delayed in coming out. We were so -- became a little bit obsessed with what the consumer experience was going to be like, and we pushed the envelope in so many different ways. I think we had a lot of learning which we will take to Italy and Italy will go even greater, and I think we influenced some of the decisions that will happen at Whistling Straits. The Ryder Cup was incredibly gratifying, and to work that closely with Thomas was sensational, to get into his psyche and to get into his mind. It was really quite enjoyable. Q. What was the phrase you used, the only effect Brexit has is on foreign exchange? KEITH PELLEY: So yeah, I think we've made a lot of strides. We've done a lot of good things. We've tried a lot of things. But we still have a long way to go. We have to I think find a way to still have one of the new formats, and I love GolfSixes and I love the way that this weekend was rolled out by the R&A and it's been rolled out in so many different federations, and have to find a way -- have to find a way to make that grow. It's going to Portugal next year and the reason being is because the Portuguese government wanted to fund it, and believed it was a way to showcase -- they only have 15,000 or 16,000 golfers, and showcase it to the younger generation, which is a positive. I do believe collectively as the golfing administrators, having 150 72-hole tournaments is not sustainable long term. I do believe that. That's why I believe the GolfSixes is something that we need to grow but we have yet -- and trust me, we have looked at it so many different ways. Now for the first time, we have investment bankers interested in investing in it, and we have two of them right now. They are prepared to invest in GolfSixes and they believe it is a format that can grow. So then you go: Where are you going to put it on your schedule; are you going to have two weeks in a row; who is going to play in it; how is it going to work; do we make it like a one-week festival like Goodwood Racing; can we bring it across the country; do we put it in Asia; do we have qualifiers; do we do it Tuesday night. I think perhaps less so than in the US, that is much needed in Continental Europe and in the U.K., and certainly in Asia to grow our sport. I think we've done some really -- I think the Rolex Series was a game changer for us. Our control of content, if you ever looked at this week, we changed -- we now run ETP. We have taken over ETP. I think that has been a real game changer for us. We brought in Stu Nichol from the PGA TOUR and now in six to eight months, you've seen our world feed change. There's less tap-in putts. There's more shots, more graphics, more storytelling. There's accountability to the commentators. This week we needed a new graphic package. Once we started realtime scoring collection, once that comes into it, that will help our world feed more. I'm very, very happy with the way that we're moving with our broadcasters. We've changed from transactional relationships with our broadcasters to partners, and they are the best. They are the best way of selling our product. That's what it is. So very, very happy with that. Happy with our content creation. We need to do a better job of that. But yeah, we have a lot of -- we have a long way to go. Q. What's the one thing that you haven't accomplished this year that keeping you up at night? KEITH PELLEY: Most nights I don't sleep very well. The schedule; I would have liked to have gotten the schedule out earlier, and that's why -- you know, for example, the conversations that we're having in 2020, we're close to announcing a new event in 2020 that we will announce in February or March, but it will be there for five years. I would say, I'd say one of the real -- I kind of looked at the PGA TOUR and they have I think eight-year or nine-year deals, and if you are constantly chasing the schedule, you get yourself into working only on the business or in the business, as opposed to on the business. Ryder Cup took up so much of our time that we probably would have solved the British Masters earlier. But having said that, that's now -- he's only been here two or three months, but Guy Kinnings has been just a wonderful, wonderful addition to our team. He will free up time for me to work more, as I say, on the business than in the business. Q. You said you would like to have ten Rolex Series Events. When you announce 2020, will you be there or will you be close? KEITH PELLEY: That's a great question, and we're having that one with Rolex, too. Because eight to ten is the number, and we are certainly not going ahead of ten. There's some that say we should have eight great events. You know, there's a couple other things that we're doing in 2020 which is kind of -- which we couldn't get ready for in 2019. But I don't know it will be ten. There could be nine. There could be ten. But there could be nine. Q. What are you trying to do to alleviate the purse disparity issue? KEITH PELLEY: Purse disparity issue with? Q. The fact that a guy can have one good week in the Rolex -- KEITH PELLEY: There was a lot of discussion. We made a couple of changes. I don't know if you know about it, but I can walk you through it. There was a lot of conversation back to our Tournament Committee meeting back in Scotland, based on when one player said if you finish second in this tournament, second in this tournament and second in this tournament; and then you finish third in a Rolex Series Event, that is worth more than the other three -- that's your point, correct, I understand. There's all kind of different debate. That's the interesting thing when you have a Tournament Committee that's made up of all different kind of ranks players. Some play, you should play your best in the best events. You're playing in a major, you should get more points, not only based on world rating points but based on the pressure. And it's easier to play well in a lesser event; some will say that. I tend to concur that it is too much. So we just moved it to here this year, for next year. So we changed the points system which will allow that if you're -- and it really only affects the 80 to 120 players; it doesn't affect the top players. The top players that will still play well in majors or Rolex Series Event will still be up here, but we just closed the gap just a little bit. Q. Is there a way to get the floor of what the purses are closer to what the ceiling is? KEITH PELLEY: Well, sure, because you want to go off a band. But we've taken over 15 of these events, so the determination of the actual prize fund is ours. One of the challenges that we have with the historical promotor model that we have had with the promotor model is that the objective of the promotor is different than ours. So if IMG is running an event, their No. 1 objective is to make money, right. So we're going to say to them, okay, so you're at 1.5, can you move it to 1.8, and they go, are we going to get a better field? Well, no. So we'll put that 300 into player appearances or we'll put that into our bottom line. And we're sitting there going, that 1.5 to 1.8 is very important because that's what our objective is. So one of the biggest challenges I had with the whole promotor model is why we slowly started taking over more and more tournaments every single year. Q. Was that your decision or by necessity that IMG doesn't want to do it anymore? KEITH PELLEY: It's a combination of both. Lagardère would have done it. They would have continued on with the event in Sweden but they wanted to lower the purse because their profit ability had not sustained. We said, that's not going to happen, we're going to take it over. Q. Is that a greater risk? KEITH PELLEY: No question. No question. It is a greater risk, but it's the only way that I believe is the way forward to grow and to contain your own product. It's the same thing -- it's no different than the IMG and the ETP change. Now we have complete control over our content, right. Now we have direct relationships with our broadcasters, as opposed to a third party doing it, and that is one of the reasons, to be honest with you, those 15 broadcast deals, that we can actually fund the British Masters and why we can continue it without a title. Q. When you brought in Stu Nichol who was responsible for basically at the Tour trying to decide if they were going to have their own channel or not; you bring him here, now you take over ETP. The question is: What can you do with that in regards to generating more revenue? Will you create your own channel? Can you talk about the digital rights that you are still in negotiation on? KEITH PELLEY: For those that don't know Stu, Stu was 19 years at the PGA TOUR and the last ten years as the senior vice president of the PGA TOUR broadcast. So we brought him over. Once we actually changed at arrangement with IMG and went back to a more traditional IMG model, we hired Stu to change and revamp our world feed, make it more contemporary, make it fresher, make it quicker, because as I say it is our best commercial. It is our No. 1 revenue source. So we should have the best product leading that charge. As far as the digital content goes, and I'm not sure how much you know about the Discovery deal, but Discovery is launching a very strong golf product in the new year. We're in deep discussions with Discovery on a number of different ways that we can work together with Stu and so forth. And I believe that that, the Discovery model, and this is a company that obviously bought the Olympic rights and invested money into that; they want to invest money into it, and that's just terrific, somebody new coming into the marketplace and I mean worldwide. So we are having discussions of how we can -- they love our content. They love what we're doing and how we can work closer together collectively to build the game globally. Q. Does that preclude you from doing your own over-the-top channel? KEITH PELLEY: That would. Q. How would you assess the balance between revenue and reaching the numbers that Ryder Cup -- the personalities and characters that you can reach, more new golf fans on a premium network -- SKY Sports, do you have to find other avenues such as social media to reach new fans? KEITH PELLEY: No question. People will find the content, and social is something that we've spent a lot of time on. We've spent more and more resources on it, and there's four or five of our social team here because we believe that's the way to engage, but that's also the way to collect data, and collecting data is a revenue source. At the end of the day, engagement, television ratings, people reading, all of that, engagement from any consumer is a form of currency. That's what it is. So I look at engagement as nothing more than a form of currency, so the stronger week that we have engaged for ratings, the stronger we can build the ratings is the more revenue that we can make to create more tournaments and perhaps take more risks with something like GolfSixes. Q. Can I ask about Valderrama? There was no criticism of the non-transmission of Monday? KEITH PELLEY: Yes. Valderrama was on us. It wasn't on SKY. It was on us. There's no question. We made the mistake of not -- and I apologized to SKY for not vocalising it, and quite honestly, it's another terrific example of us having -- it will never happen again. I was apoplectic about it at the time, as was Stu, and I won't get into the deep details of it, but we left -- our trucks had to leave, believe it or not, to leave to get to here on a barge and the whole works -- but we couldn't get a truck in from the U.K. We couldn't get a truck from Movie Star, from Madrid. At the end of the day, there was no backup plan. This would have happened eventually on a tournament like this. And it was deemed, okay. But now, with us now in control of it, you know, Stu's already put in the process in place that's already there. It will never happen again. It will never happen again. Q. There are more trucks, more kit? KEITH PELLEY: Yeah. By the way, Valderrama, if I just think about it, as you asked me about Valderrama, I was thinking about, one of the broadcasters, sent a note to me on Sunday saying, "It's too bad one of the greatest fields of the year, and we're going to miss the Monday." It's interesting. Because it's interesting. You had Sergio at the top and then you had Lee Westwood, right, and then you had Shane Lowry, and then you had Gonzalo. You think about it, and so you go, you've got Shane Lowry, 87, Lee Westwood, 123 -- 38, 38 was the world rating points at Valderrama. So it's very interesting. When you said that, that's what triggered my mind about that e-mail from the broadcaster, that that's what they had said. It's a side story. Q. The BMW PGA is obviously later in the year. In 2020, if it sat where it was, whoever won that wouldn't be determined in regards to Ryder Cup. So the question is: Are you going to change the selection process for Ryder Cup? KEITH PELLEY: We will have a discussion. Let me just tell you right now, Saudi International is on the schedule (laughter). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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