Players Championship still brings in green

[Jason]

Players Championship still brings in green
 
Despite economic woes, the tournament is still one of the hottest tickets around


By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union


If you're of an optimistic frame of mind, you could think of it as a good sign for the future, a sort of upward-looking economic indicator: Despite high gas prices, a floundering dollar and gasping economy, golf still matters.

As the PGA Tour's greatest talents take to the greens this week for the 35th Players Championship, the number of spectators lined up to watch them and corporate sponsors paying big bucks to host refreshment chalets appears to be as robust as last year, according to Tour figures.

"As robust as last year" isn't, of course, a resounding success: Corporate sponsorships, for example, had been climbing on a year-over-year basis. But with fears of recession and rising prices across the board, staying even, the Tour said, counts as a success.

"It's not what I, in a perfect world, would hope for," said Ron Cross, executive director of The Players. "We're fortunate in that we have an event here at The Players Championship that's significant on people's calendars."

Spectator tickets were expected to sell out today or Tuesday, Cross said, slightly later than the Sunday sell-out last year.

The 200,000 spectators expected may come from a larger pool than in previous years. In a move Cross said was unrelated to the economy, this was the first year the Tour has made a concentrated marketing effort to pull in new business - part of a plan to turn The Players from an event attended by locals to a regional and eventually national draw.

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Read the rest: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050508/bus_275660682.shtml

[Jason]

One of the things visitors can participate in is the tourism organization's downtown event, with live music and golf-themed entertainment kicking off at Wednesday night's ArtWalk.

Good news.  I wonder what else can be done for the core to benefit from the 200,000 plus fans attending the tournament.