PGA Tour Loses Sponsor as Wells Fargo Bow Out for 2024

Following the groundbreaking news of Jon Rahm’s departure from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, it seems the former has some decisions to make.

Losing such a superstar is hugely detrimental to the PGA Tour, and the leadership has remained fairly quiet since the news of the framework agreement back in June. We have the first whisperings of sponsors pulling out of events on the Tour schedule, as Wells Fargo have announced the ending of their sponsorship of the Wells Fargo Championship in May 2024.

Wyndham Clark won the event this year, before backing it up with a maiden major victory at LACC in the U.S. Open. The event is hosted by Quail Hollow, a site where Rory McIlroy is a three-time winner.

Rory doing Rory things yesterday at Quail Hollow 💪🔥🚀 pic.twitter.com/t5s0AE1KZt

— Rory McIlroy Tracker (@RMTracker) May 9, 2021

So the snowball scenario here is a major sponsor has pulled out – other sponsors withdraw from PGA Tour events, purses shrink, and ratings and viewership drops alongside.

Turns out that Wells Fargo wanted to remain part of the Tour sponsorship – but as per Josh Carpenter from the Sports Business Journal, Wells Fargo weren’t willing to cough up the asking price. 

Wells Fargo wanted to stay on but was not willing to pay what was being asked. https://t.co/s7Ln1kRc3r

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) December 8, 2023

It does beg the question of what companies are willing to pay the asking price and still remain part of the PGA Tour schedule, if Wells Fargo are unable to meet demand. The purse for the event was $9 million in 2022, before skyrocketing to $20 million for this season’s event, with Wyndham Clark pocketing $3.6 million for his win.

This highlights glaring issues in the proposed business model for signature events going forward. The costs of increased purses are shouldered by sponsors and the tournaments, with tournament directors on record saying “they won’t do it, they’ve had enough,” according to Sports Illustrated.

Cover Image via Axios Charlotte