At the PLAYERS CHAMPION ... sorry, I just got used to capitalizing ... Championship this week, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem announced a six-year extension on his contract.
It seems that it was probably a reward for getting through a difficult television contract negotiation that saw the PGA Tour losing a network broadcasting partner (ABC) and engage a 15-year relationship with the Golf Channel for early round tournament coverage. For his troubles, Finchem will be reportedly paid $4.5 million per year over the life of the deal.
To put that into perspective, Finchem would have finished in fourth on the Tour money list last year with his annual paycheck. That is a staggering amount of money to be paid just to oversee the operations of a nonprofit organization — which the PGA Tour is. Well, at least he realized he was not as important as Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, and Phil Mickelson, right?
The board of directors of the PGA Tour must believe they are getting a good deal for their nearly $5 million that they are paying their commissioner. So, let's break down Tim Finchem's salary and find out just how much he is really worth for his contribution to the PGA Tour.
First, Finchem has been riding on easy street for the past decade since Tiger Woods has almost single-handedly made golf dramatically more popular than it was before he hit the scene. Woods' presence and the buzz he creates generated larger purses, two huge television contracts in a row, and attracted new fans and sponsors to the game that would have never come along otherwise. Arguably, Woods deserves a cut of the Commish's salary on that fact. So, let's give Tiger, oh, a million dollars. In our alternate universe, Finchem now makes $3.5 million.
Speaking of Tiger, the Tour did a poor job of marketing itself in the face of Tiger's slump in 2003 and 2004. Like the NBA after Michael Jordan retired for the second time, the PGA Tour focused too much on marketing Woods during his slump to the point that it may have had a negative effect on Tour ratings — even after Woods reasserted himself. The NBA is still struggling to find its identity, and the PGA Tour seems to continue to find a way to market the rest of the Tour's great talent when Woods is not at the top of the leaderboard. Some of the blame for that has to go on Tim Finchem. Cut his salary $250,000 because a 2006 Tour without Woods would be like a 1996 PGA Tour. The current figure for Finchem is at $3.25 million.
Second, Finchem has been wasting a lot of time over the past few years trying to convince everybody (and maybe even himself) that the PLAYERS Championship should officially be considered the fifth major. Every year, in the third week of March, he barrages the media with gibberish talk that the PLAYERS should be in the same company as the four majors.
As if that was not enough, he dramatically altered the schedule under the guise of a playoff system to move the PLAYERS to a much more prime placement on the schedule — in between the Masters and the U.S. Open. In the end, though, does the PGA Tour really benefit by having a fifth major that no one recognizes? With that in mind, Finchem should pay a penalty. Let's dock Finchem approximately $500,000 per year for wasting time. He's now down to $2.75 million.
Speaking of the FedEx Cup, no one — even the Commish — seems to know how in the world this thing is going to work less than 12 months from now. What exactly has he been doing to make this happen since the concept was announced last fall? You would think that since the Tour will dramatically change in response to the concept that the boss would expedite the rules for how it will work. Sorry, Tim, you lose more money. There goes another half-mil — Finchem's salary is $2.25 million.
The Tour's response to the growing importance of distance to the game has been lackluster. The Tour has refused to make any proactive attempt to curb technology on Tour and does not appear poised for any such move in the future. Instead, the Tour response has been to encourage course lengthening (except at the TPC at Sawgrass for some reason) at tournament sites and to use pin placements that are nothing short of brutal on Sundays. Time will tell whether or not this will have an effect on ratings and attendance, but it sure is tough for a golfing purist to watch and for many outspoken players to experience on a weekly basis. Exact about $250,000 in pain and suffering for the fans and Finchem is getting paid $2 million.
And to round out his salary, we should place the PGA Tour Commissioner among his peers in the other major sports.
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue gets paid $5 million per year to do his job. Look at his track record over his tenure and see what he has accomplished — salary cap, enormous TV deals, and football has become the national pastime. Now compare all of that to what Finchem has achieved, and remember that he doesn't have to deal with 32 billionaire owners. And you're telling me that Tim Finchem is only worth $500,000 less than Tagliabue? Just for that fallacy alone, he loses that $500,000.
Furthermore, Tim Finchem isn't even listed on Wikipedia, which is the encyclopedia of record for knowing just how important you are. If you're not listed in that thing, you're nobody. I'm not cutting his pay based upon that fact. I just wanted you to know how important Tim Finchem is in the grand scheme of things. You could replace Tim Finchem with Gary Bettman (NHL Commissioner) and re-read this paragraph.
With all of this in mind then, Tim Finchem is worth $1.5 million to me. Still, that's a lot of money to be paid to a guy who faces all of the problems listed above, and others still that have not been mentioned. In his next contract as commissioner, Finchem will have to face many of the game's issues if he hopes to improve the stature of the Tour in the sports pantheon.
If he can manage to take a stand in the face of technological advancements, figure out how to market the FedEx Cup and the Tour's deep talent, and give up his dreams about the PLAYERS Championship, then Finchem may be worth every penny.
If not, then I would like to offer my services for ... $3 million.
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