Links Magazine On The Costs Of Hosting A USGA Event

Adam Schupak does a very nice job in this Links Magazine piece looking at the pluses and minuses of hosting a USGA-governed national championship. Surprisingly, even post-$1.2 billion Fox Sports television deal, Schupak says "a club’s burden would be more palatable if USGA coffers weren’t overflowing." This is because the USGA kicks in smaller-than-expected amounts to host courses of lesser championships (but does pay substantial rent and royalties to U.S. Open venues).

While the hosting costs may be minor to the clubs and resorts hoping to host a more lucrative event down the road or simply to offset the down time involved in hosting a cumberson championship, the expenses are still substantial and even unexpected to some courses. Schupak writes:

The starting price can be as modest as roughly $150,000 for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, balloons to $750,000 for the Walker Cup, and gets close to $1 million for the U.S. Amateur when a larger footprint for worldwide media and television compounds is factored in. To raise the money, host facilities often are forced to get creative, ranging from throwing golf outings to finding local sponsors. It took approximately 50 well-heeled members at Country Club of Birmingham in Alabama—a century-old, 36-hole private facility that had slipped out of golf’s Top 100 lists—to bankroll the $300,000 budget for the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.

Schupak provides this example from Vero Beach's John's Island Club, host of the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur.

According to Mulvoy, the budget for the 2015 Mid-Am topped $650,000, which included $100,000 for a reunion of Mid-Amateur champions held prior to the competition, and hiring a full-time championship coordinator. The USGA’s financial contribution to the operating budget? A net total of $59,000, or less than 10 percent of the championship’s operating costs.

The USGA counters that they've upped the dollars going to host courses, according to John Bodenhamer.

Bodenhamer estimates the 2017 budget for the USGA’s 10 amateur championships is $12 million this year, an increase of $2.5 million from three years ago.