£1.25 million for Shanghai? How much is too much ?

I know its not like the money would have found its way into reducing third world hunger or anything but the money paid out at the Shanghai event seems massively excessive.
You cant blame the players but its an obscene amount of money for a nothing little event which only had 20 competitors with a realistic chance of winning. Just seems all a bit wrong really.

I know what you mean Diggers. I heard on the radio McIlroy came away with about £1.5m after his appearence fees. Not his fault of course but yep it just seems wrong.

If some company is stupid enough to pay that kind of money then you can't blame the players for lining their pockets.

It seems crazy to me though, I wonder how you measure what kind of return you get for stumping up such vast sums of money.

I think a lot of this is due to trying to promote mens golf in Asia, as there's a fortune to be made out this sector. We've seen how within the ladies game the Asians have dominated for a few years, and ladies golf over there makes a fortune. All the major golf brands have massive investment over there, as well as clothing and accesories etc. The major hotel chains are also hoping to promote their own golf resorts, and have used people like Greg Norman to be one of the main faces and focul points. Chubby Chandler has a lot of business interests out there as well, and always loves to send team chubster over every year.

Funny how Rory wasn't too pleased about all the travelling he had to do a couple of weeks ago in China and the Far East. He then fly's back and cashes in. Will Horozon or Chubby get a % of this purse as Rory's only just changed management companies, and he was with chubbs when he was entered?

Same thing happened a few years ago, when golf was being promoted heavily in South Africa. Woosnam won the first Sun City challenge at over $1m

At the very least golfers earn their money by virtue of how good their performances are. Feckless footballers get paid regardless of how they perform, and even if they don't play. Where is the incentive to play well for them?

If McIlroy recieved a 250k appearance fee SR thats hardly down to how he performed is it ?
Footballers are on a contract, that contract will expire at some point, if they dont try and play well they wont get offered a new contract or have another club come in to buy them. You dont have to be a genius to see there are clearly incentives for them to play well.
Anyway its not about 2 wrongs making a right, some footballers are clearly overpaid IMO but equally I dont agree with the kind of money that will go to McIlroy this year or indeed Lewis Hamilton or Andy Murray.

It kind of is though Diggers, he wouldn't be getting appearance fees if he was some average tour pro.

Can anyone answer how Scott Parker has done as well as he has? I'm not a massive football fan, not really a fan at all to be honest but the Spurs game was on in thepub yesterday and I said allowed "how much does he get paid to pass it 2.5 yards sideways all day?"

Doc.
It was quite a few years ago that Woosie won in SA, certainly over 20.

On that basis you could say present money is poor.

If the sponsors are willing to pay it, then more fool them, and good on the golfers for squeezing as much out of them as possible.

I doubt that there's a single person out there who would refuse to play in a tournament because the prize money on offer is too much.

JPX wrote:It kind of is though Diggers, he wouldn't be getting appearance fees if he was some average tour pro.

Can anyone answer how Scott Parker has done as well as he has? I'm not a massive football fan, not really a fan at all to be honest but the Spurs game was on in thepub yesterday and I said allowed "how much does he get paid to pass it 2.5 yards sideways all day?"

True JPX, but the footballers on good money do have to earn it usually. Parker was man of the match in my paper this morning but have to admit I didnt see much of the game. His job is just to win the ball and pass it 20 yards to someone like Bale or Van der Vart, sounds simple but its not that easy.

Its too much if it he chooses to play there rather than play on his own tour and try and gain some ground on Donald in the ET money list.

Yes I do realise the irony...

Diggers, we could apply the same thinking to Football Managers, look at the likes of Sven and Capello, neither have done anything to merit their salaries since their pre international club management days, they consistently fail in their job yet get offered new contracts time after time. Can't blame them, but they clearly hav eno incentive to do well because it is too easy for them to get another contract.

I personally think tennis players deserve what they get paid because they are proper athletes compared to footballers.

Has Capello failed yet ? Not in terms of what he set out to achieve which is to qualify for the Euros.
The thing with football is its really the only true global sport that a lot of the world population give a monkeys about. In terms of its broad appeal its utterly, utterly massive. Golf is very much a minority sport in comparison.

Of course he has failed. Feeble performances against European minnows and a lamentable, laughable performance in the World Cup. A man with any integrity would walk after that, but I suppose a 6m a year carrot is pretty tempting to stay.

super_realist wrote:Of course he has failed. Feeble performances against European minnows and a lamentable, laughable performance in the World Cup. A man with any integrity would walk after that, but I suppose a 6m a year carrot is pretty tempting to stay.

It hasnt been great to watch for the most part. But what you dont actually know is how bad they might have been without him, thats complete conjecture for anyone.
Anyway even if England won next summer you'd find a way to write it off as some kind of fluke.

If all you remember is it was some event in Shanghai where Rory won a shedload of money, then the sponsors - whoever they were - didn't get much for their money, did they?

Could they have been much worse?, and I doubt any Premiership manager would have done any worse,and they'd be a lot cheaper than what the clueless FA pay managers.
There isn't a hope that England can win the Euro's, there are at least 8 teams that are as good if not better than England in the competition. I would think that reaching the semi final would be an over-achievement.

Next summer is a long way off. I dont agree there are 8 better teams, in fact apart from Spain I dont really rate any of the other sides as being all that. We shall see.

You seriously see England as being the second best team there?

Spain, Germany , Portugal, France, Italy, Holland, Russia and even Sweden are more than a match for England, whereas Portugal , Croatia and Czech Republic from the qualifiers could also pose them a serious problem.

You might not think any of them are "all that" but I doubt England would fancy playing any of those teams. International football is not about big time charlies, which is exactly how England players think they should play.

LadyPutt wrote:If all you remember is it was some event in Shanghai where Rory won a shedload of money, then the sponsors - whoever they were - didn't get much for their money, did they?

Quite possibly true in the short term. I heard that IMG were involved as sponsors in some way though (but strangely could not find any useful information about the event / leaderboards etc last week so can't confirm). I'd bet that the main stated reason for this exhibition though was to promote the game in China. Whether truly altruistic or not, there's a good chance that there will be some outstanding players from 'round those parts in future, and maybe IMG are trying to push their brand name out there as a pre-emptive measure to find their next client cash cow (cash Tiger, or whatever). Maybe there's some indirect state-backing too, given golf will be in the Olympics in 2016, and the Chinese really love winning Olympic medals.

Maybe I'm just talking nonsense (as usual)...

super_realist wrote:At the very least golfers earn their money by virtue of how good their performances are. Feckless footballers get paid regardless of how they perform, and even if they don't play. Where is the incentive to play well for them?

Hardly correct now is it S_R. Golfers get appearance fees, some of which are huge. I don't see/hear of many handing them back if/when they stink the place out.

I would have thought you would realise that I wasn't meaning that. The vast majority of pro's don't get appearance fees. However I take your point.

Re. the OP, I think the money is somewhat absurd and in the current climate, somewhat sickening. I don't blame the players much though although it's tempting.

super_realist wrote:You seriously see England as being the second best team there?

Spain, Germany , Portugal, France, Italy, Holland, Russia and even Sweden are more than a match for England, whereas Portugal , Croatia and Czech Republic from the qualifiers could also pose them a serious problem.

You might not think any of them are "all that" but I doubt England would fancy playing any of those teams. International football is not about big time charlies, which is exactly how England players think they should play.

They are all much of a muchness and I'd include England in that. I certainly wouldn't be worried in particular about any of them, Spain are the only stand out side.
We shall as I said see, international football is incredibly dull these days for me but it's a while lot duller when England don't qualify (for me).

I seem to remember the same confidence about the Rugby world cup

I'd always thought that sponsorship was tax deductible? Why give it to the government when it can be used for advertising.

Hmm, different sports aren't they ? Bit of a silly comparison really. Why not throw in conkers as well.

It wasn't a comparison Diggers. Just that confidence means nothing when your team isn't up to the task.

Can we keep to discussion about the moolah for the Shanghai event pretty please?

Ok, is the money too much for a few rounds of golf - Yes,
Would any of us turn it down, No

If one of my businesses had that kind of money I would put it up as I'm sure they made a profit in running the tournament.

No1yankee wrote:If one of my businesses had that kind of money I would put it up as I'm sure they made a profit in running the tournament.

Why are you sure ?

Diggers wrote:

No1yankee wrote:If one of my businesses had that kind of money I would put it up as I'm sure they made a profit in running the tournament.

Why are you sure ?

If you add up all the ticket,merchandise,corporate and hospitality sales that the stars attract then I'm sure you could make a profit.

the money doesnt directly annoy me- but it does inderctly- i feel as though valdeama is one of the best tests on the euro tour(if not the best) and should hold a flagship event yet players are drawn away by the richest tourny in the world which isnt a ranking event

Not long ago Rory was quoted as saying he "had won enough" and was now only interested in titles. Obviously he's had a change of heart because he preferred to take his wheelbarrow to Shanghai rather than tackle the challenge which is Valderrama (and a challenge it certainly is) and in the process pick up useful world ranking points.

ladyputt we could see as going to shanghai as preparation for the WGC next up.

its in the same zone, so he can get prepared in the right time zone and have relatively good compition .

i think when he talks about 'titles' he is concentrating on the big tournys over week in week out grind

although i do agree that valderama shouldnt be comprimised- but perhaps time to move it as the problem isnt just the big money shaghai event its also the WGC the week after.

mystiroakey wrote:ladyputt we could see as going to shanghai as preparation for the WGC next up.

its in the same zone, so he can get prepared in the right time zone and have relatively good compition .

i think when he talks about 'titles' he is concentrating on the big tournys over week in week out grind

In his post win interview he was certainly seeing it as a big win, admitting that he hadnt won enough and was really pleased to win the event. Then again I guess he is hardly going to talk it down after the amount of moolah he trousered.

i suppose the field was the best of the week- even if it only had a few players in it