The Royal Bank of Canada, a key sponsor of two high-profile PGA Tour events, has aired frustrations with the current state of flux within men's professional golf.
Almost a year on from the shock framework agreement announcement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), there appears to be no end in sight for golf's ongoing civil war.
Talks between the Tour and LIV Golf's backers are set to ramp up following the appointment of a "transaction committee" earlier in the week, but declining ratings and distrust in Tour leadership mean that men's professional golf is in a far from ideal situation.
Such frustrations have also reached sponsors, with RBC - title sponsor for the Canadian Open and Heritage - the latest to air their grievances about the lack of clarity over the sport's future.
Speaking at the media day for the upcoming RBC Canadian Open, Mary DePaoli, chief marketing officer for RBC, said: “I think we’re probably all feeling the same. We’re all experiencing this, whether it’s as a sponsor or a fan or the players.
"We are all watching the PGA Tour, right now, try to sort through a business model that has been under some significant strain, and has still not fully resolved itself. And that’s still TBD. So, it’s requiring a lot of patience.”
“It’s going to be really important for us to see the Tour stabilize professional men’s golf,” she continued. “I’ve used the analogy that it’s like they’re flying the plane and building it at the same time. It’s probably not too far off.
"But I think if some of these outstanding questions can resolve themselves — in the short or the medium term — and we can start to put some of the changes that a lot of people were not too pleased with behind us. Hopefully, they can get professional men’s golf back on track and growing in a very positive direction again.”
While RBC retained their sponsorship rights, which were set to expire in 2023, other high-profile sponsors have seen enough.
Last year, Honda ended its 42-year sponsorship of the Honda Classic following the 2023 tournament, while Wells Fargo and Farmers Insurance have also announced they will not renew deals that expire in 2024 and 2026 respectively.
DePaoli did not comment on RBC's future intentions but insisted that a "healthy" sport was vital to keep fans and sponsors on side.
"I think golf might be at this moment in time, where, unlike a lot of other professional sports, it’s going through change. It’s going through a transformation," she added. "A lot of other leagues and teams have gone through a lot of that over the course of their history.
"We’re hoping that this rectifies itself soon. We’re hoping that they can bring the sport together in a very healthy way that, again, benefits the players, the sponsors and the fans. If the fans are happy, we’re happy. If the players are happy, we’re happy. But right now, we’re still seeing a little bit of flux there.”
