PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The PGA Tour announced a 10-year extension for the title sponsorship of the FedEx Cup, giving the lucrative series continuity for another decade and allowing some flexibility as the tour explores reshaping its season.
Terms of the new deal were not disclosed Tuesday, though PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said he expects the payout to “increase significantly” from its $35 million bonus pool and $10 million prize for the winner.
It keeps the same name of the FedEx Cup for the first 21 years of the competition.
The FedEx Cup began in 2007 as a way to give the PGA Tour a definitive close to its season once the four major championships ended in August. Tiger Woods won the first edition of the FedEx Cup and remains the only two-time winner. Rory McIlroy won it last year.
Before the FedEx Cup came along, the tour season began in January and ended in late October or early November. The FedEx Cup brought massive restructuring with a points system for players to qualify for four playoff events that culminated with the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup champion.
The tour now is looking to tighten the schedule even more so that the FedEx Cup ends before the start of the NFL season. That could involve moving The Players Championship back to March (instead of this week), and cooperation from the PGA of America to consider moving the PGA Championship to the spring.
The extension through 2027 goes well beyond the tour’s television contracts with NBC, CBS and Golf Channel, which expire in 2021. The tour signed its latest network deal in 2011 when Tiger Woods was recovering from leg injuries and the breakdown of his personal life. The FedEx extension was announced after Woods had his fourth back surgery and will spend at least the rest of the season recovering.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the senior vice president of integrated marketing for FedEx, said even without Woods, there is no shortage of stars.
“I would say there is no more exciting time about the future of the game based on the players that are rising to the top of the tour right now,” he said. “And that is with no reflection on any past generation or groups of players.”
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