Despite sponsor questions for PGA, Heritage director ‘optimistic’ about tourney’s future
After an executive from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) voiced the company’s “frustrations” with the PGA Tour last month, golf commentators and fans wondered if the sport’s current impasse might jeopardize the corporate funding behind Hilton Head’s staple event. The multinational bank’s $25 million, one-year contract with the Heritage tournament and the Canadian Open expires after the 2024 season, leaving both events without a guaranteed title sponsorship for next year.
But Stephen J. Wilmot, the Heritage’s tournament director and current president of the Heritage Classic Foundation, says he wasn’t caught off guard by the recent developments.
RBC is asking ‘the right questions’
“They’re a business; they have some questions for the tour,” Wilmot said of the bank, which has served as the title sponsor for the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing since 2012. “They love it here, but they have two tournaments and they’re asking the right questions of ‘What’s the PGA Tour going to look like?’ I’ve been very privy to all these conversations.”
The Heritage Classic Foundation has hosted the annual Hilton Head golf event since the nonprofit’s start in 1987, distributing over $52 million to local charities over 36 years. Although the foundation fundraises year-round, the vast majority of proceeds come from Heritage week.
While a new contract has yet to be signed, Wilmot says the foundation is “optimistic” about their future with RBC, in no small part due to the fresh success of 2024’s Heritage tournament. Total proceeds haven’t yet been consolidated, but he said this year’s event seems to have broken every record, including in ticket sales and revenue from concessions and merchandise.
“We were in the same situation basically this time last year too, and we ended up getting a one-year extension,” Wilmot said, noting that current talks with RBC revolved around another possible one-year agreement. If approved, that yearlong contract could blossom into a four or five-year commitment, closer to the typical length of major golf tour contracts, he added.
Negotiations for RBC’s backing of the 2024 Heritage were reportedly finalized around August of the previous year. As for the 2025 sponsorship, Wilmot says he thinks “this will all play out in the next month or so.”
The Heritage’s uncertain footing is far from abnormal within the PGA Tour, whose events regularly see donors drop out only to be quickly replaced by other companies vying for visibility. As recently as 2023, technology giant Cognizant stepped up as title sponsor for the annual tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, after Honda walked away from a four-decade alliance — the longest-running sponsorship in PGA Tour history.
RBC began sponsoring the Heritage in 2012 with a five-year contract, filling a gaping void in funding after Verizon pulled away from their decades-long relationship with the tournament in 2010. The 2011 event was played without a title sponsor.
“We have a great partnership with (RBC); we look at them as great friends,” Wilmot said. “They came to our rescue back in 2011, after that tournament, so we’re highly optimistic about 2025 and beyond.”
Pro golf in transition
Spurred by gradually dwindling viewership and new competition, the PGA Tour’s business model has seen significant strain in recent years. The organization is reportedly “making progress” with its negotiations to merge with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which finances the newly formed LIV Golf. Backed by seemingly limitless cash resources, the rival league has forced the PGA Tour to increase purses and other expenses as some top-tier PGA players elected to switch sides.
Doubts about the possibility of uniting the leagues were intensified Monday by the abrupt resignation of PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne, a key architect in last year’s initial agreement between the two tours. Dunne wrote in his resignation letter that “no meaningful progress has been made” towards a final deal, whose original deadline was the end of 2023.
“(RBC) is certainly concerned about eyes in the skies and television, because that’s certainly what they’re buying,” Wilmot said. “At the end of the day, we had an incredible tournament with an incredible champion. Our partners — not just RBC, but Boeing and many others — were very pleased with the outcome.”
Cleaning up and taking stock
In the meantime, the Heritage Classic Foundation is staying busy. Workers are still dissembling the course structures in the wake of this year’s event while the organization’s leaders plan for 2025. The executive committee’s retrospective of the recent tournament began with a look at aerial drone footage taken at the event, meant to show committee members how the course layout might be optimized in future years.
“We’re addressing the good, the bad and the indifferent,” Wilmot said. “All indications, it looks like it was a record year in all areas. Obviously, the competition wasn’t too bad as well.”
Scottie Scheffler, the world’s hottest golfer, would have no disagreement with that as he coasted to a three-shot Heritage victory during a delayed finish on the shores of the Caibogue Sound.
