Bank of America to SponsorPro Golf Contests on W. Coast

Bank of America has signed a five-year agreement to sponsor the Professional Golf Association's West Coast tournaments.

The BankAmerica Corp. flagship will spend $2.6 million this year to supplement the prize purses of each of eight tournaments by $300,000. It is also funding bonuses and youth-oriented golf programs in the region.

Subsequent years' amounts have not been decided, a bank spokesman said.

Bank of America gains the right to be the official bank of the PGA and Senior PGA tours. It will pepper tournament venues with advertisements and get mentioned as a sponsor on television broadcasts.

This first foray into golf sponsorship will be a boon for $260 billion- asset BankAmerica, said executive vice president Douglas F. Sawyer.

"We believe the game is attractive to potential customers in the commercial, rural, and retail worlds," Mr. Sawyer said. "The tour events, which are all in our prime market, will create visibility locally and nationally."

The San Francisco bank has been active in reaching football, baseball, and basketball fans, Mr. Sawyer said. A spokesman declined to reveal the bank's overall advertising budget or how much is spent on sports. Competitive Media Reporting said BankAmerica's total ad spending was $19.8 million for the first nine months of 1997.

Though a relatively small expense, the 1998 PGA sponsorship tab could pay off big, experts said.

Golf enthusiasts, on average, are "slightly upscale" males, who are often hard to reach, said Clay S. Timon, chairman and chief executive officer of Landor Associates, a corporate image consulting firm in San Francisco. "It makes a lot of sense to be on the ground at these tournaments." Few sports, aside from tennis, attract well-off men like golf, he said.

Perhaps more significantly, as a PGA Tour sponsor the bank joins the likes of Coca-Cola, Cadillac, and MasterCard.

"It positions BofA in the public's eye as being right up there with these major names," Mr. Timon observed. "They're saying, 'In the financial services area, we are one of those global brands.'"

Another bank, Jackson, Miss.-based Deposit Guaranty Corp., will sponsor a July PGAtournament in its hometown. BankBoston Corp. and First of America Bank Corp., Kalamazoo, Mich., are each sponsors of events on the senior tour.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER