Australian Open starts sponsor hunt after Emirates departure

Golf Australia will explore fresh strategies for the Australian Open in the wake of Emirates’ sponsorship exit.

Cameron Davis poses with the Stonehaven Cup after winning the Australian Open last month.

Golf Australia will explore fresh strategies for its marquee event, the Australian Open, in the wake of Emirates’ revelation yesterday that it will part company with the tournament.

The Australian revealed yesterday that the airline giant — which has spent $20 million a year backing some of Australia’s most high-profile sports — will ditch some key sponsorships and review others, potentially leaving a gaping hole in revenues for sports.

The revelation that Emirates would not renew its sponsorship of golf’s Australian Open immediately fired the starter’s gun on new sponsorship negotiations.

It is understood these will almost certainly see a new backer for the tournament coming from Asia.

There was strong speculation yesterday that Korea’s KEB Hana Bank, a keen sponsor of professional golf, was one party interested in the Open and it is understood that a number of other Asian parties are also believed to be in the mix.

A Golf Australia spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, other big sporting events, like Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival, where Emirates has until this year spent $7 million a year, are battling to hang on to Emirates’ remaining sponsorship spend after it quit its Melbourne Cup partnership.

The airline’s global sponsorship boss, Boutros Boutros, told The Australian the airline’s key remaining Victorian racing sponsorship, the $2 million Emirates Stakes in November, was under serious question, and a final decision was to be made next month.

A statement from the Victorian Racing Club would only say yesterday that “we are continuing to explore sponsorship opportunities with Emirates for the future”.

Boutros backed his sponsorships with global exposure, and endorsed Emirates’ ongoing partnership with the Australian Open tennis tournament, which has a high global profile as a grand slam.

“You need to be smart,” he said. “When you look at Emirates’ sponsorships, we cover the globe.”

Tennis Australia chief revenue officer Richard Heaselgrave, said yesterday: “Emirates has been a mutually beneficial partnership that we believe will continue to grow and grow for the benefit of both parties. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner.”

Meanwhile, the need for a new sponsor for the Australian Open golf has also led to a wider discussion about possible co-sanctioning of the tournament.

This year, for the first time in nearly a decade, the tournament was sanctioned only on the PGA Tour of Australasia. However, for the previous eight years, the tournament had been co-sanctioned by the OneAsia golf tour.

It is understood there have been preliminary discussions recently between the Australian Open’s commercial partner, ­Lagardere, and the US PGA and European Tours about a co-sanctioning arrangement.

In recent years, the Australian PGA Championship, which traditionally runs the weekend after the Australian Open, has been in a co-sanctioning arrangement with the European Tour.

However, a possible sticking point for any such arrangement would be scheduling issues, in particular with the European Tour.

This year’s Australian Open clashed with the Hong Kong Open, which is on the European Tour. Next year’s Australian Open has been moved forward a week to accommodate the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne. This means it will clash with the lucrative DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, the European Tour’s season-ending tournament.

One issue for whoever is the new sponsor of the Australian Open will be ensuring the appearance of the country’s best players.

In the lead-up to this year’s event, Australian golf fans were left disappointed by the non-appearance of Australia’s second and third-ranked golfers, Marc Leishman and Adam Scott.

It is believed part of the reason Scott and Leishman did not play was the size of appearance fees.