Well, all signs are pointing in the right direction. It seems there’s finally some agreement between players and owners. All signs are pointing to an on-time start the NFL regular season…and I couldn’t be happier! Now, if the NBA will soon follow suit, then the sports world will once again be right as rain.
But with lockouts currently going on in two of the three most popular spectator sports in the United States, it kind of makes me wonder what would happen if there was a PGA Tour lockout.
Would it be like an NFL lockout? I guess that could go two ways. With the current lockout, I think all of us know that both parties understand there is way too much money to be lost if games are not played. It’s by far the most popular spectator sport in the country. When it’s estimated that anywhere between $200- $250 million could be lost per week of the PRESEASON (!!), imagine what’s to be lost during the regular season!
But if you look at it like 1987 (which was actually a strike, not a lockout), it may look a bit different. Back then, the owners thought it would be a good idea to play a few games with replacement players. I remember distinctly watching a “replacement player” game when flashed upon the screen was a players regular job – car salesman. This was not the NFL I or anyone else wanted to see. Can you imagine the PGA Tour heading in this direction? Many of us have no idea who many of the players on the tour are now. Could you imagine if, in place of the tour pros, we had a bunch of course pros out there? Or, a bunch of guys from the Hooters Tour? Well, I guess if many of us don’t know who the players are now…
But what if it was approached like the NBA? Back in the 1998-99 season, the players were locked out and the games simply didn’t happen. No replacement players. No D-League players. Just no games. By the time it was over, the season was shortened from 82 games to 50. Would a PGA lockout look something like this? Just no golf at all for almost half the season? This would be the equivalent of missing approximately the first 17 tour stops of the season. Now, before you look at the schedule I’ll fill you in…yes, that includes The Masters.
But what if it worked out like the MLB strike of 1994? Everyone recalls only one thing from the ’94 season – no World Series. Obviously, The PGA Tour doesn’t work the same. Despite the tournaments name, there is no actual PGA Championship. But you get what I’m saying…
My question is, how would the golf world react if a lockout or strike were to hit the PGA? Would all be forgiven as it was (and will be) in the NFL? Would there be lingering after-affects as there was in MLB, a sport that was already on the decline viewership-wise? Or would it deal the sport a significant blow such as it did in the NBA which, 13 years later, has still yet to recover?
Obviously this is all theoretical as we know the PGA doesn’t work the same as the players organizations in the other sports mentioned above. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen one day. And if it ever does…and since Tiger has already hit his decline…would we even notice if replacement players were out there?
Swing ’til you’re happy! Because one day, you too could be a replacement player.
It would be great to skip over Tour Pros and the such and just let the average hack be the replacements. I’d be the first in line to cross the “line” and be a Replacement Player. How cool would that be, to be on tour as a “pro”.
I think it would be more of a laugh then anything, but after a while no one would be watching golf anymore.
Chris
http://www.teewrite.com – home of the pencil golf tee