Pistol Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 This is what sport's talk radio was talking about today. short story: This lady Martha Burk wants to have the Masters in Augusta allow women members to their private club and be able to play golf in this private club. She asked the club to let women in. They said no. She decided to pressure the advertiser's to not pay for air time and try to get the Master's where it hurts the cash book. The Masters called her bluff and bought up ALL the air time themselves. Now she is going to the sponsers of the athletes themselves like Nike which sponsors Tiger Woods and trying to put pressure on them so the athletes will in turn put pressure on The Masters. At the worst the tv companies can refuse to air The Masters after the contract runs out. But then it opens the doors for The Masters to put together some sort of Pay-Per-View type event where the can charge 50-100 dollars considering the whole event lasts 4-5 days. With the popularity of golf and Tiger and a few others the Masters could end up making billions of dollars more off the new plan. If the winner get's a few million now oin the future the loser could end up getting paid more than the winner right now because so much more money would be generated. FULL STORY BELOW / washingtonpost.com With Masters Sponsors Out, Focus Shifts to CBS, Players By Leonard Shapiro Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 3, 2002; Page D01 Martha Burk, head of the Washington-based National Council of Women's Organizations, said yesterday she was "astounded" that Augusta National Golf Club has decided to drop its sponsors for the 2003 Masters tournament, but that her organization will now target CBS, players and their sponsors, and other companies to pressure the all-male club into admitting women as members. "I'm surprised at the amount of money they [Augusta National] are willing to pay to continue to discriminate against women," Burk said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I expected them to do the right thing and either announce the first woman member, or that the sponsors I'd been having a dialogue with for the last month would have pulled out on their own." On Friday, Augusta National Chairman Hootie Johnson announced in a news release that the club would pay its own way this year to have the tournament televised on CBS rather than subject its three on-air sponsors -- IBM, Coca-Cola and Citigroup -- to possible boycotts or other controversy. Burk also had been in contact with the Cadillac Division of General Motors, which provides official cars for players and officials during Masters week and is a former TV sponsor, as well. "We do have the capability of picketing," Burk said, adding that no decision has been reached on any plans for on-site action in Augusta in April. "We have 160 organizations with seven million members. I'm getting calls from people across the country. [Johnson] is just stirring up aggravation more and more and more. Women are consumers, and as far as the sponsorship issue, the top layer is TV, but there are plenty of others, like player sponsors, other companies that do business with them and other CEOs." Burk said she'd also like to see PGA Tour players become more involved in supporting the women's cause. She was pleased to hear Tiger Woods publicly support the concept of female members at Augusta National, even if he also indicated he didn't think he could affect change himself. "Of course I'd like to see him do more," she said, "but I'd like all the players and their sponsors to do more. Lee Trevino came out very clearly that the policy was wrong, and he didn't stutter in saying it. I think Tiger has a special place because of who he is and the doors that opened for him, but all the responsibility should not be on his shoulders." Burk said her initial letters to the four main Masters sponsors never used the word "picket lines" or "boycotts" and urged them to look at their own corporate conduct policies and pull out in light of their own published standards. "We will now start communicating with CBS," Burk said yesterday. "It will be the same way we approached the sponsors. We'll appeal to the corporate code of conduct of their organizations, specifically in doing business with organizations that discriminate. . . . We'll point out that their viewers, their stockholders and their employees will applaud them for refusing to come down on the side of the bigots." CBS has owned the rights to the Masters through a series of one-year contracts since 1956. Terms of the TV rights fees have never been released by the company or Augusta National. In '98, CBS reportedly paid $5 million for TV's highest-rated golf tournament, and sources said that amount likely has at least doubled since then. CBS reportedly will not pay a rights fee for the tournament this year in exchange for no sponsors. CBS Sports spokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade declined to comment yesterday. A spokesman for Augusta National declined comment on Burk's remarks, and said Johnson also would not comment, other than his Friday statement. Wade told the Chicago Tribune on Friday that "the tournament is the most watched event in golf. It is covered by every major media outlet in the world. We will again provide coverage of the tournament." Burk said yesterday she sent letters to the four main sponsors four weeks ago but never set a deadline for their response. She said before Johnson's Friday announcement she had received what she described as letters containing "positive vibes" from Coca-Cola and Cadillac about reconsidering their sponsorships. "IBM responded by trying to make a case that the club and the tournament are separate, but obviously they are not," Burk said, adding that she responded by reminding the company of its strong stand on discrimination in membership policies concerning African Americans at all-white Shoal Creek in Alabama before the 1990 PGA Championship. Shoal Creek eventually admitted minority members before the tournament began. "They [iBM] said then that they didn't want to sponsor, even indirectly, anything to do with a discriminatory policy," she said. "They did the right thing. . . . I asked them if their policy has since changed, or was it different for sex and race, and how do you handle it in your corporate code of conduct? Citigroup sent a noncommittal letter that they were in dialogue with the club and believed that was the best course of action." Citigroup Chairman Sanford I. Weill is a member of Augusta National. Burk said Johnson's decision to announce the sponsorship matter late Friday afternoon on a three-day holiday weekend also was a calculated move designed to attract minimal media attention. "Hootie would like to shut us down and make us go away, but that will not happen," she said. "It was just an astounding statement about what they're willing to pay to discriminate against women. Do I think Hootie would ever say there might not be a Masters next year? He's a loose cannon. Who would have predicted his first statement in response to my initial letter? No, we have not talked. He sent me a letter in June saying 'I'm not going to talk to you.' " © 2002 The Washington Post Company Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodice_ripper Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 primus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el nervo Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 make me a polish you good for nothing woman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPLINTER Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 ithink they should just shoot all golfers in the head. golf isnt good enough for people to being paying those guys that much, no actually they should get payed they work hard but i just dont like golf, now miniture golf is a whole different subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avils Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 if chicks want to be treated as equal on the golf course they should play off the same markers as the men do.. nah i'm joking..right ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest illwill Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 it is a private club, its like night clubs that wont let you in because of the clothes your wearing. it sucks but thats how it is. id be great if they let women in their but they dont have too. why dont they let women in the mens room? because they have a restroom for women. thats how this is. they arent going to let women in that course because the women have a course of their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest socrates Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 Old gay white men like to hang out togather alone.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilistic Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 i started reading the first paragraph and was getting into it then realised how long it was.... lazyassmofo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effyoo Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 i was listening to some of that today too. what i could gather from that is the president of Augusta didn't want to be pushed around by a "militant feminist group" ,to quote the radio guy, and that they have "every right to have a private club", which from my understanding of the american constution (by the way i'm canadian) they have every right to do. the host was aslo saying that he believes that this group represents a minority of women that believe that everything should be 100% equal, while the majority of women believe that clubs like that aren't anti- woman, they just want to have a boys club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
When Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 Originally posted by Fred Quimby now miniture golf is a whole different subject. 'par 3! how the fuck is this hole par 3! goddamnit!' (throws club at green) thats me everytime i go mini golfing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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