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The results are in and they are conclusive, sportsmen and women around the world enjoy watching Europe and the United States do battle in the Ryder Cup. |
| The 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy set new records across the board attracting unprecedented levels of engagement across social media, as well as global broadcasts.
A total of 271,191 people from 100 different countries attended the 44th Ryder Cup in person at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, with millions more following the action on their televisions and other digital platforms.
Internet posts about the Ryder Cup led to more than 600 million impressions and pageviews on their website. Furthermore, early figures show views of Ryder Cup official social media channels amounted to 197.6 million, with a total of 26.7 million interactions, contributing to the channels gaining 500,000 new followers.
On Ryder Cup Europe’s platforms alone, impressions numbered over 347 billion, a 117 per cent increase over the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris.
Data also show notable increases across global broadcasts, with a rise in average viewership on Sky Sports in the UK of 38 per compared to the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and 25 per cent up on the 2018 edition at Le Golf National, making it the most watched Ryder Cup on Sky Sports on record.
Guy Kinnings, Executive Director of the Ryder Cup, said,
“The 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy once again underlined the global appeal and continued growth of one of the world’s leading sporting events. This year’s contest, played against the backdrop of the historic city of Rome, truly connected with fans around the world, and our early figures show significant increases in engagement even from the recent record-breaking editions. The Ryder Cup is undoubtedly a unique and special event in sport. These extraordinary numbers certainly are testament to that and to the wonderful entertainment the European and US team provided on the course, as well as the unforgettable scenes of Luke Donald and his players celebrating a memorable victory at Marco Simone. Luke was a magnificent captain and those scenes really captured what it means to play for something bigger than yourself, which is something that inspired Luke and his players throughout his Captaincy.” |
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All this success suggests that maybe the professionals should be paid some of the billions of dollars that are generated from the biennial Ryder Cup Matches.
Back 9 Report wondered if it is time to pay Ryder Cup participants. The full segment can be viewed HERE.
There have been rumblings before about participation by American golf professionals. In 1999, David Duval threatened to abstain from Ryder Cup participation and a last-minute compromise was made to donate $200,000 to every players particular charity, a tradition that is still carried on today.
Current pros do not seem to be impressed with the PGA’s charitable largesse, or lack thereof.
In Rome, Patrick Cantlay even went so far as to refuse to wear a hat with the Ryder Cup logo on it as a not-so-quiet protest against not receiving cash remuneration for being on the U.S. Team. Evidently his concern about money created turmoil among U.S. Team members and helped aid Team Europe to defeat the Americans 16.5-11.5 in Rome.
The Ryder Cup, like so many former ideas, has grown into something greater than was ever envisioned by the PGA and the European Tours. It is one of the most highly anticipated and watched sporting events in the world.
In the past the DP World Tour needed the funds generated from the Ryder Cup every two years just to keep their tour afloat. Today with all the billions of dollars floating around the golf world, that may not be the case.
I’m sure the PGA and the DP World Tour, owners of the Ryder Cup, want to keep all the money for themselves, but maybe it’s time to pay the players for their participation.
