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New look. New logo. New date. New vibe.
And lots of dirt being moved at Memorial Park Golf Course.
Yes, we're talking the Houston Open, which launched its 2019 reboot Wednesday afternoon by announcing the new 2019 fall date – October 7-13 – and a new logo. Think lots of Astros orange and blue plus a flagstick. And of course, a star.
With Houston City Council signing off on the project last week, Houston Astros owner Jim Crane, who jumped in to save the event last year, was ready to roll out plans for his vision for the Houston Open.
The tournament, whose history dates back to 1946, will return to its most recent home – the Golf Club of Houston – for the 2019 event before moving to a renovated Memorial Park in 2020. Architect Tom Doak was there to talk about the project, which Crane said Doak promises will be completed by the fall to ensure that it has the PGA TOUR's required one-year's growth before hosting the event. Crane plans to move the event to Memorial in 2020 and to eventually settle back into a spring date.
Before losing longtime title sponsor Shell Oil and being unable to secure another one, the Houston event had the coveted lead-in spot to the Masters, which gave it a strong field and an international flair.
Crane got involved because he didn't want to see the city lose the PGA TOUR and he said that profits will go back to the Houston community. "We're making no money off of this,'' he said. "I got involved because I didn't want to see our city lose the PGA Tour."
Memorial Park is the busiest and most popular public course in the city and will remain that way. In addition, it will have a signature First Tee program there for juniors.
"Any time you do something this big, people are concerned with change," said Crane, who has a five-year commitment with the TOUR. "At first, nobody likes change. But I know they're going to like this golf course when we're done with it."
The Astros Golf Foundation will run the event and course renovation, which will cost approximately $13.5 million, will come from private funds.
"It's a plus-plus," Crane said. "There's no cost to the taxpayers, and the Foundation has the resources to kick it off and get it running. It's a big commitment on our part, but at the end of the day the tournament will generate a lot of funds for the community. I know people don't like change sometimes, but I think they're going to be very happy with where we end up."
Houston Open tournament director Colby Callaway said the Houston Open will have a $7.5 million purse, a new feel and a new look.
"In addition to featuring an attractive field of golfers, we will also be adding some new elements for our spectators, including musical entertainment and a tailgate zone,'' he said. And the purse, he said, "will make it the premier fall event on the PGA TOUR in the U.S.A."
World No. 1 Brooks Koepka, who is a member at Crane's Floridian and teams in with Astros Golf Foundation president Giles Kibbe in the club's annual pro-am, has signed on to consult with Doak on the course and could be key to helping boost the field. In addition to Koepka, Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson as also Floridian members.
Although the event will be in the early portion of the TOUR's wrap-around schedule in 2019, it could still draw a strong field. The FedEx Cup point system encourages players to earn points throughout the season so they can make the playoffs at the end of the year.
"Our goal is to work hard and establish a first-class tournament that one day will be considered one of the best on Tour," Crane said. "This tournament will benefit the City of Houston in many ways, creating revenue for the business community as well as generating significant dollars each year for the Houston Parks and Recreation Department and for the First Tee of Greater Houston.''
Crane's vision will make Houston one of a handful of cities hosting TOUR events on public courses. Next week's Farmers Insurance Open is at Torrey Pines, a public course which also hosted a U.S. Open, while Bethpage Black on Long Island has hosted two U.S. Opens, two FedEx Cup playoff events and will host this year's PGA and the 2024 Ryder Cup. Harding Park in San Francisco has hosted a number of events, including a Presidents Cup and a World Golf Championships event and will host the 2020 PGA.
The course will have to be brought up to TOUR standards with improved drainage and irrigation and rework some holes.
"Our commitment is to improve the course, provide the city with storm water retention, and also ensure the course is maintained for all Houstonians to enjoy affordable golf at a PGA-caliber facility," Kibbe said. "It will be a great addition to the city's iconic park."
PGA Tour executive vice president Andy Pazder talked about the growth of the TOUR's public course partnerships and said, "I anticipate that we'll very quickly add Memorial Park to that list of our great public venues.''
Callway and Kibbe both emphasized the added energy the event as a whole will bring to the city.
"Our new brand reflects our desire to get a new generation excited about golf in Houston," Kibbe said. "We want the tournament to bring together all walks of life for a great social experience, while watching the best athletes compete at an elite level. It is bright, bold and it reflects the values of the tournament – integrity, collaboration, passion, authenticity and fun."
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A lockout appears unavoidable! Photo via: Wiki Commons.
Looming over baseball is a likely lockout in December 2026, a possible management push for a salary cap and perhaps lost regular-season games for the first time since 1995.
“No one’s talking about it, but we all know that they’re going to lock us out for it, and then we’re going to miss time,” New York Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said Monday at the All-Star Game. “We’re definitely going to fight to not have a salary cap and the league’s obviously not going to like that.”
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and some owners have cited payroll disparity as a problem, while at the same time MLB is working to address a revenue decline from regional sports networks. Unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, baseball has never had a salary cap because its players staunchly oppose one.
Despite higher levels of luxury tax that started in 2022, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have pushed payrolls to record levels. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
After signing outfielder Juan Soto to a record $765 million contract, New York opened this season with an industry-high $326 million payroll, nearly five times Miami’s $69 million, according to Major League Baseball’s figures. Using luxury tax payrolls, based on average annual values that account for future commitments and include benefits, the Dodgers were first at $400 million and on track to owe a record luxury tax of about $151 million — shattering the previous tax record of $103 million set by Los Angeles last year.
“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. I then identify a second problem that we need to work together and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.”
Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and management lockouts have become the norm, which shifts the start of a stoppage to the offseason. During the last negotiations, the sides reached a five-year deal on March 10 after a 99-day lockout, salvaging a 162-game 2022 season.
“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game,” union head Tony Clark said Tuesday. “A cap is about franchise values and profits. ... A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it, literally pits one player against another and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion.”
The union’s opposition to a cap has paved the way for record-breaking salaries for star players. Soto’s deal is believed to be the richest in pro sports history, eclipsing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers signed a year earlier. By comparison, the biggest guaranteed contract in the NFL is $250 million for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Manfred cites that 10% of players earn 72% of salaries.
“I never use the word `salary’ within one of `cap,’” he said. “What I do say to them is in addressing this competitive issue that’s real we should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a players’ perspective.”
A management salary cap proposal could contain a salary floor and a guaranteed percentage of revenue to players. Baseball players have endured nine work stoppages, including a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that fought off a cap proposal.
Agent Scott Boras likens a cap plan to attracting kids to a “gingerbread house.”
“We’ve heard it for 20 years. It’s almost like the childhood fable,” he said. “This very traditional, same approach is not something that would lead the younger players to the gingerbread house.”