5923: LPGA Says Oops. In English.

It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. And the LPGA has done just that, rethinking its English-language mandate. AdAge.com reported the latest details…

LPGA Revises English-Only Policy for Players After Protests
California Was Looking Into Whether Policy Violated Laws

By Michael Bush

NEW YORK -- The Ladies Professional Golf Association is taking a mulligan. The league, obviously feeling the mounting pressure from sponsors, its own players, fans, politicians and community groups, issued a statement today announcing that it was taking another shot at its English-proficiency policy issued earlier this week. The group has amended the policy by rescinding the penalty provisions.

The statement, from Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens, stated that the league has received “valuable feedback from a variety of constituents” and “decided to rescind those penalty provisions.”

No ‘future success’ talk
The statement went on to say: “After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every tour player. In that spirit, we will continue communicating with our diverse tour players to develop a better alternative. The LPGA will announce a revised approach, absent playing penalties, by the end of 2008. During that time we will continue to provide support under the 3-year-old Kolon-LPGA Cross Cultural Program. This popular program provides all LPGA members with the best cross-cultural training in the form of tutors, translators, Rosetta Stone, the official language-learning system of the LPGA, as well as assistance from LPGA staff and consultants.”

Conspicuously absent from this statement is anything regarding the “future success” or “long-term business” success of the league. When the LPGA issued a statement earlier this week trying to explain its position and reasoning for the policy, the success of the league was mentioned a number of times, making the policy seem very self-serving.

The LPGA’s language-policy provision drew fire from State Farm, a general sponsor of the league as well as of the State Farm Classic Tournament in Springfield, Ill.

“You can see what’s intended,” Kip Diggs, media-relations specialist at the insurer, had said of the statement. “There’s no way I would allow one of my executives to make a statement like this or implement this policy.”

Libba Galloway, deputy commissioner of the LPGA, told Ad Age she felt there was nothing wrong with the initial statement.

Light bulb has gone off
“I don’t see any problems with it, and we have had a number of people respond to it, and now they say the light bulb has gone off,” she said.

Yesterday, Sen. Leland Yee of the California State Senate said he was looking into a legal option to determine whether the LPGA Tour’s language requirement for players violates state or federal law, the AP reported.

State Farm blasted the policy earlier in the week . Speaking to Ad Age, Mr. Diggs said: “It’s something we are dumfounded by. We don’t understand this and don’t know why they have done it, and we have strongly encouraged them to take another look at this.”

Apparently it has.

5906: LPGA Speaks Bullshit. In Plain English.

Adage.com published an interview with Libba Galloway, deputy commissioner of the LPGA, discussing the organization’s new English policy. For someone trying to mandate English, Galloway appears to demonstrate extraordinary proficiency in PR jargon and corporate bullshit.

LPGA Stands By Its Decision on English Skills for Golfers
Official Welcomes Debate, Says Critics Need to Understand Group’s Business Model

By Michael Bush

NEW YORK -- The LPGA is taking a lot of heat from sports commentators, community groups and now a major sponsor, State Farm, for its controversial new policy to require English-language proficiency for its players. State Farm has been publicly critical of the policy and said if the LPGA does not reconsider, the insurer may not renew its tour sponsorship.

Today, Libba Galloway, deputy commissioner of the LPGA, spoke with Advertising Age about its policy and the concerns of its sponsors.

Ad Age: How do you respond to State Farm?

Ms. Galloway: We have been in communications with State Farm since last week and had a number of conversations with them and will continue that dialogue with them.

Ad Age: Do you disagree with what State Farm has said?

Ms. Galloway: That’s a conversation between us and State Farm, and our conversations with our sponsors are just that: conversations between us and them.

Ad Age: Do you think LPGA’s statement issued yesterday comes off the exact way you wanted it to?

Ms. Galloway: Absolutely. I don’t see any problems with it, and we have had a number of people respond to it, and now they say the light bulb has gone off.

Ad Age: Have you been contacted by other sponsors?

Ms. Galloway: We’ve talked with a number of them, yes.

Ad Age: What kinds of things have they said?

Ms. Galloway: We’ve had dialogues with sponsors, but we haven’t been keeping a tally of people in favor or against the policy. But the reactions are extremely varied, and we have some in total agreement, some sponsors who want more information and some who disagree.

Ad Age: If you had it to do over again, would you [announce the policy] differently and alert sponsors before the fact?

Ms. Galloway: This was always only intended to be an internal member [matter]. We’re a membership organization, and this is a matter between the LPGA and our members, and just like other matters of membership regulation, we never intended to have a public announcement of it.

Ad Age: Should the LPGA have realized there would be such a backlash?

Ms. Galloway: We know different people have different opinions on things, and we didn’t anticipate the depth and the variance of the reaction that we received, particularly considering this is an internal membership regulation. But as we’re getting feedback, it’s running from total agreement with it to people who disagree with the position. And we find that the more we explain our business model, the more likely people will be in agreement with us. We welcome this dialogue.

Ad Age: Are you concerned and possibly rethinking this, or do you plan to forge ahead regardless of what your sponsors and others think?

Ms. Galloway: This is a program that didn’t happen overnight. We’ve been working on it for three years now, and we intend to continue with it. That having been said, we are listening to the feedback and engaging in dialogue with [those who gave us feedback], and we have had useful exchanges of information.

Ad Age: What is your reasoning for the policy?

Ms. Galloway: The reason is that this policy is vital to LPGA business and tour membership. Our focus on effective communication in English is fundamental to our business model.

Ad Age: What is your response to the community groups that believe this is racist?

Ms. Galloway: We’ve been in dialogue with some of those [groups] and find that the dialogue gets to be more beneficial once we explain some very key points of our program. Once we explain this, we learn a lot from each other.

5903: LPGA Needs Policy Interpreter.

The LPGA insisted its English policy is intended to help players enhance sponsorship opportunities. But according to AdAge.com, now sponsors are questioning the move…

State Farm Blasts LPGA English Proficiency Policy
Insurer Tells Golf Group It May ‘Re-Examine’ Sponsorship

By Michael Bush

NEW YORK -- Saying it was “flabbergasted” by the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s new policy requiring “effective communication in English on the part of all of our Tour members,” State Farm is urging the group to reconsider -- or the insurer may reconsider its sponsorship.

“It’s something we are dumfounded by,” said Kip Biggs, media-relations specialist at the insurer, which is a general sponsor of the league as well as of the State Farm Classic Tournament in Springfield, Ill. “We don’t understand this and don’t know why they have done it, and we have strongly encouraged them to take another look at this.”

LPGA defends position
The LPGA claims that the language barrier facing a number of its players is causing problems on many fronts, including the players’ dealings with the media as well as the league’s sponsors and the customers of those sponsors.

Mr. Biggs, however, said State Farm was unaware that the LPGA was contemplating any such policy. While he would not disclose the value of State Farm’s LPGA sponsorship, which runs through next year, he said the policy was something that the company would take into consideration when deciding whether to continue its relationship with the league when its contract expires.

“We’re looking at all of our options, but we would hope it would not come to [ending the partnership],” he said. “But this policy does concern us greatly, and as you could imagine, when [the sponsorship] comes up for review, it's something we’ll take into account when we look at either re-upping or walking away. We made that commitment, and we’re going to honor it, but we reserve the right to re-examine our sponsorships. Right now we have just let them know that this is something we are not pleased with.”

State Farm isn’t the only sponsor taking note. David Peikin, senior director-corporate communications at Choice Hotels International, said, “We have a great deal of interest in the intentions of the LPGA on this subject. Based on our understanding, this policy is currently under review by the LPGA, and a final decision and any related details will be determined over the next four months. Until that time, we will be closely monitoring LPGA news and announcements.”

While the LPGA has issued a statement defending its policy, the group did not return calls at press time regarding the comments of State Farm or other sponsors.

Questionable approach
Ann Wool, senior VP-director at Ketchum Sports network, said it was a mistake for the LPGA not to talk to its sponsors before announcing the policy. “When making a major policy decision it’s always wise to notify your sponsors,” Ms. Wool said. “I can only speculate that [the LPGA] didn’t think this was going to be such a controversial issue, otherwise they probably would have. It was probably a bad move not to notify their sponsors.”

Ms. Wool said she understands the intent of the league but that its execution was wrong. “The fact that they are calling it a policy is a problem,” she said. “From a PR standpoint that's the fundamental problem. Offering and encouraging players to improve their English so they help themselves and the league be more media-friendly is great. But when you make it a policy and threaten people it turns the whole thing on its head.”

Since its announcement, the league has been catching heat from a number of sources including sports writers, community groups and AdAge.com readers. The statement that the league issued today hoped to clarify the group’s position on the matter by saying it has worked for many years to improve the language skills of its players through tutors and translators. Instead, the statement seemed to add credence to the argument that the policy is self-serving and only being issued because the league is afraid of losing sponsorship dollars.

“It is imperative for the future success of the LPGA as well as the success of each LPGA player that our members effectively communicate in English at tournaments inside the United States with those who provide for the existence of the tournaments and the opportunities for professional women golfers to make a living doing what they love,” the statement reads. “Much of the criticism of our policy has centered around the LPGA’s penalty for players who do not meet the minimum language threshold. The penalty is meant to underscore the importance of this issue to the LPGA’s long-term business success.”

LPGA may need better communication skills
Mr. Biggs doesn’t believe the statement is going to accomplish what the league is hoping it will. “There are ways to communicate things and it really sounds like the commissioner [Carolyn F. Bivens] did not listen to what the communications people around her might have encouraged her to [say] or to communicate this in a different way,” he said.

“You can see what’s intended,” Mr. Biggs said, adding, “There’s no way I would allow one of my executives to make a statement like this or implement this policy. The policy is troubling. It’s one thing to want to be able to promote your product and have players communicate to your sponsors. But when you start to require that people do something and then back it up with penalties, that goes a mighty long way and that’s troubling.”

According to the LPGA’s site, there are 478 LPGA tour members. The Associated Press reported that there are 121 international players from 26 countries on the tour, including 45 players from South Korea.

5882: Is The LPGA An Old Boys’ Club?

At AdAge.com’s The Big Tent, Bill Imada presents a thoughtful perspective on the LPGA (Ladies’ Professional Golf Association) and its recent decision to mandate that golfers speak English. On the one hand, these types of action are hardly surprising from the world of professional golf. Though you’d think someone would have given the matter more careful deliberation before ratifying the silly rule.

After all, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton just demonstrated the glass ceiling has been cracked, yet hardly shattered. Women need to gain respect, not invite disrespect. And seemingly lost in the Michael Phelps hoopla was the fact that women athletes scored quite a few gold medals at the Olympics in basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, gymnastics, track and field and more. Women’s professional sports have always suffered from a lack of fan participation and interest. The LPGA especially should find ways to lure larger audiences versus turning them off. Why is a sport that literally shushes spectators so concerned about the language players must use when whispering?