Title Sponsorship Pulls Out of Humana Challenge Golf Tournament in La Quinta
Four years into what was supposed to be an 8-year contract , Kentucky based insurance company Humana announced Monday it is ending its sponsorship of the Humana Challenge Golf Tournament in La Quinta.
“Yeah, I was just real surprised, I hadn’t heard anything about it. It was a great tournament with the Clinton Foundation,” said Ryan Matson, Golf Tournament Coordinator at JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Spa in Palm Desert.
Bob Marra, Humana Challenge Executive Director and CEO says the announcement doesn’t come as a surprise.
“This is something that we’ve know about for awhile, we just announced it today,” Marra said.
He says the contract with Humana included an ‘out’ clause after 3 years. In a statement, Humana’s Senior Vice President of Communications Tim Noland said the changes in the current health care system made the company to shift its priorities, including sponsorships and activities.
“So, this is something that they thought was a strategic move for them that they simply needed to make,” Marra said.
This isn’t the first time the tournament has lost a title sponsor. In 2008, Chrysler pulled out because of the economy and left the tournament’s future in jeopardy.
“It took a long while at the point to bring Humana and President Clinton and his foundation. It came towards the end of the window that we could still put on the tournament,” Marra said.
Humana, the Clinton Foundation and the PGA Tour stepped in in 2012 and is credited with keeping the tournament alive. A search is underway for a sponsor replacement and discussions have begun with potential companies.
“The PGA Tour is our partner in leading the process towards a new sponsor title so once that is secured in terms of the corporation, that would be the new title along with the Clinton Foundation, that will create a new name for the tournament,” Marra said.
He says several corporations have already expressed great interest in the tournament and he expects the search for a new sponsor will be a short one.
“Having President Clinton and his foundation well established, they’ve got operations here in the Coachella Valley, they’re doing so many great things, and its this national health conference that’s held in conjunction with the health tournament week, really paves the way for a new strategic partner to come in,” Marra said.
If the tournament wouldn’t be able to find in a new sponsor by 2016, Marra says the PGA Tour would step in and produce the event until they could have a new sponsorship in place. Marra says the plan is to have the tournament move on and keep it here in the valley.
He also says their focus on the donations they make each year to charities in the Coachella Valley will not be affected and continues to move forward.
