PGAツアーに見るプロゴルフの存立構造―プロスポーツ産業の原理論的考察を方法として―

抄録

This study aims to clarify the existent structure of “PGA Tour".

The PGA Tour is the biggest professional golf tournament in the world―the main arena of professional players like Tiger Woods. Many researches on professional sports have hitherto targeted the so-called league type, which include games such as professional baseball, soccer, and basketball. However, professional sports of the “non-league types," for example, professional golf, is clearly different from the league type in terms of their management structure. This study approaches PGA Tour as a typical case belonging to such non-league-type professional sports, analyzing the historical process from which it was born and developed and its existent structure.

The main points presented in this study are as follows:

First, from a diachronic view, the PGA Tour grew from its initial low profitability stature through charity tournaments and by securing sponsors and increasing telecasts. Second, the relational structure of PGA Tour is extremely fluid in that it is a series of tournaments in which stakeholders such as the shareholder, organization, and facilities constantly change. Third, the PGA Tour works on a peculiar mechanism based on the liquidity of the relational structure, balancing revenue and expenditure.