Critics query European Tour chief’s pay packet
IT EMERGED on the eve of the Ryder Cup that European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley earned an extraordinary financial package of £2.78million last year. Pelley’s pay is far in excess of that earned by the previous CEO, George O’Grady, who was on £610,717 when Canadian businessman Pelley succeeded him in 2015.
The Tour’s published accounts detail that Pelley also earned more than £2.5m in 2016. Yet despite Pelley’s massive remuneration, no bumper new sponsors that would greatly improve revenue have been added to the Ryder Cup or European Tour roster of backers during his time. If anything, the European Tour has lost ground to the booming US PGA tour. It should be a cause for concern that next year Europe’s top two golfers, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, are not due to tee off in Europe until July.