TOLEDO, Ohio — Cash-strapped ProMedica's 10-year agreement as the presenting sponsor for the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament is over after just 14 months.
Both the United States Golf Association and ProMedica confirmed the news Friday. Earlier this week, ProMedica suspended a $10 million donation to Metroparks Toledo and pulled a $60,000 donation to Jeep Fest as it continues to experience major financial issues.
Also this week, the Lucas County Board of Commissioners approved a friendlier deal with ProMedica regarding naming rights for the newly renovated Glass City Center.
ProMedica is also asking the city of Toledo and Lucas County for more money this year to stage half as many concerts for its summer concert series.
A USGA spokeswoman released the following statement:
After an incredible first year together where the USGA and ProMedica announced a new partnership and elevated the U.S. Women’s Open to historic levels, ProMedica’s circumstances have significantly changed, and the nonprofit organization’s priority is focusing their constrained resources on their patients, residents, members and caregivers. They have informed the USGA of their desire to exit the agreement beginning in 2023. We have worked out an exit plan with ProMedica, and as such, will not be showcasing their brand at the U.S. Women’s Open moving forward.
This change of direction will not curtail the USGA’s commitment to the U.S. Women’s Open, which remains stronger than ever. We will continue to elevate the entire championship experience, including the purse, television coverage and host venues. While we are open to identifying a new presenting partner that can push women’s golf even further, we won’t stop our plans in the meantime.
The spokeswoman did not answer a question about how much money ProMedica committed to the tournament.
ProMedica's deal with the tournament was announced in January 2022. The sponsorship increased the tournament purse to $10 million in 2022.
The agreement was to eventually push the purse to $12 million.
A ProMedica spokeswoman released the following statement:
We are grateful for those partners like the USGA that understand the extreme financial challenges the healthcare industry has been navigating and have worked with us in a professional manner to reassess prior engagements.
ProMedica, like many other health systems across the country, is experiencing financial strain coming off of 2022, which was declared the worst financial year for the healthcare industry since the start of the pandemic. While we were hopeful the industry’s financial performance was improving at the beginning of 2022, challenges like extreme staffing shortages and rapidly rising expenses proved to be significant hurdles.
As a result, we recently had to make some tough but strategic decisions to improve our finances and build greater stability and sustainability throughout our organization. To that end, we have shifted away from investments in broader national efforts and are instead focusing more energy and resources on our core health system operations. By doing that, we expect to improve our financial outlook while reinforcing our strong commitment to providing high-quality, compassionate care to the people who depend on us in the communities we serve.
Also Friday, ProMedica again delayed its fourth quarter and 2022 financial report. The company reported over $350 million in operating losses through the first three quarters of last year.
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