Ginn Ends Sponsorship of Professional Golf


Ginn Sports Entertainment, LLC and Ginn Development Company, LLC have announced that they decided to end their active participation in professional golf. Effective immediately, these Ginn companies are withdrawing their sponsorship of the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach, the Ginn Open at Reunion and the Ginn sur Mer Classic at the Conservatory, will not be hosting or producing any of these professional golf tournaments (including 2009 tournaments), and will no longer be sponsoring professional golfers.

Ginn Development Company is in the real estate resort and community development business - a sector of the economy that has suffered significantly during the credit and real estate meltdown.

On January 23, real estate sales and marketing operations for Ginn communities were terminated due to the loss of revenue in these businesses. The revenue generated from these operations had been used to fund the professional golf tournaments and sponsorships, including paying for the prize money and television coverage for these events.

"We have worked diligently with many others for several months to find solutions to our predicament with respect to these professional golf tournaments," said Robert Gidel, president and CEO of Ginn Development Company. "We did the best we could, but the economy got the best of us with respect to the tournaments."