#360business: Dubai Duty Free’s Irish Open deal driven by Rory McIlroy

Joy Chakravarty 15:31 19/05/2015
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  • McIlroy (l) met with DDF's McLoughlin (r) to discuss sponsorship.

    When the world No1 walks up to you and asks for support, the chances of you saying ‘no’ are fairly remote. That’s what happened earlier this year during the Dubai Desert Classic.

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    Apart from trying to win the tournament – which he eventually did – Rory McIlroy was also busy meeting people in an effort to secure sponsorship for the Irish Open, one of the oldest tournaments on the European Tour.

    McIlroy’s charity – the Rory Foundation – got involved with the tournament this year, making the popular Northern Irishman the host of the event.

    So, when McIlroy and his caddie JP Fitzgerald approached Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice-Chairman, Dubai Duty Free, it would have been easy for the charismatic Irishman to say yes to his fellow countryman then and there.

    After all, Dubai Duty Free, which logged sales of $2 billion last year – the largest single airport duty free operation in the world – are known for their love of sport. Last year, their total spend on sponsorship and marketing was Dh175 million.

    But McLoughlin did his due diligence, and as attractive the proposal sounded, he has cautiously signed on the dotted line for just one year, with the option to extend it for another couple of years “if everything goes as per our expectations”.

    There were many reasons for Dubai Duty Free to extend its portfolio of title sponsorships beyond the mega successful WTA and ATP Dubai Tennis Championship, the Dubai Duty Free Darts Championship, the Irish Derby, the Shergar Cup at Ascot, the International Raceday at Newbury, aside from playing a big part in the annual Dubai World Cup, Omega Dubai Desert Classic and DP World Tour Championship. And yet, the biggest reason was McIlroy himself.

    “Rory McIlroy is a remarkable young man. Even though he is just 25 years old, for me, he is already one of the finest sportsmen in my lifetime,” said McLoughlin, a passionate golfer himself who has been Captain of both Dubai Creek and Emirates Golf Club.

    “We all know about him as a golfer. What he has achieved at such a young age – winning four majors already and I am sure there are many more to come – is amazing.

    “But I am more impressed with the person that he is. For someone who has got so much fame and money at such a young age, he is still a very grounded person. It hasn’t gone to his head. I think that is the most endearing quality about Rory.

    “He spoke to me about the Rory Foundation and what they want to do, and it resonated a lot with the objectives we have at our Dubai Duty Free Foundation.

    “You can see he wants to do a lot for the underprivileged. He is quite passionate about it, and is very mindful of his responsibilities as one of the leading sports stars in the world.”

    When asked if it was a good investment to get McIlroy without paying any appearance fee – the Ulsterman is supposed to be charging in the vicinity of $1 million to $1.5 million for playing events that do not fit his schedule – McLoughlin could not suppress a chuckle.

    Dubai Media being briefed about the upcoming Dubai Duty free Irish Open! @dubaidutyfree1 #Roryfoundation #RacetoDubai pic.twitter.com/TlejG7YlOQ

    — DP World Tour Chm'ip (@DPWTC) May 13, 2015

    “Smart, aren’t we?! We are not paying him anything, and he is even helping us sell the tournament,” quipped McLoughlin.

    “No, Rory has been great for us, but he has been even better for the tournament. He has invested his own time and effort in ensuring that the Irish Open is a success.

    “Obviously, everyone wants to see Rory and it also helps that he is playing so well. But he has also made sure that several of his friends on the Tour turn up and support the event.

    “There is Rickie Fowler, who just won the Players Championship. And there are guys like such greats as Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia who are in the field.

    “It’s already a field that is world class and once you have good players, you are sure of getting good media exposure. That is very important for us to justify our sponsorship of the tournament.

    “This will be the first time in the history of the tournament that The Golf Channel is sending its own team for live coverage. All this is very encouraging news, especially from our point of view.”

    GreenKeeping view before an Irish open. @IrishOpenGolf @PitchcareIRE best of luck @RCDproshop credit @niall_trainor pic.twitter.com/kxFk1QHgTf

    — GreenKeeping Ireland (@greenkeepingire) May 18, 2015

    The Irish Open has been without a title sponsor since Three Mobile pulled out in 2010 and, while the economic situation remains bleak and not many local companies were coming forward to embrace the event, it wasn’t the case with fans. The tournament has consistently seen some of the best crowd attendance on the European Tour, with the 2012 edition at Royal Portrush exceeding 131,000 people walking through the gates over six days.

    It became the first tournament in European Tour history to be sold out for all four days and McLoughlin is expecting more of the same this year because of the involvement of McIlroy.

    “I think there is an amazing buzz around the tournament, and most of it has to do with Rory’s involvement. Having said that, I have been receiving mails from many people in Ireland thanking us for our support to the tournament,” added McLoughlin.

    “I have been told that the ticket sales have been brisk and in fact, we are expecting the last two days of the tournament to be sold out in the next couple of days.”

    McLoughlin ruled out any personal sponsorship of McIlroy, saying that wasn’t the model followed by Dubai Duty Free.

    “Many years ago, we used to sponsor Thomas Bjorn for a few years when he moved to Dubai but we haven’t sponsored any athlete personally after that, and I don’t imagine us doing it for Rory either,” said McLoughlin.

    “I don’t know. I have no good answer why we don’t do that, but we don’t. You can call it company philosophy. We like to be part of events, and we like the fact that fans can come and be a part of it.

    “Obviously, we have (WTA stars) Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki as our global brand ambassadors, but that comes to us with being global sponsors of WTA.”

    And since no interview with McLoughlin can be complete without asking a question on Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, we asked ours: Would he like to reveal any future plans for the popular tournament?

    “We have our 25th anniversary celebration in a couple of years, and we are already making plans towards it. We want it to be an unforgettable moment for all tennis fans in Dubai,” said McLoughlin.

    “But no other plans apart from that. If you want to ask me whether we are thinking of elevating it to a ATP1000 event, then no. We are very happy with our tournaments as they are.”

     

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