ng financial returns to its sponsors. The State Farm Senior Classic, held in the Baltimore area, has had several sponsors and organizers over the past six years as it struggled to meet the demands of the PGA as well as the needs of the sponsor. The event was originally sponsored by Toyota, which was the so-called title sponsor of the Toyota Invitational, a non-PGA event that began in 1996. When the PGA approached the organizers of the Toyota Invitational about transforming the event into a senior PGA tour stop, Toyota was replaced with State Farm, which paid $900,000 to be the title sponsor (Rulison 1).
By 2001, State Farm determined that the sponsorship no longer fit its strategic objectives and it withdrew from the tournament. Its contribution in its last year was $1.5 million. The PGA put pressure on the organizers and on State Farm to increase the money paid to participants in the event, and the event also changed venues among several courses in the Baltimore area. At the same time, organizers were growing dissatisfied with their relationship with the PGA organization, and new organizers were brought in
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