Pairing of RBC, Heritage to extend for many more years

For those who lived through those anxious days when Hilton Head Island stood on the brink of losing its PGA Tour event earlier this decade, Wednesday still couldn’t arrive soon enough.

Banking giant RBC announced its stamp will remain on South Carolina’s largest sporting event through 2023, courtesy of a six-year extension that will allow the annual visit to Harbour Town to celebrate its 50th edition and beyond.

The deal guarantees seven more years of sponsorship tranquility with RBC, with next year’s tournament already secure from a previous extension.

“It gives me a lot of peace of mind,” said Simon Fraser, chairman of the Heritage Classic Foundation. “I’ll be 70 in seven years, and frankly it gets old trying to do this every five years.”

The extension came as part of a joint news conference outside Toronto, where officials also announced a similar extension with the RBC Canadian Open. The banking firm is the only sponsor to put its name on two PGA Tour events.

Tournament chairman Steve Wilmot flew to Canada to take part in the formal announcement.

“I felt like it was Christmas Eve last night,” he said, “and today is Christmas Day.”

The rewards also will grow for players, with next year’s purse jumping to $6.5 million and incremental increases through the extension. Last year’s event carried a $5.9 million payout.

Other pieces of the sponsorship puzzle remain to be finalized, but RBC’s commitment was by far the most significant. The conglomerate picks up about 70 percent of the sponsor cost, with Boeing’s presenting sponsorship providing most of the rest.

In addition, the Hilton Head Island town council on Tuesday approved a $250,000 commitment to the sponsorship pool — down from a $700,000 price tag in previous years.

“We didn’t need them to continue at the same amount,” Fraser said. “But it’s still significant.”

Renewal discussions with Boeing are ongoing, Fraser said, as are talks with Sea Pines Resort to continue Harbour Town’s role as host. Both are expected to be wrapped by summer’s end. The tournament will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018.

Wilmot also noted that RBC’s extension opens the door for the tournament’s other partners and secondary sponsors to firm up their own plans.

“When they see this commitment being made by our title sponsor RBC, they’re able to jump on board as well,” Wilmot said. “They can plan accordingly for the future as well to continue to be a partner of ours.”

Mary DePaoli, RBC’s chief branding and communications officer, is a recent addition to the company’s management team. A February visit, along with April’s tournament, left her impressed not only with the tournament’s presentation, but the “human side” as well.

“The small touches, the fans that are so proud to be there. The warm reception from those in South Carolina,” DePaoli said. “Just a deep appreciation that came at every turn. That, for me, made it a very wholesome experience that I knew we would be proud to put our brand behind.”

A six-year deal, she said, offered a good balance between stability and flexibility.

“What we were trying to accomplish was a period of time that allowed us a long enough opportunity to provide a good runway for all of us,” she said, “but not so long that if the world changes overnight, that we wouldn’t be able to rethink things.”

It actually runs longer than RBC’s five-year deal that rescued the tournament in 2011, following one edition in which the foundation dipped into its reserve funds in hopes of buying time for a suitor.

This time, there was no need to bring anyone in from the outside.

“Without question, I felt very comfortable,” Wilmot said. “Maybe it took a little time, but certainly there was reason for that. It’s all positive and today is a great day for the RBC Heritage and Hilton Head.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Pairing of RBC, Heritage to extend for many more years."