Six years ago, when Bethpage State Park hosted the 2019 PGA Championship, the state parks office charged the Professional Golfers’ Association a fee of $2.7 million.
This past September, when the park hosted the Ryder Cup, it reaped a site fee of $5 million, plus $1 million for park improvements.
Now, the famed golf course is scheduled to host two more major championships: the 2028 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2033 PGA Championship.
State parks’ fee for hosting those two tournaments? $0.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDBethpage State Park will not charge the PGA a site fee to host upcoming PGA tournaments in 2028 and 2033, even though it received several million in fees for past events. Such major golf tournaments cost public resources, as evidenced by the Ryder Cup in September. For example, New York State Police spent over $3 million for meals, rooms and overtime for security for the event. State parks officials believe the “overall economic, societal, and recreational benefits” of such events far outweigh the cost to the public, however.
The two Bethpage events — as well as the 2035 PGA Championship, to be held at Oak Hill Country Club in the suburbs of Rochester — are part of a three-tournament deal between New York State and the PGA that officials announced in September. State parks will not charge the PGA a site fee for either the 2028 and the 2033 championships, according to the agency and documents obtained by Newsday via a public records request.
The news comes even as New York State spent several million in public dollars to help prepare for and secure the Ryder Cup, according to figures provided by state agencies.
“The overall economic, societal, and recreational benefits of hosting such a unique event falls squarely within the mission of New York State Parks — and is why New York State committed resources to bring the Ryder Cup and future PGA events to New York State,” John Craig, a spokesman for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said in an emailed statement.
But several experts in sports economics and law raised questions about such tradeoffs.
Jodi Balsam, a law professor at Brooklyn Law School, said that different venues around the country often compete to host major sporting events, and sports leagues often seek generous concessions from those interested venues.
“It’s what all of the marquee sports events do all the time,” said Balsam, who was previously an attorney with the NFL.
But whether events like major PGA tournaments are actually worth it for the host communities is “debatable,” she said. “There are concerns on all sides of the question.”
The original deal
The PGA trophy at the first tee during the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale. Credit: Newsday
Newsday obtained the contracts between the state parks office and the PGA to host the Ryder Cup and the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park, as well as an agreement to host the 2033 PGA Championship.
The contracts show how much the state would make in exchange for hosting the events. For the 2019 Championship, the State Parks Office agreed to a site fee of 10% of all revenue, after fees and taxes, from ticket sales and “corporate hospitality sales”: reservations for clubhouse rooms, suites, tables and skyboxes.
In 2019, that came to $2.7 million, according to Craig, the state parks spokesman.
For the Ryder Cup, the PGA again agreed to pay a 10% site fee to the state, with a minimum payout of at least $4 million. Beside the site fee, the PGA also agreed to pay $1 million for unspecified improvements to Bethpage Black.
The original Ryder Cup contract called for the PGA to pay the New York State Parks office 10% of ticket and corporate sales revenue from the tournament, with a minimum payment of $4 million. The tournament was originally scheduled for 2024, but was later moved to 2025.
Bethpage’s Black course, one of five 18-hole golf courses at Bethpage State Park, is considered one of the greatest and most challenging golf courses in the country. An iconic sign warning of the “extremely difficult” course normally greets golfers at the first tee, although it was temporarily moved during the Ryder Cup.
The state parks office said last month that over 240,000 people, including President Donald Trump, attended the tournament, a rowdy spectacle at which the European team outlasted a late comeback by the American team to win 15-13.
The contract stipulated that the PGA would cover the costs of organizing and putting on the tournament. It also gave the PGA the power to set the price of tickets — tickets that some New Yorkers complained were too expensive.
The PGA set ticket prices at $255 for each of the three practice round days and $750 per day for the three tournament days. It’s unclear how much corporate packages cost.
According to the contract with the state, the golf organization was to “formulate a ticket sales plan that includes the issuance of daily admission tickets so that the Ryder Cup is accessible,” the document reads.
Asked whether $750 tickets were truly accessible, the state parks office pointed to a PGA initiative called “The People’s Perk,” in which the PGA made surprise visits to public golf courses in the New York City metro area and gave away 3,000 Ryder Cup tickets for free.
“Based on research, our ticket prices were in line with comparable international events and reflected the unique, all-day (approximately 12 hours) fan experience that the Ryder Cup offers,” Greg Dillard, a PGA spokesperson, said in an email to Newsday.
Dillard declined to say how much the organization made in profit from the tournament.
An amendment
Last year, New York and the PGA agreed to amend the Ryder Cup contract.
In the amendment to the deal signed in November 2024, 10 months before the tournament, the state agreed that Bethpage State Park would host the 2033 PGA Championship for free.
“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary … the Parties agree the host site fee will be Zero Dollars ($0),” the new language read.
That 2024 amendment also placed a cap on the amount the PGA had to pay the state for hosting the 2025 Ryder Cup. The parks office would still receive 10% of tournament revenue, but only up to a maximum amount of $5 million, the amended contract stated. The PGA ultimately paid $5 million to the state.
An amendment to the Ryder Cup contract signed in 2024 stipulated that the 2033 PGA Championship would also be held at Bethpage State Park, and that the PGA would pay a site fee of $0 for hosting it. The amendment also placed a cap on the amount of revenue the State Parks office could make from the Ryder Cup. Per the amended contract, the State Parks office would make a maximum of $5 million in site fees.
The state will also host the 2028 PGA Women’s Championship for free, according to contract details on the state comptroller’s website and the State Parks Office.
The details of the third tournament included in the state’s deal, the 2035 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, were not immediately clear.
Such major golf events also consume public resources, at least as evidenced by the state’s expenditures for the Ryder Cup.
New York State Police, which provided security at the event, spent about $2.8 million in overtime, as well as about $600,000 for meals and rooms “for members assigned to the detail from other parts of the state,” spokesperson Beau Duffy said in an email to Newsday.
“The safety of the public, fans, and golfers was our highest priority throughout this year’s Ryder Cup,” Duffy said. “This effort required close coordination with event organizers, New York State Parks, and our partners across all levels of law enforcement and emergency management.”
The crowds at the 16th hole at the Ryder Cup in September. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
Spokespeople for the Nassau and Suffolk County Police Departments did not respond to questions about whether they incurred any costs related to the Ryder Cup.
The state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services also sent teams of staff to Bethpage State Park during the event to help with emergency communications, technical support and medical assistance, a spokesperson said. The division did not provide an estimate for the costs of that work.
“As mass gathering support is a core function for our teams, no additional funding outside of our normal operating budget was required to complete these missions,” the spokesperson said.
The state parks office also spent about $1.4 million to prepare Bethpage Black for the tournament, according to data obtained by Newsday. That sum paid for such things as irrigation work, building repairs and new utility carts, according to the data.
The state also agreed that its food and beverage vendors would offer a 20% discount to players, guests and patrons during the Ryder Cup, according to the contract. It’s not clear how that affected the overall financial impact to the state, which declined to provide detailed financial information related to the tournament.
Cost-benefit analysis
The state parks office said the investment of state resources on such events is well worth it for residents. The event was expected to bring an estimated $160 million to Long Island’s economy, according to a study released by the Long Island Association, a business group, ahead of the event.
“The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage State Park provided a major economic boost for the Long Island economy and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for 250,000 golf fans, even if Team USA did not prevail,” Craig, the state parks spokesperson, said in the emailed statement.
But some were skeptical about those benefits — and whether they were worth the cost.
“I don’t know what the ideal amount is that the state should be collecting from these tournaments, but I’m confident that the amount is not zero,” Bill Hammond, a senior fellow at the Empire Center, an Albany think tank focused on fiscal responsibility, said in an interview.
“This is public land that a private organization is taking over and making a lot of money from,” Hammond said.
Economic impact analyses are common ahead of major sporting events, Balsam, of Brooklyn Law School, said. These studies are how officials “justify the concessions they make to their constituencies, and to rationalize the disruption that an event like this can often cause in a municipality,” she said.
Workers construct bleachers before the Ryder Cup in July. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
But such studies often rely on questionable assumptions, such as not taking into account extended closures of facilities, according to Glenn Gerstner, a professor in sport management at Farmingdale State College and longtime golfer. Generally, for such analyses, “If they tried to publish that in an economics journal, it would get ripped apart,” he said.
Gerstner said he had not seen the specific Ryder Cup study or their methodology. But, he said, “you could quote me on the fact that I have little doubt that that number is grossly overstated.”
At least some other public entities did make money on the Cup, however.
The PGA paid Farmingdale State College about $200,000 for the “use of facilities” in September and early October, according to contract details on the state comptroller’s website.
And the PGA signed a deal with the Town of Oyster Bay to store trucks and trailers at its solid waste complex, according to a document obtained via a public records request. It paid the town $40,000.
Mark Conrad, a law professor who runs the sports business program at Fordham University, said in an interview that the state’s calculus in signing the deal with the PGA likely included a variety of factors: economic benefits, competing host bids from other golf courses around the country, the draw and prestige of hosting a unique, high-profile event.
Plus, for a state with a roughly $250 billion budget, “What’s $4 million? What’s $5 million?” Conrad said.
“Maybe it’s worth giving it away, if you will,” he said.
MAJOR GOLF TOURNAMENTS AT BETHPAGE BLACK
2002 U.S. Open
2009 U.S. Open
2012 The Barclays
2016 The Barclays
2019 PGA Championship
2025 Ryder Cup
Upcoming
2028 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
2033 PGA Championship
