Future of FedEx’s PGA Tour Deal in Question As Playoffs Begin

FedEx has pumped more than $1 billion of bonus money into the PGA Tour since launching the FedExCup in 2007, but the shipping and logistics behemoth’s future with the golf circuit is uncertain as major changes loom.

FedEx’s longtime deal with the PGA Tour expires after the 2027 season, as does its sponsorship of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which makes this week’s event in Memphis—the kickoff to the three-tournament FedExCup Playoffs—its penultimate edition as a postseason event.

The PGA Tour is revamping its postseason in 2028 when it launches a new two-track model with a top-tier Championship Series and second-tier Challenger Series. While the PGA Tour said in a statement last week that it believes Memphis (where FedEx is headquartered) is “well-positioned to remain part of the PGA Tour,” the tour also confirmed that the market will not host an event on the Championship Series, which will include 15 regular-season PGA Tour events with purses of at least $20 million, the Players Championship, the four majors, and the new postseason. Five PGA Tour events have already been confirmed for the Championship Series.

A pool of nearly $100 million in FedExCup bonus money from this season will be paid out to the top 125 players in the FedExCup standings following next week’s BMW Championship, before the eventual FedExCup Champion wins $10 million from the Tour Championship’s $40 million purse at the end of the month. Next season—potentially the final one of the FedExCup—is expected to play out in a similar fashion.

After that, “all options are on the table with FedEx,” PGA Tour Chief Commercial Officer Dhruv Prasad told Front Office Sports during an interview in late June. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp earlier that month said FedEx’s current contract would be honored and that the new competitive model “is really designed to bring more value to our partners” and that “our hope is to create more value for FedEx and everybody else.”

Dhruv told FOS the PGA Tour is “actively talking to FedEx” about the future. “I think they’re excited about the potential for what their partnership could be—whether it looks exactly like what they have today, I don’t know,” he said. “I actually think there are more opportunities for FedEx in the future in how they work with the tour than there are today, given some of the changes that we made to the model.”

Many industry sources don’t expect FedEx and the PGA Tour to renew the company’s  sponsorship of the season-long points race after next season. Some sources predict the PGA Tour will opt for a model akin to NASCAR’s Cup Series, which in 2020 moved away from a single naming rights sponsor in favor of multiple premium partners. It’s unclear whether FedEx would be interested in signing up for that type of deal.

FedEx said in a statement last week: “As the PGA Tour continues to evolve its competition structure and schedule, we understand their vision for the future and appreciate the longstanding partnership over the last 40 years. While we are disappointed the FedEx St. Jude Championship will not be part of the new Championship Series, we are encouraged by their plans to find other opportunities to bring professional golf to Memphis.”

Should FedEx or another company want to back a second-tier Challenger Series event in Memphis in 2028 and beyond, the cost of sponsoring those tournaments will be between $5 million and $15 million, a source with direct knowledge of the situation previously told FOS, depending on the event type and factors such as whether it’s on network TV or a non-network tournament airing opposite a Championship Series event.