GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Michigan — Never mind the prime rib, and forget the open bar for key executives, clients and dealers of General Motors
at this year’s Buick Open. With the company facing bankruptcy and taking millions in taxpayer-backed federal loans, Buick isn’t doing anything to draw attention to special perks it’s provided in the past. Buick won’t even raise its hospitality tent at this year’s Open, won’t pay for its executives or dealers to play this year’s pro-am tournament, and won’t hold a gala black-tie charity fundraiser as it has in the past. “Anything that is opulent or could be seen as (extravagant) is being scaled back,” said Robb Grainger, tournament director for the Open. “It’s not necessarily responsible” to do those things given GM’s current financial problems. Larry Peck, golf marketing manager for Buick, confirmed the more spartan plans of the automaker but said spectators won’t notice the frugality when they visit Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club for the PGA Tour event July 27-Aug. 2. • General Motors officials have identified Buick as one of four core brands they want to keep as they attempt to rebound from financial trouble. • Buick is planning to go forward with this year’s PGA Tour event despite GM’s finical problems, including a possible bankruptcy filing before the tournament is scheduled to start on July 27. • Buick is cutting back or eliminating spending at this year’s Open in areas that could be perceived as wasteful.
Plans are continuing to be made for the golf tournament, but Peck stopped short of guaranteeing this year’s PGA event will take place because of the potential for more radical changes, including a possible bankruptcy filing, at GM in coming weeks. The company is operating under a June 1 deadline for completing a financial viability plan for the federal government and has already announced plans to shut down plants, lay off tens of thousands of workers and eliminate entire brand lines. “All I can really say is it’s in planning and on the calendar today,” Peck said Friday of the Open. “I can’t predict the future, but we have every intention of operating the tournament this year.” Joe Serra, president of Serra Automotive, said the best case scenario for Genesee County is that Buick lives out the terms of its current contract and that the Open is played here this year and in 2010. “My opinion is it’s going to be difficult for Buick to keep,” said Serra, who said the perk cuts by Buick had to happen. “They are things you can afford to do when things are wonderful, (but) this isn’t the time or the place.” Spectators at this year’s Open “are going to see the typical things they have in the past,” Peck said. The change in Buick spending will actually be noticed by the relative few who have been entertained by GM executives here in the past. Invitations to the Buick hospitality tent have been a kind of status symbol for years, offering free food and drink for car dealers and other guests. Buick’s black-tie charity gala –Â part of a broader fund-raising effort at the Open for years –Â also won’t go forward but is only one part of the fund-raising effort. Peck said the gala is a victim of the broader economy that has left companies and individuals with less money to spend. “It’s difficult to sell tickets in today’s environment,” he said. Last year, charities in southeastern Michigan raised $666,000 from the entire week-long tournament. It’s enough to make beneficiaries like Whaley Children’s Center a little nervous about the long-term future of the tournament. “The Buick Open is very important to the area as well as the charities involved,” said Trisha Reinhard, interim president and chief executive officer at Whaley. “It brings in substantial contributions.” Whaley employees volunteer during the Open, she said, because it’s important to the community. Peck said Buick will focus this year on promoting its vehicles at the Open, particularly the 2010 LaCrosse luxury sedan. There are no discussions about the future of the Open here at this point, he said. “Frankly we have not given too much thought to that. (Normally) this year would probably be the time we would start to talk about that. “This year, it’s probably the furthest thing from out mind,” he said. Genesee Chief Family Judge Duncan Beagle said he believes the Open could continue to operate as a benefit to GM as long as it is attempting to sell Buicks. Beagle has volunteered at the tournament for more than 15 years. “This is Buick’s market,” he said of the golf fans who attend. “I think they get a lot of good things out of (being affiliated with the tournament).”