Walton Commissioner Drake to PGA: No Contract, No Deal

Interim County Attorney Clay Adkinson then explained to the commission that a supermajority would be required to overrule the TDC and approve spending the money on the tournament – since the lower body of Walton County government, the TDC, voted against the project.

Algarin told the TDC members at their meeting last week that the BCC instructed a focus group to meet with the PGA. Members of the group included PGA representatives, Algarin, County Commissioner Brad Drake, Interim County Attorney Clay Adkinson and a yet-to-be-named Bed Tax Collector. The BCC requested that a meeting be held by that ‘committee’ to begin negotiations and seek to obtain a proposed contract from the PGA.

The Art of the Drake

Commissioner Brad Drake was not at last week’s Walton County Commission Meeting, and was unable to speak to his concerns at that forum. It didn’t stop him from renumerating them at the TDC meeting in Freeport.

“Unless you are willing to say, ‘We’re not interested [in hosting the PGA Tour]’, – you’re never going to bring someone to the negotiating table,” Drake said to the rest of TDC. He argued if the council had given an affirmative vote without a proposed contract in hand – they would have surrendered their leverage to the PGA. By rejecting the proposal without a contract, he explained, the County maintained its leverage at a future negotiation. “Until you are willing to walk away from [The PGA], they are going to laugh,” Drake summarized, “Then, and only then, they start getting out the calculator and say, ‘wait a minute! wait a minute!‘“

Walton Wants It In Writing

Council Member Tim Taylor supported the Commissioner’s assessment. He added, “If there was another place for them [the PGA]  to have gone for an October [2026] Tournament, they would have gone.”

Another Council Member, Amy Wise-Coble, added, “We have beaten this horse [to death].  We are in an advisory capacity to the BCC and the BCC has spoken. They have asked us to put a committee together. We need to do that.  If you remember our initial recommendation, out of this body, was to put this exact committee together.  I think we need to put this together as quick [sic] as we can.  We all have strong feelings about it.  We need to follow the BCC’s direction.  Put the committee together in the best way that we see fit and move on to the next thing.”

Interim County Administrator, Brian Kellenberger affirmed that the BCC has no terms and conditions necessary for a  [proposed] contract, and that needs to be the focus for the “committee” that will be created.  Kellenberger said the first thing the committee needs to do is to say to the PGA, “Mr. PGA, I need a copy of the contract…I need the terms and conditions of what we are going to do business on [sic].”

Commissioner Drake responded:  “That is what I have been asking for – for months.”  Drake then asked Mr. Kellenberger, “If you were them [the PGA], why would they do that – unless you made them?  There was a little more ‘push and pull’ from the Commissioner, and Mr. Kellenberger then told Commissioner Drake, “We are on the same page…If we are going to have a business deal, we have to have specifics, and that is called a contract – terms and conditions.  And so that is what we need to get and then we need to decide, as a committee, is it good for us or is it not good for us.  But until we have that information, and we have that document sitting in front of us – then we cannot decide.”

Tim Taylor briefly expressed additional concerns about proposed co-sponsors for the Walton County PGA Tour and indicated that additional sponsors may impact the desired benefit of marketing for Walton County’s tourism and theeconomy.  

Anticipating Special Circumstances that May Impact a Contract – Hurricane or Tropical Depressions

Clay Adkinson touched on areas of negotiation and contractual details of the PGA Tour that could be problematic and need to be addressed before initiating a signed contract. He spoke about the alternate plan for the scheduled PGA Tour in the event of a significant storm. 

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Adkinson mentioned that  necessary contingency plans would need to be contractually detailed.

“What happens if a storm comes [on the week of the scheduled PGA Tour?]” Adkinson asked. He noted that the PGA could move the tournament somewhere else nearby.

Atkinson added, “I will say this, if we do go forward and meet with them [PGA], our starting point is:  ‘You may or may not have four votes, but you’re going to have to present a contract that gets four votes. The concept [desire for hosting the PGA Tour] has four votes, and the contract doesn’t – cause they [the BCC] have never seen it.  And I think it is a very hard sell on anybody, including the BCC, that we would spend $6 million [per year] and they would move the tournament to Pensacola because we had a storm.  Because Hurricane Michael hits, and well, we’re [the PGA] not going to give it up [meaning the money] and we’re [Walton County] not going to get our money back.”  

Adkinson concluded, That is a tough sell on anybody, and frankly, I don’t know if we could legally justify doing it.  I think we have more arrows in our quiver right now than, perhaps, it appears.  But I will tell you, until we sit down and ask them to give us the full set of terms, so we can see what is and is not able to be negotiated – there is nothing to bring back [to the BCC].”

Now What?

The Tourism Staff was tasked with selecting and procuring a Bed Tax Collector to serve as part of the committee that will meet to potentially create a contract with the PGA.  As mentioned in earlier reports on Mid Bay News, the PGA Tour indicated that they need 14 months to prepare for hosting a major event. 

The clock is ticking.