 before we discuss solutions to issues that impact sports. I'm your host, Angela Hazelett. Today's guest is Steve Schoenfeld, the executive director for the PGA Tours Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia. We are here to discuss the PGA Tour making a difference in Richmond. Welcome Steve. Thanks for having me, appreciate it. Absolutely, I'm really glad to have you here today. I know the Dominion Energy Charity Classic is a relatively new tournament in Richmond, Virginia. That was started in 2016. Your tournament is held on a privately owned golf course at the Country Club of Virginia on the James River course. However, hosting a PGA Tournament can be disruptive to a golf course by closing the course for about 10 days and by having the facility inundated with people and equipment. So what exactly is the motivation for Country Club to host a PGA event? Well, we certainly try to do it in a least intrusive way as possible. Many wonderful benefits to hosting. The first of which we like to talk about is the charitable aspect of our event and every event on tour. It's the same for all tournaments and that the goal is to, for the net profits and the proceeds to go to local charities right in the region where we're playing. So right here in Richmond and the club is certainly motivated to get on board because of that as well as other things as well. So the charitable aspects is what we'd like to rest on. Absolutely. And I know that's really a homework feature to support the local region. You've basically helped support $7.3 million since the event's debut, really focusing on military support. In part, this effort is made possible with the help of sponsors and partners. Are there certain categories of sponsors or partners that really don't align with your brand or any maybe charitable organizations that don't align with your brand? What do you look for when aligning yourself with others? Well, we're thankful that many brands align with the PGA Tours mission, which again is that charitable aspect. There are various different avenues that we explore when it comes to charity, whether like you mentioned, whether it's military or veteran related or children's or healthcare or you name it. But it's not often that you're gonna find someone else that doesn't align with what you're doing. Well, that leaves you a lot of options available. That's fantastic. Let's go ahead and watch a video that gives us a little more background into your tournament. The Dominion Energy Charity Classic. The Dominion Energy Charity Classic returned to the Country Club of Virginia James River Course, where the top 72 professionals on the PGA Tours champions competed in the first event of the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. Clapping, that's nice. The tournament is a three-time recipient of the Players Award, naming the Dominion Energy Charity Classic their favorite tournament of the year. The Big Crowds, nearly 150 corporate partners. Oh, that'll help. The over 1,100 volunteers had events like Executive Women's Day and the Friday Night Concert are what make the event so special. We are thrilled to announce a 10-year extension of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic through 2029. I've been looking forward to coming back here for a year. I played last year here in Richmond for the first time. I absolutely fell in love with the city. The people are fantastic. The golf course is tremendous. I have a great title sponsor, which goes all the way through to giving back to the community. So I just felt like everything about being here at the Dominion was an A-plus. The tournament's charitable beneficiaries are Virginia Veteran Services Foundation, the Richmond Fisher House, and McGuire Research Institute. In addition, more than 100 charities participate in the Birdies for Charity program presented by Town Bank. The tournament is a platform to generate charitable funds for their organization while taking advantage of the 10% matching program. Mecklson is your champion at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic. The Dominion Energy Charity Classic has become a can't miss on the Richmond event calendar. I think it's a nice overview of what your tournament is all about. I know for the first three out of four years, this tournament earned the Players Award, in which the PGA Tour Champions players voted this event their favorite of the year. Why do you think players have voted your tournament as their favorite? Yeah, that had never happened for a first year event. So we were thrilled and honored that that was the case. And there are many things that go into putting a successful tournament together. The players can feel the excitement when they're out there. They want to see those crowds. They love seeing full corporate hospitality venues. They love interacting with our volunteers and seeing all the folks that are out there enjoying it. That's important to them. In addition to how we obviously take care of them while they're in town for the week. So all of those factors definitely weigh in to having voted us their favorite three out of our first four years. Speaking of taking care of the players, I know one of the perks that you provide is your range with a local dealership. You provide players their own vehicle to drive while on Richmond. So not only are the logistics of making this happen incredible, but I imagine there's a risk of these borrowed vehicles getting damaged, lost or stolen. How do you manage this concern? Yeah, certainly that is the case. And putting on an event of this magnitude, whether it's vehicles or folks on site, the list is lengthy. We've got many, many protocols in place to take care of the safety of everyone involved, whether it's the pros, our spectators, our volunteers, our sponsors, you name it. Very cognizant of the fact that we've got to provide a safe environment and do the best that we can. And thankfully that usually works pretty well for us. And so you have, I know, on a transportation committee that is involved with this process. Can you describe their role in helping the players? Sure, so as the players arrive in town, obviously our first impression, we have one chance to make that first impression. So we've got a committee, I believe of 60 or 70 folks that volunteer their time to actually help with transportation needs for the pros, whether it's picking them up from the airport, getting them to the golf course or getting them to their hotel, getting them into their own courtesy car for the week, making sure that that courtesy car is operable and everything's going smoothly. And then at the end of the week, the same thing, making sure that we get them back to the airport to get them out of town on time. So couldn't do it without a huge, huge volunteer group. So are they really key in helping you keep track of everything and managing that expectation or that perk for the players? Very much so, in addition to that group, we have 1,000 volunteers, over 1,000 volunteers that make sure that we're doing everything that we can to take care of the pros, whether it's with their courtesy car and some other shape or fashion. So yes, we couldn't do it without that group. Let's talk about those volunteers. You said over 1,000. I think you have around 1,100 volunteers that work to support you. What's your process for recruiting, training, and supervising so many individuals that really are necessary to make your event a success? Sure, and that's the case with every event on our tour and all the professional tours that we operate. The process is we are out there recruiting and getting them to sign up on our website. Thankfully, as you remain in market for several years in a row, you get a lot of folks that look forward to it and come back year after year, which is terrific. Really thrilled that that's the case here in Richmond. We've got over 30 committees, 30 different committees that we need those folks to volunteer for. You touched on important one, player transportation, but there's hospitality, there's media. There's a huge, the biggest one is the marshals that are out on the golf course, taking care of spectators or air and shots. Need those 1,000 folks to be out there doing what they do to help us put this event on, that's for sure. And many of the members of the club where the tournament is held are part of that process. Is that correct? Indeed, we're fortunate in that there's a sizable membership at the country of Virginia, many golfers and many golf fans and they're a huge piece of that. In addition to Dominion Energy employees, our titles partner, they also provide numerous volunteers, hundreds in fact, to make up that 1,000 that we need. Wow, that's pretty critical then for sure. And parking, let's talk about parking everyone. You provide vehicles for players so they're gonna need parking. You have event staff, these 1,100 volunteers and then of course spectators. So how do you manage the parking challenge? Yeah, parking is always an important one, that's for sure and we realize that. The golf course that we play out is in a neighborhood, it's in a residential neighborhood so 99% of our parking is indeed offsite. We have two different locations that we shuttle folks from all day every day. Thankfully they're both within very short distance to the golf course, so it's a short shuttle ride. And we take care again, all the precautions that we need to make sure that signage is clear and that folks know where they need to park, that shuttles are there waiting for them to pick them up, get them to the golf course within just a few minutes. And then the experience when they depart and disembark off that shuttle when they arrive at the golf course, also crucial to make sure that it goes smoothly. They're right next to the main gate, short walk where they then show their ticket and hopefully have a terrific day with us. And then we repeat that process in reverse at the end of the day. So tell me, if it's in a residential area, what is the response from the neighborhood community? I assume you kind of remind them that this big event is coming up but what's sort of the response from those in the community who are experiencing more traffic than usual? Sure, we put a very deliberate and purposeful communications plan with the local residents that are around our golf course. We also extend to them some complimentary tickets to get them to come out and hopefully enjoy the tournament. And that comprehensive, that plan really starts again with safety and making sure that we are keeping everyone's safety in mind whether it's the folks that are on those shuttles, the drivers, spectators, residents in the neighborhood, making sure that everybody's within the speed limit and taking care of them. That's the most important thing. So we're very, very careful with that. Your 2022 tournament takes place October 20th through the 23rd with the top 72 players competing for a $2.2 million prize first. So golfers are different than some other sports in that they are considered independent contractors. So this means that they're not employees of the PGA Tour. So how does having athletes as independent contractors affect your tournament? Yeah, terrific question. And the PGA Tour is different from most professional sports in that regard because they are indeed independent contractors. We're a member-driven organization. So the truth is we work for them. We work for the players. So it is a little bit different, but they do get to pick and choose their schedule as to when they play, where they play. Thankfully, we are a playoff event. So we're the first event at three series playoff event, our playoff series, where the players are looking to finish their season strong and only the top 72 qualify for our tournament. So it's always a very popular week. So we're certainly fortunate in that regard that they look forward to coming to Richmond every year. But they are able to kind of post what they want on their social media accounts and things of that nature, but you said they're able to kind of pick and choose whether or not they come to your event. So tell me, how many players in your tournament are eligible for prize money out of those 72 that are competing? All who compete are eligible. So whether you come in first place or 72nd place, you will earn a paycheck. So that's definitely, I'm sure, an appealing aspect as well that they know they're gonna get some kind of payday. And despite golfers at your tournament being independent contractors, you mentioned they have this membership, your membership-driven organization. But I do know the PGA Tour is based in huge competition with the launching of the Saudi Finance Live Golf Series. And some players have committed to play in the Live Golf, are earning appearance fees and are eligible to win some of the largest prize person in golf. However, for those participating in Live Golf, some of them had to resign from or been suspended from their PGA Tour membership. And this includes a suspension of Phil Mickelson, who was the winner of your tournament in 2020. So now your tournament has been recognized as a player's favorite. You mentioned it's a playoff. Events, but how was the launching of the Live Golf impact your golf tournament? Well, we're hopeful that it won't to be perfectly honest. The PGA Tour is the foremost professional golf tour on the globe. And 99.9% of the guys that are playing with us are staying with us and playing with us. It is true that Phil has decided to play the Live Golf Tour. And he was the champion of our event in 2020. So it's not likely that we'd see him back here this year. Really at this point, he's the only one that's affected as far as our tour, which is the Champion Store, which are the professional golfers who are age 50 and over. So really we don't anticipate a major impact. That's really good news at this time because I know that the Live Series has already kind of launched their series. And so maybe any player movement has happened for this season, hopefully, and that will be a positive for you keep retaining the players that you've had in the past. Let's shift gears a little bit and talk about weather. I know you're an outdoor sport. People are out there all day long, including the volunteers. And there's just been a history of weather being a concern in golf. For example, in 1975 at the Western Open, there were three golfers who were injured by a lightning strike and they were taken to a hospital. And you know, since then, we've had a lot of improvements in storm detection. But in 2019 at the Atlanta Tour Championship event, there was debris from a lightning strike that injured spectators. And these spectators were still on the course despite issued warnings. And even though players had already been removed from the course when the game play was suspended nearly 30 minutes earlier. So weather is obviously a concerning factor at golf tournaments when people are spread throughout the outdoor course. I know, Steve, you have an on-site meteorologist to help you make decisions regarding weather. But what other precautions do you take to prevent an incident such as this? Sure, it starts with that on-site meteorologist and with the technology available to us today, we generally get a good half an hour advance warning if there is dangerous weather that is approaching. Now, thankfully our time of year in October in this portion of the country, we don't typically deal with a lot of dangerous weather that time of year. If we do, it's probably a hurricane and we're certainly gonna have multiple days of heads up if that's going to occur. But having said that, we do put a, again, a comprehensive plan in place to evacuate the golf course, to inform everyone on-site that there is dangerous weather approaching if that indeed is the case. And that evacuation plan includes returning everybody to that main gate and then putting them back on shuttle buses and putting them, getting them back to their vehicles. So it's a major effort, that's for sure. And a big piece of communication that needs to go out to those, to everyone on-site. But we do certainly have a comprehensive plan in place to make sure that everyone remains safe. That sounds like it would take a lot of time because you do have a lot of the parking off-site. You're relying on shuttles, which you would have a limited amount. If there is some kind of pop-up weather event, what other, where do you encourage people to go while they're waiting on a shuttle to take them back to their vehicles? Yeah, if there was a pop-up weather event, we would ensure that every shuttle is back at the golf course staged and waiting to get those spectators back on there. The folks that are participating in the tournament the pro golfers, the volunteers, caddies, staff, you name it. We do have enough space on-site to shelter everyone in place. However, all of our temporary facilities that we build on the golf course, meaning mostly corporate hospitality tents and other structures similar to that are certainly not structures that we encourage anyone to remain in if there is dangerous weather, which is why it is crucial to make sure all those shuttles are backstage and ready to go so we can get all of our spectators back onto those vehicles and keep them safe. Lots of coordination and communication sounds like to make sure safety is a priority. And speaking of safety, there have been an alarming number of mass shooting incidents in the country, churches, grocery stores and schools with the number of mass shootings on the rise. What precautions do you take to prevent a similar incident at your golf tournament? Sure, we're, again, in constant contact and months in advance of planning with our local jurisdiction, the police department, as well as on-site security, who we, the PGA Tour employee, to be on-site and take care of all of our spectators. We do have magnetometers at our main gate, so anyone who comes on-site is scanned to make sure that they are not entering with any kind of firearm or any dangerous weapon. And we put that same plan in place to make sure that our these officers and our security folks are patrolling the site and making sure that everything seems copacetic. That is something that we are hyper-aware of and that it's affecting our really all facets of society today and we don't feel like we're exempt from that. So we make sure to put the time into having that plan in place as well. And you have RMC events that works with you to provide this security aspect and also police officers as well, lots of individuals with training and background and how to identify these problems and intervene. So you're saying the, do really all spectators have a common entry point or are there other places where they would have access to get on the golf course? Yeah, that's exactly correct. All spectators, there is one common entry point for anyone entering the site, whether it's spectators or volunteers or staff, you name it. Everyone needs to pass through and follow through that location. And as you said, we are putting that plan in place with our local, Henrico County Police Division, as well as the folks at RMC events who make sure they're the ones putting these protocols in place and watching these events on a pretty much a daily basis. So we put a lot of trust in them. Absolutely, absolutely. It's great to have those resources available. Let's talk about if somebody does have an incident where they do need medical treatment, what kind of medical care is available for them at your tournament? Sure, and that happens frequently, to be honest, when you have thousands of spectators on site, whether it's a bee sting or just a trip and fall kind of thing. So we are fortunate here in Richmond to have a partner VCU Health to provide all the first aid that we need for all constituents, again, the pros, the volunteers and all spectators that are on site with multiple locations on the golf course. We, of course, stage an ambulance at the site to make sure that in case anyone does need to get transported, that we can do that in a very quick fashion. But thankfully, most of the time, that is not the case and what we see most of the time are those trips and falls or just minor scrapes. Yeah, and VCU stands for Virginia Commonwealth University. That is correct, based right here in Richmond. Great, so it's helpful to have a university-based healthcare provider on site as well. Talk to me a little bit about the preventative healthcare opportunities for players. They are traveling constantly on the road. They don't always get to take care of themselves maybe in the way that a person who's not traveling so much would. But is it true you have like a dentist on site for the players to utilize when they maybe can't otherwise get their healthcare needs taken care of? Yeah, the phone calls that we get for healthcare needs can vary from really basic to very interesting. We do not have a dentist on site, but VCU Health does indeed have a dentist on call as well as really any type of doctor or physician that we might need for these guys. And you said it, Angela, the guys are on the road for weeks at a time. They don't get to go home too often. So we're very cognizant of that and make sure that we do our best to take care of them, which includes, by the way, two semi-tractor trailers that roll into every tournament with a workout facility, physical therapy to make sure that these guys are at their best. And that's provided by the PGA Tour and it just goes from event to event. Is that how that works? That is correct. Wow, very neat. What are their kind of behind-the-scenes things might not the average spectator know about what goes on behind-the-scenes for a golf tournament at this magnitude? Well, thankfully with over 1,000 volunteers, we're able to kind of nip any challenges we have in the bud between them and our staff. But, like any sporting event, there are always things that are delayed, whether it's shuttle buses that are delayed or other minor disruptions in a schedule that would cause for delays with golf or hospitality, you name it, with so many moving parts that certainly is a big piece of what we do. Again, we plan for 51 weeks out of the year just for that one week of event week. So most of the time we're able to kind of ward off any real major challenges. So let's say you do have to delay, maybe it's a weather delay. Are you able to kind of push things onto Monday or the next, the following week? What kind of agreement do you have with the golf course to extend or sponsor us or media rights? Like how do you make a delay happen? Yeah, so part of our agreement with the club to host the event does involve securing the day after the tournament to potentially utilize if we do have a weather-related issue where we can indeed finish the tournament on that Monday. In our six years here in Richmond, we did have to do that once. So it's only been one time and it's pretty infrequent. Even with rain and just in climate weather, most of the time we can play through it as long as it's not dangerous, like we talked about earlier. But yes, we do guard against that and have got that one extra day just in case we need it. Are your volunteers available to work that extra day as well? I imagine some of them are maybe taking some time off of work to participate or maybe have other commitments. Does that impact your volunteer base if you have to extend to a Monday? It certainly does and part of the application does ask them to let us know if they're available on the Monday following should we need to go that long. You'd be amazed at how many people are still willing to kind of hang in there with you and maybe skip work one more day to help us finish the tournament. That includes spectators too. So the one year we had to do it, we had much larger crowds than we anticipated we might on a Monday. So it really bodes well I think and speaks well of the Richmond community and their support of our tournament. Absolutely, gotta see who's gonna win. What else can you tell us about your experience as the executive director of this particular tournament? Oh gosh, I mean, that's a real open-ended question. You know, I tell everyone who I talk to that I feel very fortunate to do what I do. I grew up playing golf, never really envisioned a career in it to be honest. And once I found out that there's a staff that's onsite all year for this one tournament, it was real appealing to me. So I feel very fortunate to do what I do to put an event on for the community that's really embraced at the end of the day, the proceeds go to charity. Absolutely, and you're giving back to the community and what you're living in. So that's pretty incredible. Well, thank you so much for your insight, Steve, into the PGA Tour and specifically the Dominion Energy Charity Classic. And thanks for making a difference in Richmond. I really appreciate that. Thank you to our viewers for joining us today on the Sports Playbook. In two weeks, our guest is Arman Tagizata, who will discuss athletes' mental health in sports. We will see you then. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.