5 things to know about how the LPGA plans to grow, including key areas like brand-building and ticket sales

It’s hard to believe, but the LPGA recently put together its first marketing department. Led by Krista Olson, the three-person team’s objective is to grow exposure for the tour.

“We’re going to drive fans to our tournaments,” said Marcoux Samaan, “and we’re going to drive fans to our media, all forms of media, social media, digital media; we’re driving them to our television broadcasts.”

While the atmosphere at a Solheim Cup is generally great, it’s no secret that attendance at many events on the LPGA schedule could use a substantial boost.

The tour recently partnered with SeatGeek to create a single-source ticketing platform for tour events. The marketing department’s task is to help sell more tickets.

“That is 100 percent our focus, I think, with our marketing department, with our SeatGeek partnership,” Marcoux Samaan said. “To be able to drive fan engagement and to actually proactively work on that, to be able to know who our fans are, keep marketing to them, go into regions and use our SeatGeek partnership as well as our marketing team’s creativity to drive people to the tournaments. Because I think when you turn on the broadcast, you want to see that people are there and cheering on our athletes.”