Jeff Sanders Entertainment: Doing it, and doing it well, for 35 years
One of Jeff Sanders’ many duties is to introduce the music acts to the crowds at Hillcrest Country Club (courtesy Jeff Sanders Entertainment)
Updated 7/25/2024 12:30 PM, 6:20 PM; 7/29/2024 5:25 PM
On Tuesday, Aug. 20, during the Albertsons Boise Open pro-am dinner at the Boise Convention Center, PGA Tour executives and Korn Ferry Tour president Alex Baldwin will be on hand to pay tribute to Albertsons Supermarkets, Lake Oswego-headquartered Jeff Sanders Entertainment, Inc., and Hillcrest Country Club for 35 years of continuous service.
It is a big deal. The Albertsons Boise Open is the longest-standing tournament on the PGA, Champions or Korn Ferry tours. No event on any of the PGA circuits has had the same umbrella sponsor, promotional company and host golf club for as long.
“Incredible,” says Baldwin, who joined the PGA Tour administrative body in 2017 and has been in her position since 2019. “Absolutely incredible. It is the standard in terms of our title sponsor and community engagement with the impact it has had.
“It brings together golf, entertainment and community. It is everything we are so proud to be as an organization and as a golf tour. We talk about the platform that is the PGA Tour. I point to the Albertsons Boise Open as the epitome of everything we strive to realize as a tournament.”
The 35th annual Albertsons Boise Open is set for Aug. 22-25, a 72-hole tournament featuring some of the best golfers in the world who will play for a total purse of $1.5 million. The Korn Ferry is a development tour and the primary route for aspirants to qualify for the PGA Tour.
Fans from throughout the Northwest will flock to Boise to watch golf and musical acts Jon Pardi, Daryl Hall and the Goo Goo Dolls while enjoying food, beer and wine from regional outlets. The Pardi and Goo Goo Dolls shows are sellouts.
It is the latest example of Sanders’ “Golfchella” approach, a spinoff of “Coachella,” the annual music and arts festival held in Indio, Calif. In tournaments Sanders’ promotional company has run from Boise to Portland to Napa, Calif., to La Quinta, Calif., the theme has been the same: “Golf by day, music by night.”
“There are a lot of events across our different tours that have a concert, or multiple concerts, as part of the tournament week,” says Andy Pazder, former chief tournaments and competitions officer for the PGA. “I can’t tell you Jeff was the first operator to ever do it, but I would say he is the first to perfect it.”
Sanders, 68, is a Beaverton native who starred at Oregon and played five years on the PGA Tour from 1980-85. He got his start in sports promotions when he served as director of sales and marketing for the inaugural Fred Meyer Challenge in 1986. In 1989, he founded Jeff Sanders Promotions, which ran a variety of sports events for 24 years, including the Winn Dixie Jacksonville Open on the Web.com Tour — a forerunner to the Korn Ferry Tour — from 2010-12.
In 2013, Sanders sold his business to Lagardere Sports, with headquarters in Paris and New York City, and became president of golf events for Lagardere (later Sportfive). Over the next eight years, Sanders made big inroads in the golf industry, running the Albertsons Boise Open and the Winco Foods Portland Open on the Web.com Tour (which became the Korn Ferry in 2020) and highly successful PGA Tour events in Napa and La Quinta.
In 2021, Sanders resigned to start Jeff Sanders Entertainment, what he calls a “small boutique golf/entertainment company.” With six full-time employees, Sanders — who divides times between homes in Portland and La Quinta — has continued to operate the Albertsons Boise Open, the signature event of his nearly 40 years in the sports promotions business.
“Jeff and his team are incredible,” Baldwin says. “With the passion and commitment he shows, Jeff is the heart and soul of the Boise event and any event with which he is involved. He loves what he does. He is truly exceptional.”
Former Albertsons CEO and Boise resident Bob Miller calls the Albertsons Boise Open “by far the best tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour.”
“All the golfers say that when they’re there,” Miller says. “I have heard it many times — ‘the best-run event.’ We started with a tournament that was kind of failing, and Jeff turned it into a huge success. He tripled the number of fans in attendance. He made the event more fun. And they raise a lot of money for charity. That’s a big reason why we do these events, to give back.”
If the Albertsons Boise Open is not the best-run event on the Korn Ferry Tour, “it is one of the best, for sure,” Baldwin says.
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The PGA Tour started its satellite tour in 1990 as the “Ben Hogan Tour.” (Over the years, changing umbrella sponsors have transferred the name from Hogan to “Nike Tour” to “Buy.com Tour” to “Nationwide.com Tour” to “Korn Ferry Tour.”) That first year, Sacramento, Tacoma and Boise were on the map for potential tournament sites.
“I thought I might be interested in running one of those,” Sanders says.
Sanders had been introduced to Suzy Breaux, executive director of the Rocky Mountain section of the PGA of America. Her husband, Jerry Breaux, was head pro at Hillcrest Country Club. Sanders spoke with Suzy and contacted the PGA Tour.
“We made a deal,” Sanders says. “If I could get a sponsor, we could run the tournament for the Rocky Mountain section of the PGA. I said, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’ ”
Albertsons was headquartered in Boise. Sanders had a relationship with the company, which had sponsored the Albertsons Team Championship, a televised event that ran under Sanders’ guidance for 20 years. He got an appointment to meet with three of its chief executives — CEO Warren McCain, CFO Gary Michael and president John Carley. After Sanders made a presentation in their board room, there was silence for a moment. Then McCain spoke.
“Well Jeff, we don’t need any more advertising,” he said. “This is our hometown. We do a lot of business here. We have an Albertsons sign in front of all of our stores.”
But part of Sanders’ pitch was charity. Many of the previous events his company had promoted raised funds for charitable organizations.
“That interests us,” McCain said.
He looked at Michael and Carley.
“What do you guys think?” he asked.
They both nodded.
“I think we could give $25,000 toward charity,” McCain said. “Let’s give it a go.”
Then he looked at Sanders.
“We will sign a one-year contract with you,” McCain said. “If you get thrown in jail or embarrass us, you’re out of here.”
Sanders shook McCain’s hand and smiled.
“I won’t get thrown in jail; I won’t embarrass you,” he said. “Let’s go!”
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Total purse for the first Albertsons Boise Open in 1990 — a 54-hole event — was $100,000. Champion Ricky Smallridge earned $18,000. Boise-area charities got their $25,000. In 1996, it changed to a 72-hole format. Over the years, the purse has grown considerably, to $1.5 million in each of the last two years. This year’s champion’s check will be for $270,000.
The contribution to charity has grown considerably, too, due in part to the arrangement between Sanders’ company and the Boise-area charities. Representatives of the charities sell event tickets and keep 100 percent of the proceeds.
“We are the only tournament in pro golf that I’m aware of where 100 percent of the ticket sales go to charity,” Sanders says.
In Boise, that means benefits for 40 local charitable entities.
“The key part is the buyer of the tickets goes online and selects whatever charities they would like their money to go to,” Sanders says. “Not only does it go to charity, but to the one selected by the buyer of the tickets.”
It has been a win-win. Charities reaped $2.9 million in 2021 and more than $3 million in both 2022 and ’23. Projections are for more than $3 million again this year, says David Babcock, tournament director since 2011.
“For the Korn Ferry Tour, that is unheard of,” Babcock says.
Total contributions to charity over the years: Nearly $36 million.
Not bad considering the average charitable contribution per event on the 26-tournament Korn Ferry Tour is about $100,000.
“It is amazing,” Baldwin says. “Charity and community arts are at the heart of who we are as an organization. (Albertsons Boise Open officials) set the standard in terms of the way they are able to make the tournament something that has tremendous value to the community, to the Albertsons business as a brand and to our players with the journey they are on.
“The charitable dollar is so powerful. It gives you a sense of what these tournaments are capable of achieving if you get the right partners together. Those kind of results come through decades of hard work. Albertsons is an incredible driver of all that.”
One of the charities that has derived benefits is the Idaho Humane Society, which has received more than $250,000 in the last two years.
“The contributions are life-changing,” says Kristine Schellhaas, PR director for the Idaho Humane Society. “The fact that they get community involvement, that (ticket-buyers) choose the charities and we get 100 percent of the ticket sales? I have never heard of an organization ever doing anything like that. It’s very generous. We are blown away not only by Jeff Sanders Entertainment and the Albertsons Boise Open, but also by the community members who select our nonprofit.
“My interactions (with those connected with the tournament) have been nothing but positive. Their excitement is infectious. Everyone loves this event. They are so geared up to promote it and do all they can. It’s wonderful to see an organization care so much about nonprofits.”
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Steve Rintoul was around when Sanders was just getting started. The Australian native played at Oregon from 1985-88, so there is a Duck kinship. Rintoul, the 1988 Oregon Amateur champion, won the 1991 G.I. Joe’s Northwest Open, promoted by Sanders. Rintoul played the Ben Hogan, Nike and PGA tours and participated in the Albertsons Boise Open on a couple of occasions.
Rintoul — now vice president/rules and officiating for the PGA Tour — says he admires the job Sanders has done through the years.
“I always say that Jeff could sell snow to an eskimo,” Rintoul says. “He is a great ambassador for what he does through title sponsors, through his involvement with a community.
“When Jeff started the Albertsons Boise Open, (the Hogan) tour needed sound, strong sites that were viable and not going to be one-off tournaments, but a regular fixture. Now 35 years later, it is still one of the strongest events on the tour.”
Rintoul likens Sanders’ impact to that of a master chef.
“There are a few key ingredients that go into it,” Rintoul says. “You have to have a niche in a community that you can take a tournament to and establish a vibe within the community — make it a real community event rather than just a golf tournament. He built a solid core of volunteers. He got a reliable sponsor in Albertsons.
“Jeff was able to put all the ingredients together for a late-summer event in Boise, when the weather is fantastic, and establish a home run in that community. It’s a testament to him and to the community of Boise. We played so many tournaments that were hit-and-miss events on that tour. Boise wasn’t that. It was going to stay around because of Jeff.”
Rintoul says he now considers Sanders a good friend.
“Jeff is a ‘type A’ go-getter, a people person,” Rintoul says. “He had the vision to do things a little different.
He has never been anything but good with what he is trying to do on the tour. Jeff is out to make some money, but also to bring great events to the community of Boise.”
Sanders has been through nine CEOs since Albertsons first came on board in 1990. He has been through a lot of employees of his own, too. Sanders is the last man standing from his operational team that ran the first Boise Open 35 years ago.
“But I remember every single person who contributed along the way,” he says. “Everyone who has worked with me has a piece of this.”
Warren McCain died at age 82 in 2008.
“I know Warren is up in the sky with a great big smile on his face,” Sanders says. “In business and in life, we need people on our side who open doors for us. In golf terms, they give us a tee time. We have to hit a shot, but without a tee time, you can’t win a PGA Tour event.
“In the golf event business, you have to have a tee time. Warren and Gary and John gave Jeff Sanders a tee time.”
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Over the past decade, Sanders has put together the “four pillars” that make his golf tournaments go — food, beer and wine, music and golf. In Portland, he tied in Oregon’s craft beer and wine industry for the Winco Foods Portland Open at Pumpkin Ridge. At Silverado Golf Club, he pulled in the Napa Valley vineyards and celebrity chef Thomas Keller from the French Laundry in nearby Yountville. Safeway covered the food angle in both Napa and La Quinta.
Then there was the music side. Sanders didn’t invent the idea of bringing it to golf. The Phoenix Open, for instance, has had musical acts through the years. Sanders took the idea and fine-tuned it for his events.
“There was no musical component to our tournaments until 2014 in Boise,” Babcock says. “A local band came out and played after golf one night. That kicked the whole music thing into gear in 2016 when we took over Napa and the American Express event in La Quinta. That is when we instituted this whole program of concerts every night.”
“The music has added a tremendous amount of value and money for our charities,” Sanders says. “That’s been the big change for the model over the years.
“I love music. Always have. I got to thinking about how we could add more value for our fans. How can we better entertain them? How can we have more fun? Could we turn a driving range into a concert venue?”
Sanders investigated the music industry. He got on the phone and began calling reps of musical acts throughout the country. He found a company that could provide a big stage.
“The next thing we knew, we had this complete model — food, wine, music, golf,” Sanders says. “We offer great golf. Nobody knew Scottie Scheffler when he played Boise (in 2019), but they know him now. Everybody loves food and wine. And now, fans get to watch a concert after the golf is over.
“Come out to the course. Watch some golf. Pull over and have lunch and a beer or two. Then at night, here comes Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Idol or Joan Jett. We have brought in a number of people to come who were not diehard Golf Channel viewers. That’s why it works.”
Over the last three years, attendance has been about 10,000 daily. Over that period, the Albertsons Boise Open is the only event on the Korn Ferry Tour that has sold out days.
“We have watched our audiences grow 25 percent because we now have people coming to the golf course who had never been on a golf course,” Sanders says. “As a promoter, you want to get people to come for the right reasons to your event, or maybe for some of the wrong reasons. Just get them there. Taste it. ‘See what you think.’ That was where my head was when we started (the Golfchella) approach.”
Sanders keeps the ticket pricing reasonable — $30 for a daily pass, $85 for a season ticket. Only 500 of the latter were offered this year; they sold out on the first day of availability.
Crowds of 10,000 have filled the Hillcrest stands and lined the fairways to watch golfers do their things (courtesy Jeff Sanders Entertainment)
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Sponsors are integral to the success of the Albertsons Boise Open. This year, there are 125 major sponsors, of which 95 percent are returnees from a year ago. Then there is presenting sponsor Chevron. Chevron’s fuel rewards program is tied to Albertsons and Safeway, “and we like to synergize some of our efforts,” says Mark Matheny, Chevron’s sponsorship manager. “This happened first in Napa and now in Boise.”
Matheny says he has been working with Sanders’ companies for eight or nine years.
“It has been a great partnership,” Matheny says. “They have always delivered — and typically overdelivered — on their commitments. They are very customer-oriented. They blow it out as far as delivery of assets, hospitality and entertainment.”
Matheny has enjoyed his relationship with Sanders.
“He is a seasoned promoter and event-activation coordinator,” he says. “I don’t know how he does it. Jeff and Nicole (Sanders, Jeff’s daughter and the company’s director of sponsor benefits) pull it off every year with their team. They are detail-oriented. Very few things go unattended to. I have nothing but great things to say about them.”
Matheny says Sanders thinks outside the box in promoting his event.
"That’s not easy to do, to please everybody,” he says. “But year after year, he and his organization come up with an event that has variety. They read the audience well and provide variety with their concerts, their pro-am events, their early-in-the-week partner events. They do a great job making everybody feel welcome, a valued partner.”
This year, sponsorship partners will be invited to post-pro-am events featuring the music of Portland's Tommy Thayer (lead guitarist of KISS) and Friends on Monday and Bret Michaels (the lead singer of the band Poison) on Tuesday. On Thursday through Saturday, all ticket-holders will be treated to concerts of country-western artist Jon Pardi, Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates) and the Goo Goo Dolls.
Past artists at Sanders golf events have included the likes of the Jonas Brothers, Jon Bon Jovi, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo, Sheryl Crow, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Billy Idol, Sammy Hagar, Weezer, Train, Jimmy Buffett, Huey Lewis, Third Eye Blind, Stevie Nicks, John Legend, Dave Matthews Band, Bad Company and . Also: country acts such as Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Midland, Darius Rucker and Old Dominion.
Sheryl Crow’s band lit up the stage at Hillcrest during the Albertsons Boise Open in 2023 (courtesy Jeff Sanders Entertainment)
Tom Consolo is manager for both REO Speedwagon and Hagar.
“Nothing but praise for Jeff and his crew,” Consolo says. “Good people. We have had great shows. Great production. Good support. Good facilities. David Babcock is a fantastic guy. He does everything right for the artist and manager.”
Consolo thinks the “Golfchella” approach — blending the four pillars — only makes sense.
“In my business, the more the merrier,” he says. “Fans like to be entertained. They like to eat. They like to drink. They like to have a good time. Combine a golf experience with all those things — why not?”
Consolo says he has gotten a kick out of working with Sanders.
“Jeff is energetic and creative,” he says. “He is also very intuitive and cognizant of what a manager does, which is important. He is tuned into my world. For a manager to be able to tell an artist, ‘You should do this show,’ well, I’m sticking my neck out. Jeff has made it very reliable for me to go ahead and book it.
“He is fun to hang out with, too. He is a little flamboyant, but he has the character and personality to pull it off.”
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Jeff Sanders interviews Chan Kim, champion of the 2023 Albertsons Boise Open at Hillcrest Country Club (courtesy Jeff Sanders Entertainment)
Another thing Sanders has brought to his events is star power. When he was running the PGA Tour’s Safeway Open from 2016-20 in Napa, he brought in Phil Mickelson as the headliner. Sanders used Hall of Famer Johnny Miller — a member of Silverado — as the event’s host. Miller has also served as guest speaker on media day for the Albertsons Boise Open.
As a player and broadcaster, Miller has been involved with more pro tournaments than almost any man alive.
“Jeff is the best at running a tournament of anybody I’ve been around,” Miller says. “He is smart. He wants people to come. He is an ex-player, so he knows what the players want. He does everything the tournament needs to make the players happy. Most tournaments, the players don’t have anything to do with it after they finish playing. At his events, they stick around and listen to the music. He thinks like a player. That is a big advantage over a businessman.
“Jeff is the real deal. He has a big personality. He has a lot of confidence. He is a natural-born leader. He could have done it in a lot of different fields with his intelligence and personality.”
Gary McCord was long one of the most recognizable names in golf broadcasting. This year, McCord — who has known Sanders since their years playing the PGA Tour in the early ‘80s — served as guest speaker for media day in Boise.
“Jeff is the one who separates himself from the field as far as his ability to promote, to market and to monetize all of his golf events,” McCord says. “He could market anything. Jeff knows exactly where he wants to go and what he wants to do, and he has done it all. It’s not like he’s trying to prove anything. He’s already a standout.
“In today’s world of marketing, you are navigating a thousand different platforms. You take an event, you take a product, Jeff knows how to place it and expose it. He wrote the book on it.”
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Babcock says it is important to “keep things fresh” by providing “something new, something exciting” every year.
“We have added a couple of new skyboxes,” he says. “Last year, we added two new public venues. One is the Corona Beach Club on the 10th green. Also, the Albertsons wine bar and chill zone, an air-conditioned space serving 12 kinds of wine.
“We always change our concert lineup with slightly different types of music. Country is popular in Boise. We try to mix it up with classic rock and a little more current stuff. We have added an elevated viewing deck for concert venue for all the Hillcrest members.”
Not everything is new. In recent years, the most popular hole at Hillcrest has been the par-five, 540-yard No. 16, where people gather to get the best food and drinks with prime viewing opportunities. The hole features the “Beers Fore Birdies” program, where every time a player makes a birdie or better on the hole, half-price beers can be purchased for five minutes.
“You have to keep what’s working going, too,” Babcock says. “You learn from all the events you do, and you take the best stuff and move it forward.”
With all the activity swirling around, it is important not to forget the quality of the golf involved. Twenty-six of the 31 tournament champions on the PGA Tour this year have played in the past in the Albertsons Boise Open. All the winners of this year’s majors are Albertsons Boise Open alumni. (Scottie Scheffler tied for 11th in 2019).
The world’s No. 1 ranked player, Scottie Scheffler, finished tied for 11th in the 2019 Albertsons Northwest Open (courtesy Jeff Sanders Entertainment)
“The Korn Ferry Tour is simply an expansion of the PGA Tour,” Sanders says. “The No. 1 tour in the world is the PGA Tour. No. 2 is the Korn Ferry Tour. From Scottie to Ricky Fowler to Xander Schauffele to Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson and Bryson DeChambeau, most of the great players have played on it.”
The Albertsons Boise Open is a chance for Northwest golf fans to watch the stars of tomorrow. For a week in late August, Hillcrest Country Club is the place to be.
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For more info about the Albertsons Boise Open click here.
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