Latest news with #DePaoli
USA Today
6 hours ago
- Business
- USA Today
RBC agrees to multi-year deal to remain title sponsor of PGA Tour's Heritage, Canadian Open
The Royal Bank of Canada pledged its fealty to the PGA Tour on Monday. RBC officially re-upped as title sponsor for multi-year deals to remain on the marquee for the RBC Canadian Open and the RBC Heritage, in a deal announced via a PGA Tour release. As ScoreGolf's Jason Logan put it, the company's 'pledge to the PGA Tour puts to rest any angst or questions regarding the bank's commitment to the sport, particularly in (Canada) given the enormity of its involvement.' RBC assumed title sponsorship of the Canadian Open in 2008 and in 2011 it rescued the popular Heritage Classic on Hilton Head Island, S.C. It renewed those deals by six years in 2016 and planned to do the same again during the 2022 RBC Canadian Open at Toronto's St. George's Golf and Country Club. But then LIV Golf came along and launched the same week. RBC hit the pause button, sticking with the Tour via a series of one-year sponsorship deals while it evaluated how the Tour dealt with its existential threat. Mary DePaoli, chief marketing officer for RBC, speaking at a press conference at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open media day, made her frustration known with a damning analogy. 'It's like they're flying the plane and building it at the same time,' she said. She added: 'We are all watching the PGA Tour, right now, try to sort through a business model that has been under some significant strain, and has still not fully resolved itself. And that's still TBD. So, it's requiring a lot of patience.' That patience has been rewarded. The Tour's TV ratings have rebounded this season after declining the previous year and fan engagement is trending in the right direction. 'We have seen the Tour listening to the players and fans and then incorporate what they want to see and we felt that was very positive and we are seeing it in the results,' said DePaoli in an exclusive interview with ScoreGolf. The RBC Heritage viewership numbers surged 62 percent on the weekend over 2024, while, the RBC Canadian Open jumped 18 percent according to the Sports Business Journal. DePaoli told ScoreGolf that both tournaments also enjoyed increases in attendance and merchandise and concession sales. 'We wanted to ensure that the next chapter of the PGA Tour's business model would focus on things that are important to RBC,' DePaoli said to ScoreGolf on Monday. 'And that is enhancing the game in North America, ensuring audiences remain engaged and continue to grow, strong sponsorship commitments from top global brands and high player engagement. We believe the PGA Tour has the momentum and future vision to deliver on all those things.' Despite the continued uncertainty in the men's professional game, RBC joins AT&T, 3M, John Deere and Valspar among title sponsors that have re-upped for multiple years in 2025. 'It has been a very effective sponsorship for RBC over the last decade-and-a-half,' she said. 'It has gone from strength to strength, and with the growth in audiences and participation in the sport and the enhancements the PGA Tour has made by listening to its players and fans, we are proud to continue our focus on golf in the future.'
CBS News
23-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
For over a century, a U.S.-Canada cross-border library used a single entrance. Now, the U.S. says Canadians must build their own.
On Monday, a century-old tradition that allowed Canadians and Americans to freely access the front entrance of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House that straddles Vermont and Quebec will come to an end. Canadian members used to walk down the approximately 70 feet of American sidewalk with their identifying documents, such as a passport or license, and enter through the library's main entrance, which sits on the Vermont side. But last week, U.S. authorities said that this easy access will end, with most Canadians needing to enter through a separate entrance on Canada's side. "It's been in effect for 104 years, and suddenly, with this new administration, it's not," said Sonia De Paoli, 71, a Canadian who moved to the area from Montreal after she retired. De Paoli joined the library's board of trustees — consisting of four Americans and three Canadians — a few years ago to help this "unique" private organization. Beginning Monday, Canadians with proof of library membership will still be able to use the front entrance on the Vermont side, but nonmembers will need to enter through the Canadian side, the library said. But by Oct. 1, all Canadians, including members, will be required to use the entrance on Canada's side — although once inside the library Canadians and Americans can still freely intermingle. The private library was founded in 1901 between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, to encourage cooperation between the border towns. The historic building, which also houses a 400-seat opera house, has thick tape running throughout its interior, denoting where the U.S. border ends and the Canadian one begins. De Paoli said the U.S. government's unilateral decision to shut Canadians' access to the front door has left the community not feeling very good. She said some members were writing to the library and saying, "Why do we have to use the back door? We've been doing this forever, why do we have to do this?" A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Reuters that the U.S. decision was in response to drug trafficking . "Drug traffickers and smugglers were exploiting the fact that Canadians could use the U.S. entrance without going through customs. We are ending such exploitation by criminals and protecting Americans," the statement said. CBS News has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for further information on numbers relating to drug trafficking and smuggling near the library. A CBP spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press that it had implemented the move to restrict Canadians from the Vermont entrance. De Paoli said in the years since she'd lived in the Stanstead area, the "world had changed" very much, but library trustees and staff had regular meetings with CBP and Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police to ensure knowledge of any new border directives. There haven't been any custom or trafficking incidents involving library visitors of which the trustees have been aware, De Paoli said. And she noted they were even able to keep access to the front entrance open for both nations during World War I and World War II. "We do love our neighbors," said De Paoli, adding that American library members are just as upset and frustrated by the news as their Canadian counterparts. The library now needs to build out the new Canadian entrance to code — a blow to a not-for-profit organization that has existed on a limited endowment since 1908. Membership is free, says De Paoli, as are many of the other events it hosts for the rural communities surrounding the historic building. Other times, they will charge a few dollars to attend the opera or a local film festival. "For our film festivals, tickets are $5. We charge $1 for popcorn," De Paoli said, adding the surrounding communities are mostly rural farming areas. To build out the Canadian entrance, the Haskell has to create a parking lot with reduced mobility spots, install reduced mobility access ramps and entrances, and build another proper building entrance to the facility. The library will comply with the new directive, but said in a statement, "We refuse to let a border divide what history has built together." Costs are expected to top 100,000 Canadian dollars, De Paoli said. So far, they've raised more than half the funds through a GoFundMe page, and De Paoli said she has "been in tears seeing donations from the communities of $5, $10, $50 from people who don't have much money but are doing it because they care."
