What everyone loves about the Northeast Chems Association (NECA) Sports Outing is that it is usually three days out of the office playing golf in the sunshine on the glorious rolling greens of the luxury Seaview Marriott hotel at Absecon on the New Jersey coast close to Ocean City.Regular chemical golfers describe it as their favourite week of the year, better even than the week-long festivities of NECA's Winter Meeting in New York. And for the non-golfers there's the tennis tournament, and for the less lively a nice rest in the spa before adjourning to the Oval Room for cocktails.
Only this year the industry's keen golfers are finding it harder than ever to justify the time out of the office for the event which is nominally on Thursday 21 May. An early headcount suggests that the total number of attendees will be around 150, down from the usual 300 of recent years, according to one long-time member.
The reasons for the drop are simple - the Houston contingent can't justify the expense or the time, and "lots of companies don't exist in chemicals any more - Rohm and Haas, Du Pont," the member added.
And the cost is nothing to sneeze at, even with the fee being reduced this year and a "barbecue dinner (in the afternoon) at the conclusion of golf at the outdoor Pavilion rather than the traditional evening banquet". Members calculate that with the golf and dinner on Thursday 21 May at $295, plus one night at the Seaview Marriott ($169/night NECA rate), it's $464 a head, and that's without staying around for the poker and the peripheral events.
Golf photos (mine and friends') from bygone days, hotel photo from Marriott.
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