CHARLOTTE - The impact from the sale of Wachovia's retail banking business to Citigroup is expected to be felt on the sports landscape around the Carolinas, though it is too early to determine the overall effect.

Wachovia has had a large presence in both professional and college sports around the region and throughout the country, through a variety of sponsorship programs.

"For now, it's business as usual as far as our sponsorship commitments," said Mary Beth Navarro, a spokeswoman person for Wachovia marketing.

The bank has been the title sponsor of the Wachovia Championship PGA Tour event each May at the Quail Hollow Club, is a founding partner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats and touches a wide array of sports and franchises.

Officials said the golf tournament is expected to continue in the future with a contract that carries it through 2014.

The event is sponsored by Wachovia Corporation but is owned and operated by the Champions For Education, a not-for-profit organization.

"We have a six-year extension and we look forward to continuing the golf tournament," Mac Everett, the tournament's executive chairman and a former Wachovia executive, said Monday.

PGA Tour officials have been monitoring the Wachovia situation and expect the Charlotte stop to remain on future tour schedules.

"We fully expect the tournament in Charlotte to continue," said Jon Podany, senior vice president for business development with the PGA Tour said.

"The acquiring company would assume the contract. That's typically the way the contracts work."

It is still to be determined whether the Wachovia brand would remain on the event while officials at Citigroup and Wachovia work out the details of the transition. With a portion of the Wachovia brand remaining, it's possible the tournament name could remain.

As title sponsor of the golf tournament, which had a $6.4 million purse in 2008, Wachovia spent $3,009,000 on its entitlement fee last year. The PGA Tour pays 62 percent of the tournament purse.

Wachovia is also a founding partner of the Charlotte Bobcats and maintains a large presence with the franchise.

Bobcats president and chief operating officer Fred Whitfield said Wachovia has a long-term deal on a luxury suite in Time Warner Cable Arena and an equity partnership in the franchise. The company also has floor seats and other tickets, Whitfield said.

"Wachovia has a been a phenomenal partner of ours," Whitfield said. "They've always been very supportive of all our programs and initiatives. Until we can really assess what today's news means, we don't know how to attack it."

Wachovia also has its name on the Philadelphia arena where the NBA's 76ers and NHL's Flyers play their games.

In 2005, Wachovia signed an eight-year, $9.1.million agreement to become the first commercial sponsor inside North Carolina's Dean E. Smith Center. The bank has signage atop two large video boards in the arena.

North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour said Monday he doesn't expect the recent development "to eliminate the relationship -- whether that relationship is with Wachovia or another entity."

Will Webb, executive director of the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, said Wachovia has been among the game's biggest sponsors through the years but is uncertain what the change in ownership will mean.

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