PGA Tour Inks Nine Year TV Contracts with CBS and NBC

All that talk about how television contracts for golf were going to dry up has just blown away in the heat of summer.

Today PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus and NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus announced that they have signed agreements that extend to 2021.

“This effectively, with the last year of our current agreement next year, means that our television rights are secured and our broadcast partnerships are secured for the next 10 years,” Finchem said. “We wanted to continue with these two broadcast partners because in both the cases of CBS and NBC, they have become exceptional partners in all areas and has resulted in more value to them, more value to our players."

CBS will broadcast approximately 20 events a year, a total of 130 hours of live weekend coverage. NBC will continue to broadcast around 10 events a year with more than 75 hours of live coverage.

“For over 50 years, golf, in particular the PGA Tour, has been a really, really important part of CBS Sports. It's part of our heritage,” Sean McManus said. “We produce, I believe it's over 150 hours a year of golf programming, not just the PGA Tour, but of course the first major of the year, the Masters, and the last major of the year, the PGA Championship, so golf is really, really important to us.” 

McManus mentioned the parallel to recent deals with the PGA Championship, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship and SEC football that were also long-term deals.

“We're thrilled, as well, to extend for nine more years and to be in business for the next decade,” Mark Lazarus said. “The NBC Sports Group is obviously very bullish on the sport of golf and the PGA Tour with this extension for the NBC Television Network on behalf of our affiliate stations and their constituents and with the work we do and the long-term arrangement we have with Golf Channel, PGA Tour and the game of golf are very important to our company and to our overall business model.”

With NBC and Golf Channel both owned by Comcast, there is sure to be cross promotion on those two networks than there has ever been in the past. The deal also locks out ABC and ESPN. ABC, which owns ESPN, declined interest in golf in the last round of contracts, and apparently the PGA Tour did not forget that.

“A 10-year window now, or runway, if you will, gives our sponsors a lot of confidence in where the television side of the sport is going to be,” Finchem added. “That helps us in terms of creating value for our sponsors, maintaining continuity with our sponsors and extending our sponsors into the future.” 

He added that it also allows the PGA Tour to focus on strategic plans for the growth of the organization and the sport of golf for the future without the distraction of renegotiating contracts every few years.

In addition to telecasts, there will also be additional programming or simulcasting in the digital world through the various dot coms including cbssports.com, nbcsports.com and golfchannel.com as well as pgatour.com. 

The PGA Tour does not announce financial ramifications of television contracts, but Finchem outlined the trend. “Our rights are increasing,” he said.

He indicated that the increases will provide several benefits to the PGA Tour, which is basically the organization of touring professionals. It will help the player retirement program. It will allow the Tour to create new digital platforms to enhance fan relationships. It will provide more charity dollars which has been a driving mission of the PGA Tour since former commissioner Deane Beman converted the organization from a for profit company to a non-profit.

“I think at this point we then can say without question that barring some significant economic downturn that we will reach the $2 billion mark of charitable giving in 2014,” Finchem added. “I think I can say with some confidence that we could reach the $3 billion level before the end of these agreements in 2021.”

Finchem also gave detail on golf viewers: 

• 165 million Americans watched golf in 2011.  
• 81 million Americans are watch 10 or more events a year.

“That fanbase a huge buying power, and if you measure it against any other sports fanbase, NFL, MLB, NASCAR, you name it, we rank No. 1 in terms of the appetite for digital applications, the interest in digital applications, and the historical ability to pay for digital applications,” Finchem added. 

Golf has long had a well-heeled, devoted base, and despite the economy, those viewers have not disappeared. 

“The underpinning and the sponsorship support that the Tour provides both with their—the tournament sponsors and their official partners—is unique in sports,” NBC’s Lazarus added about the new contract. “I think I can say with some certainty that it'll be profitable in each of the nine years.” 

McManus agreed.

In terms of scheduling, Finchem does not see major changes in the next three to five years with the exception of the Olympics in 2016. He said that would impact the schedule “a little bit” every four years.

In terms of the digital age, there may be platforms that have yet to be invented.

“None of us know what all the multimedia opportunities are going to be three years from now, much less nine years from now,”McManus added. “The way these deals are structured between the three parties, CBS, NBC and the PGA Tour, we're going to explore them together, and if there's a benefit to doing featured groups or more simulcasting, whatever it might be, all of us share in that upside and all of us are involved in the creative process.”

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.