PGA Tour Strikes Nine-Year Golf Deal With NBC, CBS & ESPN+

Peter White
·3 min read

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The PGA Golf Tour has struck a nine-year broadcasting deal with CBS and NBC maintaining TV tee times and ESPN scoring digital rights.

The agreement will see CBS and NBC air most of the FedExCup tournaments, with CBS averaging 19 events and NBC eight events each season through the life of the agreements.

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One network will televise all three FedExCup Playoffs events each year, starting with NBC in 2022 and generally alternating with CBS. NBC Sports Group will continue as the tour’s cable partner with the Golf Channel airing early-round coverage and early weekend coverage of every FedExCup event each season, along with PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour.

Separately, for the first time, the tour’s digital rights were negotiated concurrently with the linear offering and will air on ESPN+. PGA Tour Live, its subscription video service that launched in 2015, will live exclusively on the Disney-owned service from 2022. It will be expanded to include multiple live content channels nearly every week of the FedExCup season.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said the nine-year deal will allow it to “significantly” increase player earnings grow its fanbase.

“Following a comprehensive process of studying the market, talking to all interested parties and analyzing our various options, we’re excited to announce that we have entered into new agreements with our existing partners ViacomCBS and Comcast/NBC Sports Group, while establishing a new long-term relationship with Disney and ESPN+,” he added. “We were extremely pleased with the interest we received from the market – both with incumbents and other media companies – and are excited that our current partners shared our vision for the future, and we are equally excited to be back in business with Disney and ESPN+. These new deals will be a major win for our fans, bringing an elevated commitment from all three partners to help us expand and innovate our content and its delivery.”

“We’re excited to extend NBC Sports’ historic partnership with the PGA Tour as its foundational media partner. We will continue to utilize our extensive platforms to showcase golf with unparalleled live tournament coverage, comprehensive news and high-quality content. Golf is a part of NBCUniversal’s DNA across our broadcast, cable, streaming and digital properties – nowhere more so than Golf Channel,” said Pete Bevacqua, President, NBC Sports Group.

“Extending our successful long-standing relationship with the PGA Tour was a top priority, and we are thrilled to add nine more years to this terrific partnership,” said Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports. “As the PGA Tour’s primary broadcast network, we are excited to showcase over two-thirds of all broadcast network coverage of the PGA Tour, expand our schedule with all three FedExCup Playoffs events in alternate years, and to increase our use of PGA Tour content across all CBS Sports platforms, with even more expansive content exclusivity.”

Jimmy Pitaro, President, ESPN and co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks added, “We are looking forward to working with the PGA Tour to bring current and future golf fans the next generation of TOUR coverage. ESPN+ will offer golf fans unprecedented access and storytelling at an incredible value on the industry’s leading sports streaming platform.”

Evolution Media Capital, a division of CAA, served as the media advisor to PGA Tour.

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