MediaTalk | Season 4 | Ep. 13 - Masters Traditions & New Platforms: Scoring Golf’s Shifting Media Rights

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Mike Reynolds   00:00:00

Hi. I'm Mike Reynolds, senior reporter covering the media industry with the S&P Global Market Intelligence Tech, Media and Telecom news team. Welcome to MediaTalk, a podcast hosted by S&P Global, where the news and research staff issues in the evervolscape.edk recent focus has taken the podcast into college basketball March Madness MLB2026view. So now we are going to go to the world of golf. The Masters is coming up and there's a lot of changes ahead on the Link Sports. So we're back again with Scott Robson, principal analyst at Kagan Research, covers the U.S. networks and sports. And we've got research analyst, Michael Johnson, MJ, he is mainly on the U.S. sports watch. Guys, thanks for being here. I'll start with you, Scott. I know you love the masters. -- get us in the mood.

Scott Robson   00:00:49

Thanks, Mike. It's a tradition unlike any other, as I say. The Masters is rich with history and ceremony, the green jacket, the picture of scenes from Augusta National, just an amazing showcase for the sport. So this year, we've got Scotty Scheffler coming in as the likely favorite Rory will be defending his title. It should be some top-tier golf.

Mike Reynolds   00:01:09

Mike, do you play golf at all? And if so, do you aspire to be any of the gentlemen that Scott has just mentioned?

Michael Johnson   00:01:16

Hey, Mike, thanks for having me on again. I do enjoy hitting the whenever I have the chance, usually turns out to be only once or twice a year. So I'm pretty happy if I'm not wandering through the words you're taking a drop, a pond or a ck somewhere.

Mike Reynolds   00:01:32

Okay. I got you. All right. Before we dig more deeply into the masters, there's a lot going on in the rest of the world of golf. And I don't know, let's begin with Versant, which is the Comcast programming on. They spun off most of the cable networks into something called Versant, and it includes Golf Channel and USA Network also has a lot of golf. Scott, can you bring us up to speed there?

Scott Robson   00:01:53

Yes. So the spin-off of Versant from Comcast led to the creation of USA Sports, which is the overarching company that runs the sports operations on USA Network, CNBC and the Golf Channel. This obviously includes the golf media rights held by the company. Just a few weeks ago, in the beginning of March, the PGA USA Sports extended their media rights agreement through 2033 for the Ryder Cup the Women's PGA Championship and Senior PGA Championship. There's still a lot of synergies between Comcast and Versant when it comes to golf. So Peacock and the NBC broadcast network will air coverage of events and share some of those rights with the golf channel. But yes, overall, Versant has some good golf rights, and they also have some rights to other properties like Pac 12, NASCAR. Golf is definitely a key element.

Mike Reynolds   00:02:47

And Mike, Scott just mentioned a couple of key golf rights deals. they went back earlier and Golf and USA are going to be involved with the U.S. Open. They were part of the deal that NBC Sports and Comcast did with the USGA.

Michael Johnson   00:03:01

Yes, exactly. So especially with the U.S. Open, NBC and Versan are still teaming up. Starting in 2027, I believe the USGA's new 6-year deal keeps NBC as the main broadcast home for the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and the U.S. Senior Open with Peacock in the mix streaming everything that NBC airs. I don't believe financial terms were disclosed on that renewal. I'll have to go back and look. But under the current USGA deal covering the events from 2020 to 2026, I think the rights deal was over $90 million annually, I think according to our estimates. Along with that renewal, the U.S. open coverage is actually expanding a little bit. NBC's Thursday and Friday broadcast will jump from -- I think it was 3 hours to 5 with prime time slots included. On the flip side, USA Network will handle, I think it was 35 hours each year for U.S. Open and women's open as well. And then you have the golf channel also getting exclusive coverage of events like the U.S. amateur and the Walker Cup. So they're in the mix as well.

Mike Reynolds   00:04:07

Yes. Golf Channel airs from the PGA's perspective, all of the Thursday and Friday tournaments, whether the tournaments on the weekend are on NBC or CBS. It is critical to the world of golf. And in that vein, Scott, there were stories going back a few weeks ago where perhaps the PGA maybe taking a page out of the NFL's book, maybe wanted to get an equity position within the golf channels. Anything happened with that?

Scott Robson   00:04:31

Yes. Ryan Rollak, the new Head of the PGA Tour, formerly worked at the NFL. He's been pretty vocal recently about pushing for some structural changes to the tour and the media rights Matt Hong, who's the President of USA Sports, seems to be more interested in growing the USA Sports brand and acquiring properties rather than selling. So I don't think we're going to see a situation where the PGA Tour gets sliced out of the golf channel. I think we could see even more golf end up on USA Sports as a part of these conversations, Rob.

Mike Reynolds   00:05:04

I got you. Yes, Mike, Brian roll up, he's making the rounds on TV over the last week or 2, and he's talking some major changes, more tournaments, relegation for players. Can you give us a little bit of what he's talking about? And God knows, we'll see if it comes to pass. But again, in the meantime, there's a lot of interesting things you said.

Michael Johnson   00:05:21

He's definitely starting things up a bit with his recent comments. Nothing is set in stone yet, but he's talking about a revamp of the season structure. I guess you could think fewer events, but bigger ones. The plan in his mind is to run from late January to early September with 21 to 26 first-class tournaments, including majors, the players and the playoff shift that I'll discuss as well. So it's a big shift from the current schedule, which has events almost every week. There's a lot of talk about doubling the number of signature events and targeting major markets like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston since the tour doesn't play in most of those cities right now. Another interesting idea that he threw out there that we'll discuss later as well as the promotion and relegation aspect of it so that you'd have a clear pathway for players to move up based on performance like European soccer. And then for the post season, like I mentioned before, they're exploring ways to add to the drama, maybe even introducing match play for the playoffs or the tour championship, which could lead to those win or go home moments that everyone kind of loves.

Mike Reynolds   00:06:31

No, we'll see. We'll see. Scott, you I get as a long-time golf fan, is European relegation a model that works for you on the golf course?

Scott Robson   00:06:40

The overhaul, it sounds interesting to me. If the goal is to have the top players compete against each other more often, I think it would make things more interesting. It would eliminate some overlapping events, which seems like a good improvement. I think that there's been a lot of shakeups in golf with Live launching a few years ago and all of that. And so this seems like a good idea to me in terms of refocusing the PGA on big elite events and making them more interesting.

Unknown Speaker   00:07:12

Right.

Mike Reynolds   00:07:13

Scott just mentioned LIV. I think Brooks Kapscot, he's back with the PGA Tour. I think the Olive branch or maybe this, of course, their contracts are coming up on LIV, a couple of other top players were invited back. What do you make of that? And does that signaling maybe the demise or rolling back of Live?

Scott Robson   00:07:32

Yes. So I think that with Brooks in particular, he basically had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a few hundred million dollars on a 3-year contract and took advantage of it.

Mike Reynolds   00:07:47

Good work if you can get it.

Scott Robson   00:07:48

Yes, exactly. I think there are many of those 3-year deals that are coming up. Patrick Reed is another big name that's left the league. LIV has dealt with controversy over coaching players initially from the PGA. And I think there are so many golf purists that didn't really appreciate the direction was going -- there's the aspect of it being a money grab for players and overall, while they did get some good talent, the just has fewer household names.

Mike Reynolds   00:08:13

Mike, it never really caught on. There were some big names over there. It was on CW a little bit and then it went up on Fox, but it's never really taken root.

Michael Johnson   00:08:23

Yes, yes. It's not a big secret that LIV Golf hasn't exactly set the U.S. on fire with their audience numbers, even now with FOX Sports getting in the mix, giving them a much bigger platform. I think for even this year, for 2026, they've got 60 hours of coverage on Fox, which is up from last year. So from a broadcast access standpoint, they're definitely getting out there. But if I guess we're scoring Live overall, it's a mixed bag. U.S. TV ratings and buzz are pretty lukewarm, especially when they go head-to-head against the PGA tour events. The American crowd hasn't really fully bought in yet. On the flip side, internationally, it looks like they're doing pretty well. Their events in Australia, I think South Africa, basically big golf festivals. I think in Johannesburg, over 100,000 fans showed up for that event. Their strategy on the international side is clearly working in some -- but yes, I think they still have a lot of work to do in the United States if they want to keep moving forward.

Mike Reynolds   00:09:25

There's team play. It's "less stodgy, more fun than the more established golf world. But the other thing, I believe, if I have this right, it's been called Live because that's Romanumeral for 54 holes. Now is it supposed to be going to 72. And if I have this right, and bear with me, L,X,X,i, that's pretty hard to put in a programming guide. But anyway, let's go indoors guys. I mean we've got the tomorrow's golf League. It's an indoor golf circuit that was formed by Tiger, Rory McElroy and former long-time NBC Sports executive and golf channel head, Mike McCarley. Second season, Scott, can you give us a sense if people haven't watched it, what is that like?

Scott Robson   00:10:08

Yes. So the tomorrow's Golf League is basically a golf simulator on steroids. It's indoor golf, set in a stadium with video screens, but the short game is basically live. So there's actual putting going on. It's a team format with 3 on 3 alternate shot competitions for 9 holes and then 6 holes of solo play, so a 15-hole match. There's a shot clock. players are all miced up and encouraged to be charismatic and talkative during the competition. Overall, I think the goal here with this league is to attract the younger audience.

Mike Reynolds   00:10:42

Makes sense. Yes. And again, this is from a personal perspective, there seems to be a lot more indoor golf simulator venues where they also have restaurants and bars that are popping up in my neck of the woods in Westchester County, New York. I don't know if that has anything to do with TGL. But anyway, Mike, have you watched any -- your sense for what the indoor golf league is and something that you like.

Michael Johnson   00:11:03

Yes, I've caught some TGL this season. In the second season, it's definitely a different vibe. I think Tiger hasn't been in the mix, sideline with another injury. I think at the halfway point as far as viewership goes, they're averaging about 508,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, which is down from last season at this point, I think it was around 650,000 viewers on average. It's going through a little bit of a struggle the second season, but still in line with their season-long numbers from last year.

Mike Reynolds   00:11:35

And as you mentioned, Tiger in place. And I also think they went up against some college football playoffs and some other events that wasn't in the case last year. But anyway, if it's good for the guys, it's definitely going to be good for the lady Scott. There's a women's version of this coming out maybe next winter.

Scott Robson   00:11:51

Yes, yes. So the women are teaming off with the WTGL in the winter. -- matches will also be taking place in the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, and it will mirror the men's league mostly in terms of Wilson format. They've already gotten Michelle -- we West to sign on. They bg her out of retirement. So some buzz there for sure.

Mike Reynolds   00:12:12

Is ESPN picking this up? Or is this again more golf? Is it going up on golf show?

Scott Robson   00:12:17

Yes, that's a great question. The WTGL at this time does not have a finalized media rights deal yet. but they are in active negotiations. The TGL is renegotiating their deal with ESPN and could possibly bundle the leagues together, but I've been seeing that they are seeking a separate deal, which we've seen in multiple different sports recently, the women's rights getting unbundled from the men's. And it could include a variety of outlets. Certainly, Versant could scoop those up. Scripps Sports is another company that's shown some interest could end up on the CW or ION.

Mike Reynolds   00:12:54

I think Scripps is coming out with a new streaming service for sports. So that would be another outlet potentially.

Scott Robson   00:13:00

Yes, absolutely. It's a lot of these companies that have streaming services or are launching them are scrambling to acquire more sports.

Mike Reynolds   00:13:08

I got you. All right, guys. Let's get on to the subject du jour, the masters. It is the golf 20in we had some changes last year with Paramount the streamer getting in there. And I think find videos playing this year for the first time?

Michael Johnson   00:13:22

Yes, exactly. So last year, we had Paramount+ adding extra streaming hours for CBS' coverage so fans could catch the third and fourth rounds exclusively on Paramount+. I think it was from noon to 2 and then stick around for the rest of the action online. So this year, there's another big change coming in. Like you mentioned, Amazon Prime has joining the party at Augusta. They're going to be streaming 2 extra hours of live coverage for the first and second rounds, Thursday and Friday. I think it's from 1 to 3. And then that will lead into ESPN's broadcast coverage for the rest of the afternoon there with CBS still holding down the weekend with live coverage from 2 to 7 on Saturday and Sunday with Paramount+ still keeping the streaming for the early hours those days.

Mike Reynolds   00:14:09

So again, there is a lot more coverage than it used to be. I think that was also maybe part of the intrigue over the decades. You were getting a peak inside the rope, so to speak. Can they put more on? Do they want to put more on it? Or do you think Augusta National has reached kind of a saturation point now and letting multiple outlets show the matches?

Scott Robson   00:14:28

Yes. I think that we're hitting saturation levels here. ESPN has the first and second rounds of coverage on Thursday and Friday. There's a Spanish language beat on ESPN D Portes. ESPN is basically picking up where Prime leaves off, taking the 3:00 p.m. to 7:30 slot. ESPN is also going to be airing a Par 3 contest on Wednesday before the tournament T is off. There are these ultra-exclusive experiences for sale this year for those in attendance with lots of perks and access. But yes, there's also going to be inside the Masters Road to Augusta docu series that will show off the course. They're making a big deal out of it being the 90th edition.

Mike Reynolds   00:15:07

Well, that's good because I have sent in my request to become a patron and it has not yet borne fruit. So the more we can watch when it does happen, I will be ready. Anyway, the most unique thing about Augusta aside from its beauty, its tradition at all is, Mike, there's no U.S. rights fees, right?

Michael Johnson   00:15:25

Yes, exactly. There's no U.S. rights fees with the masters. And like you mentioned, the exclusivity of the masters is what makes it most appealing.

Mike Reynolds   00:15:34

So every year, you get to Augusta, it's beautiful. It might be raining, it might be windy. The birds are cherping no matter what. You're in the trees, I get it. You're in the middle of the fairway. Scott, were these guys in Augusta National using AI before anyone else roads everywhere?

Scott Robson   00:15:50

That's a good question. I don't know if they're piping in those sounds or if they're organic, but I think that they're a lovely backdrop to take a nice nap on a Monday.

Mike Reynolds   00:16:00

Okay. Scott, one thing more seriously, advertisers, again, an exclusive group in there.

Scott Robson   00:16:06

Yes, absolutely. There's only limited commercial time during the masters. And so there are a limited amount of sponsors, and it's high end in terms of who they're going after and the clientele that they're targeting here.

Mike Reynolds   00:16:22

We're almost at the end here. AMent Corner, Race Creek, -- the Azelias, Butlers Caby at the end. This is what people watch and a lot of people watch last year. Roy RemclRoy, after how many years, he finally broke through an incredible last round. Mike, what was the viewership for the last round? -- last year. really big.

Michael Johnson   00:16:43

Yes. Yes, it was huge. So the 2025 Masters with Rory McElroy, like you mentioned, finally getting his green jacket and completing the career Grand Slam had everyone kind of locked in to their TVs CBS, I think, announced that the final round averaged over 12.7 million viewers, which was a very considerable jump from 2024. And I think the peak was nearly 19.5 million viewers after 7 Eastern on the East Coast. For 2026, with the Masters expanding their coverage to Prime for the early rounds, Paramount+ keeping those hours during the weekend as well for streaming I'd probably expect the audience to stay within that 10 million to 12 million viewer range, but just depends how the Sunday drama unfolds.

Mike Reynolds   00:17:30

Scott, do you see anything that, again, that quest by Rory, is there anything else out there in the world of golf that could maybe bring in even more casual viewers than the tournament generally does?

Scott Robson   00:17:42

Yes. A close competition is key. And so some years, you have someone running away with the tournament and it's inevitable that they're going to win and viewership. You also want to see a close competition between big name players. If Sunday comes around and Scotty Schaeffler and Rory are neck and neck, it would be a ratings boom. I also think, though, a meltdown would attract a large audience. I would love to see someone blow an 8-stroke lead on the final day or something like that.

Mike Reynolds   00:18:09

There you go. The car crash aspect that works on the links as well. All right, guys, prediction time. Last year, Mike, you looked for Scotty Scheffler, the world's #1 to go back to back. is he dotting the green jacket this year?

Michael Johnson   00:18:21

Yes, I don't think so. I'm going to go with Bryson to shambo. I think he's one of the last 2 live events. So he's coming into the tournament pretty hot. So I'm going to go with him.

Mike Reynolds   00:18:30

Scott, you're a Brookskeeppta guy. Is he going to be in Butler Canon on Sunday evening.

Scott Robson   00:18:35

He's around plus 4,000, so not much of a favorite. I think I also like Bryon this year. He's always exciting to watch. And as Mike alluded to, he's been hot.

Mike Reynolds   00:18:45

Okay. All right. I'm going to go for a repeat. Although when Bryson won the U.S. open up here at Wingfoot, he out a local pizza. So I'm rooting for him as well in the background. That concludes this episode of MediaTalk. Many thanks to Scott and Mike to discuss the expanding world of golf overall and everybody favorite tournament the Masters -- thank you fellas

Michael Johnson   00:19:04

Thanks Mike.

Mike Reynolds   00:19:05

And this is Mike Reynolds. Thanks to all of you for listening. Enjoy the action from Augusta National. We'll catch up on the next installment of MediaTalk.