Fox Sports to Televise Future Golf Tournaments
(SPORTS TECHNOLOGY)
A new broadcast deal has recently landed the US Open and other major golf events with a new home turf on television.
21st Century Fox and its division Fox Sports have won the rights to televise United States Golf Association (USGA) tournaments, over Comcast’s NBC Sports and Walt Disney (News - Alert) Co.’s ESPN. The 12-year agreement will begin in 2015 and gives Fox Sports sole permission to televise events such as the U.S. Open.
By the terms of the deal, Fox Sports will televise 146 hours of championship golf, with a minimum of 70 hours devoted to the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open. The network also claims the rights to 10 national amateur championships, and the Curtis Cup and Walker Cup internationally; those 12 tournaments will receive 76 hours of broadcast time.
The deal sheds light on a brewing broadcast battle for major sports content. NBC Sports’ Golf Channel had branded itself as the top destination for golf fans, and broadcasted the U.S. Amateur and Women’s Amateur championships while NBC itself broadcasted the U.S. Open; losing those rights to Fox Sports is a serious blow to the NBC network. Additionally, ESPN (News - Alert) will no longer be allowed to show even early rounds of the U.S. Open, a blow to that network as well. The competition may be driven in part by the upcoming launch of Fox Sports 1, a new 24-hour sports network to be released later this month.
The USGA selected Fox Sports as its new broadcaster because of Fox’s history of reaching a younger demographic, and drawing viewers by televising in new ways. USGA president Glen Nager cited the network’s “record of innovation” in the decision, as well as an increase in rights fees compared to the USGA’s current $40 million collection.
According to Randy Freer, co-president of Fox Sports, “We like big events and the U.S. Open is a big event. It allows us to bring another group of viewers to our network.”
Fox Sports has certainly scored a hole in one with this deal, and hopefully the network will drive future broadcasts to success.
Edited by Alisen Downey
