Jay Monahan Rolled Out The New TV Deal As Markets Crashed, And It Went About As Well As You'd Expect

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Presumably somewhere down in Ponte Vedra Beach this weekend, the good folks discussed whether Commissioner Jay Monahan should make the rounds promoting the next PGA Tour media deal.

With cratering markets, major event cancellations and the world trying to squash a pandemic, Monahan forged ahead with a CNBC Squawk Box appearance. And as any upright, non-comatose adult might have predicted, hosts Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin could not hide their disdain for having to conduct the interview while anticipating the worst market day in a decade.

It was tough to pinpoint the the most awkward moment, but…

Was it Kernen’s apologetic intro asking viewers to pretend to go back in time a few weeks to hear about such a thing?

Quick interrupting when Monahan noted the size of golf course properties (“3-400 acres”) implying a coronavirus light space, and Monahan answering, “we’ve stood up a business around this subject and we did so several weeks ago. And we have leaders within our company that are pouring themselves into this.”

Or was it Sorkin wanting to know answers to about 15 tough questions to just make the whole interview go away?

CNBC’s social team did not push this one out on the Squawk Box Twitter feed for all in public relations circles to learn how the cancellation button is your friend. But the interview was posted on YouTube:

PGA Tour, LPGA Tour Media Deal Becomes Official: CBS, NBC, Golf Channel Return, ESPN+ To Take PGA Tour Live

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It’s rare to get a public relations opening like Monday, March 9th. It’s not like the Sunday prior the futures were setting off circuit-breakers, or the price of oil was cratering, or the world was staring down a pandemic.

In the meantime, Ron Green Jr. has most of the next PGA Tour media deal details in this Global Golf Post story.

While the GGP story validates previous reporting (links below), Green confirms the new PGA Tour media deal is for 9 years. He says dollar figures are undisclosed and beginning in 2022, NBC and CBS will alternate early coverage of the FedExCup playoff events. That last bit of news is important to no one.

The LPGA Tour, which turned over its rights deal negotiating to the PGA Tour, picks up some more weekend network finishes and Golf Channel will show more of the Symetra Tour.

More will be revealed Monday of 2020 Players week, with Commissioner Jay Monahan scheduled to make the rounds unless there is bigger news than the new media deal—I know, blasphemy.

Until then, previous posts:

The ESPN+ role in PGA Tour Live reported by AP.

Tour operation of TV compounds/world feed.

The biggie first reported by Sports Business Daily: CBS/NBC/Golf Channel returning.

NASCAR, XFL Stealing Eyeballs? 2020 Honda Classic Ratings Down

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NASCAR’s Auto Club 400’s 2.9 Nielsen average easily beat out the Honda Classic won by Sunjae Im. According to Showbuzzdaily.com, the 2020 Honda on NBC drew a 1.67 overnight rating, down nearly 30% from last year’s 2.4, also on NBC.

The slide continues a tough start to 2020 for golf ratings, which have now seen ten straight broadcast television windows down. Most recently, the WGC Mexico City saw weekend ratings drop 37% Saturday and 18% Sunday despite an excellent leaderboard and finish.

Possible influences? NASCAR’s renaissance built on improving race intrigue and even the XFL’s sliding ratings still make a dent. (Sports Media Watch’s Paulsen on the XFL’s ratings).

The fall is noticeable because both events featured compelling final rounds and did not feature Tiger Woods to influence ratings.

Other notes:

-Saturday’s third round 1.17 rating on NBC was down from a 1.4 (2.1 million avg viewers).

-Sunday lead-in coverage on Golf Channel fell from a .8 in 2019 to a .47 in 2020

Bevacqua: Golf Channel Move From Orlando Long In The Making

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NBC Sports President Pete Bevacqua talked to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand about Golf Channel’s move to Stamford, Connecticut. He said the move “started well before” he began with NBC in September 2018.

“It’s the continued evolution of the media landscape and something that started well before I got here if you think about how we brought all the different components of NBC Sports primarily under one roof in Stamford. This was the next step in that process.” NBC Sports HQ moved from Manhattan to Connecticut in 2013.

Bevacqua also said the move is intended to improve the final product with production teams interacting with NBC Sports Network executives.

“Nothing can take the place of talented people interacting with one another. When you can have the great people of the Golf Channel interacting with the Sam Floods of the world and the Fred Gaudellis and the Rob Hylands and all the people that bring our other sports alive, we’re all going to be better. We’re all going to be more creative.”

THATgate: Azinger Regrets His Grammar, Lee Westwood Comments

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Since we have enough problems in this world, it appears we can cross out the impending Azinger v. Europe summer long brouhaha.

Doug Ferguson talked to Paul Azinger following last Sunday’s bold commentary, and it appears the NBC announcer brought a mop along to mop after his first unsuccessful attempt.

“A lot of pressure here,” Azinger said on the broadcast. “You're trying to prove to everybody that you've got what it takes. These guys know, you can win all you want on that European Tour or in the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA Tour.”

That European Tour.

“Bad grammar,” Azinger said Monday. “If I had said ‘the’ European Tour, the whole thing would have been different.”

Maybe.

Either way, that was his lone regret.

It was easy to assume this was just an unfortunate word choice. But it was the take on Lee Westwood, with 41 worldwide wins, that he says were not his intention.

Westwood isn't on that list, but with 41 wins around the world across four decades, his record speaks for itself. Azinger was bothered only by the notion that Westwood took his comments as being disrespectful of his career.

“I would never do that,” Azinger said.

The Daily Mail’s Derek Lawrenson argued that Azinger’s comments hit close to home for a reason: he was correct. Still Lawrenson described the Azinger episode this way:

How insular can you get, topped off by the sneering ‘that’ for good measure. Cue predictable outrage all over Europe, from players such as Ian Poulter to fans and critics, with Westwood summing it up deliciously on Twitter: ‘Oh dear, oh dear.’

At least Azinger was being true to form. As the man who said Francesco Molinari was ‘facing the biggest putt of his career’ when trying to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year, eight months after the Italian had won the Open and five months after claiming five points out of five at the Ryder Cup, we shouldn’t be too surprised.

McCord On Recent CBS Broadcasts: "I have never seen anything quite as negative...It’s not a good time."

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Note the cap.

Note the cap.

Longtime CBS golf broadcaster and pretty-good golfers, too, Gary McCord sat down to talk with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz of the Subpar podcast.

It’s a terrific listen, but McCord’s comments on the state of CBS golf broadcasts jumped out after Peter Kostis’ recent podcast statements.

“I’m not part of it. You can kind of react to it from a position I have never had before for a long, long time. It just so happens that my former network is not doing as well as they would like with the golf broadcast at this point. I have never seen anything quite as negative as I’ve seen coming out of everywhere about what’s going on, so I have a lot of empathy. Those are my friends. I don’t want to see them fail, but they are getting blasted. It’s not a good time.”

If reports are true of—wild guess here, $8 billion 10-year TV deal announcement next week that includes CBS—they’ll have 10 years to figure it out.

On the overall state of “analysis” found on PGA Tour broadcasts of late, McCord says a lovefest is making for awful TV.

“If you go, ‘Wow, that was a great shot, and let’s go to Gary.’ ‘Oh, that was a wonderful shot, and how about that one? That was fantastic.’ Are you kidding me? You can’t have that,” McCord said. “You gotta have this ridicule. Some guys gotta jack it up and another guy has to break and you got to get those people together and get your team together and do it. And that’s what we are lacking at this point in my humble opinion.”

The full podcast:

Azinger Tries To Walk Back European Tour Slight And Sticks To His PGA Tour Partiality

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Paul Azinger’s on camera comments regarding the value of a PGA Tour win over worldwide play in Europe did not go over well with international players. The mix of the condescending remarks (on-camera) and referencing “that” tour and “all that” international golf, Azinger certainly sounded more demeaning than likely intended. Then again his walk back (bottom of this post) suggests he’s holding his ground. I love Ryder Cup years!

Here is the clip where Azinger is explaining why getting a PGA Tour win would mean so much to Tommy Fleetwood, third round leader of the 2020 Honda Classic:

Prominent players and Ryder Cuppers chimed in:

Besides the European’s recent Ryder Cup dominance, the comment also disregarded field strength in Europe, particularly in weeks when Fleetwood has won:

JuliaKate Culpepper at Golfweek received this attempt at calming the waters and Azinger isn’t budging.

Azinger told Golfweek he and Poulter exchanged multiple text messages Sunday night.

“I wasn’t trying to be malicious. I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone,” Azinger told Golfweek. “But professional golfers choke for two things: cash and prestige. And the PGA Tour has the most of both.”

The man loves his PGA Tour!

Let the Ryder Cup bickering begin!

Another Zany Honda Classic: Sungjae Im Survives For First Win, Fleetwood Says He Was Not Affected By Yelling Fan

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Say what you want about the Bear Trap—aka “The Trap”, as Dan Hicks called it this year, causing all sorts of drinking game disputes—the closing stretch at PGA National delivered again.

Sungjae Im, the 21-year-old South Korean and Korn Ferry Tour grad who plays anywhere they let him, as GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker reports from Palm Beach Gardens, survived after a stellar 18th hole up-and-down to edge Mackenzie Hughes, a 100-1 shot to start the day.

And hey, this Presidents Cup bump is a thing. Handicap accordingly in the coming weeks!

Im’s win came at the expense of a long-awaited Tommy Fleetwood PGA Tour victory that will have to wait another week at least after he unsuccessfully went for the 18th in two.

After the round, Fleetwood and caddie Ian Finnish said they did not hear the fan so clearly caught by NBC’s award-winning sound, reports Wacker:

NBC did not address whether the screamer could be heard by Fleetwood even as social media erupted upon hearing what seemed like potentially shot-altering noise. Either way, such fan “interaction” is certainly something to watch given the PGA Tour’s anticipated push into legalized gambling and the potential for competitive interference.

Here are the round four highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment:

Feherty On Patrick Reed: "'There is no God' was the first thing I said after he'd won last week."

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Following last week’s Patrick Reed win at the WGC Mexico, SI.com’s Ryan Asselta talked to David Feherty as he launches season ten of Feherty.

It’s a lively chat about the show and several players, but his Reed remarks stand out after working the WGC for NBC:

DF: Jesus. You can put that in there actually. Just Jesus. I mean, I don't even know what to say. It's just, it's going to follow him for the rest of his life.

SI: Obviously we know about the rules violation at the Hero in the Bahamas. We know how he handled it, claiming no wrongdoing. He was called out by Koepka last week and Peter Kostis among others. And what does he do? He goes and wins in Mexico. Is Patrick Reed the most polarizing figure in the game of golf today?

DF: I'm not even sure that he's polarizing. I'm not sure there's too many people on the other side, you know what I mean? I mean, "there is no God" was the first thing I said after he'd won last week. There is no God, you know, that's proof of it right there. Amazing. I mean, he is amazing. He's Captain Oblivious, just can let everything run off his back. I've never seen anything like it.

"Geographic consolidation": Golf Channel Relocating To Stamford In The Next Year

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Founded in Orlando by Joe Gibbs and Arnold Palmer in 1995, Golf Channel parent company NBC Sports has reportedly decided to move operations to Stamford, Connecticut over the next year:

A Golf Channel spokesman issued this statement:

“Our aim is to be as transparent as possible with our employees, therefore as we began this process we informed teams that some of our media operations will be transitioning to new locations over the next year or more. Geographic consolidation is a growing and sensible trend across the media industry, and as our business continues to evolve, we’ll continue to look for ways to operate as effectively as possible to deliver world-class coverage to our loyal audiences.”

Ratings: NASCAR, NBA, XFL Take A Chunk Out Of Tigerless WGC Mexico

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Competing for eyeballs against a suddenly resurgent NASCAR, Lakers-Celtics on ABC and the mystery that is the XFL (ESPN), not even NBC’s very enjoyable coverage of a compelling leaderboard could help the WGC Mexico Championship’s ratings.

Throw in Tiger playing this event in 2019, and the 2020 ratings were down significantly across the board according to ShowBuzzDaily’s Mitch Metcalf. This continues a trend from the West Coast swing where CBS numbers were well down according to SportsMediaWatch.com.

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2019’s numbers:

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Paulsen at SportsMediaWatch.com analyzed the final numbers this way:

Final round coverage of the PGA Tour/WGC-Mexico Championship averaged a 1.8 rating and 2.79 million viewers on NBC last Sunday, marking the lowest rating and viewership for the event — previously held in Doral, Fla. — since it debuted in 2007.

Ratings and viewership fell 18% from last year, when Tiger Woods was in the field (2.2, 3.42M) and 31% and 29% respectively from 2018 (2.6, 3.93M).

Third round action declined 37% in ratings (to 1.2) and 40% in viewership (to 1.72M). Eight straight PGA Tour windows on broadcast have declined.

Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel averaged a 0.44 (-46%) and 709,000 (-43%) on Saturday and a 0.37 (-44%) and 540,000 (-44%) on Sunday.

XFL Effect? Sunday's 2020 Genesis Ratings Plunge On CBS

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Comparing the 2019 Genesis Open with the 2020 Genesis Invitational’s numbers, it appears the golf audience tuned in like normal on Golf Channel and for Saturday’s CBS broadcast.

But Sunday’s final round featuring a strong leaderboard and compelling finish drew a 2.03 overnight according to ShowBuzzDaily.com, down significantly over 2019’s 3.0.

The loss of essentially 1.3 million 18-49 year olds is most likely attributable to a new entry on the sports TV landscape this year: XFL football. The Genesis ran up against a Dallas-LA game on ABC that drew a 1.52 overnight rating and just under a million 18-49 year olds.

The 2019 Genesis drew a 1.0 Saturday when a rain delay eliminated live golf, so 2020’s 1.47 featuring live action understandably saw a huge uptick. Golf Channel’s coverage also remained largely steady, signaling that Sunday’s Genesis killer was XFL football and an absence of Tiger Woods contending.

Speaking of football, the NFL has unveiled a planned playoff expansion starting in 2021, with a 17-game season in 2022. Both would have significant impacts on early season PGA Tour golf.

Kostis: "The PGA Tour doesn't give a rat’s ass about the quality of the telecast. They don’t care about the quality of the viewer experience."

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Longtime CBS golf announcer Peter Kostis has joined Chris Solomon on this week’s No Laying Up podcast (embed below). He makes several frank statements about the PGA Tour’s role in his firing, the quality of broadcasts and the future when they gain more control over production. (I finally had to pause though I hear the rest on Patrick Reed is also going to be blog worthy tomorrow).

As always I urge you to listen, but for the sake of documentation, quotes as I jotted them down during this stunning listen.

—On his non-renewal last fall from CBS. “I don’t think there was a plan in place. They had not signed other announcers. prior to not renewing Gary’s and my option years. So I don’t think there was a plan in place.”

—On who drove his non-renewal: “I honestly think, and this is my opinion, and it’s been corroborated by some anonymous inside sources, that media likes to use these days, that it was the tour that told CBS to get younger, I think the Tour had an issue with me not being a cheerleader, I think they had an issue with Gary sometimes…

He goes on to tell a story about a classic McCord quip regarding the silliness of golf that was not comprehended by the folks in Tour HQ.

Then issues this: “They wanted the announce crew to get younger, so the younger players could better relate to the players and vice versa. I don’t agree with that in any way, shape or form.”

—On his call with CBS Sports head Sean McManus: “I asked Sean McManus, why he was doing it, was it something I did or didn’t do. He said ‘Things had gotten a bit stale and we wanted to go in a new direction.’ He denies it now but that was the exact quote and that’s what he told Gary as well.”

—Majors are off-limits. Kostis tells of interview a player on his first win, and noting that it came with two years of job security and a Masters invitation. “I got a call the next day from New York, they had gotten a call from the Commissioner, that he had won 500 FedExCup points and didn’t want me talking about majors.” He then mentions he did it again in another interview. “I did it again, because they told me not to do it, if you notice toward the middle of last year, I stopped doing interviews with the winners. They shifted it over to Amanda.
It was me being told I wasn’t listening correctly.”

—On where things are headed. “The Tour wants more control over what’s being said. I think they want more cheerleaders on the telecasts. More people that are going to “promote the Tour’s product,” you know which, we’re bridging into the stuff that people are really upset about: the quality of the telecast: I’ll say this, from the bottom of my heart, I believe this, no one in management of a network, or leadership of the PGA Tour, give’s a rat’s ass about the quality of the telecast. They don’t care about the quality of the viewer experience. They don’t care about anything other than promotion.”

—”When the Tour keeps up and upping the rights fees, CBS has to get the money back somehow, hence, a gajilion commercials. The Tour goes to the Korn Ferry Tour, we’re going to give you pops, FedEx ex number of times…

“So they use the telecast to pay off, if you will, people who bring money into the tour. It clutters up the telecast to no end.”

And…

”They are interested in the marketing of the product, not the quality of the product.”

—On the next model. “The word on the street, there is not going to be a CBS compound, NBC compound, but an Olympics world feed” and then later says, “Imagine what’s going to have to happen on the telecast…I’m not one feeling good about the tour taking over more control.”

—On Rights fee influences. “As long as the cost of the rights keep going up and up and up, you’re going to see less and less golf.” And he said, “everything’s driven by cash.”

—$25 Million!? “Rumors that the FedExCup winner is going to get $25 million.”

—Gambling. “Everything is going to revolve around gambling” in the PGA Tour’s future models for revenue growth.

—One monitor vs. two. Kostis explains how it works for CBS vs. NBC announcers and suggests it’s “disingenuous” of NBC announcers who call shots on tape as if they are seeing them live.

A Rough CBS Weekend Should Prompt Questions About Next TV Deal Parameters

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Presumably in the coming weeks we’ll finally learn the outcome of the PGA Tour’s negotiations with CBS, NBC, Golf Channel and ESPN+.

Maybe at the Players Championship we’ll learn—just throwing out a number here—that they’re going to get paid $8 billion over ten years. Players will swoon, north Florida BMW dealers will take extra special orders and second homes will be purchased by bonus-receiving executives.

But a very simple question will need to be addressed by Commissioner Jay Monahan: how will taking more money from networks make golf on television better? What guarantees will there be to improve the “product”? Or, to put it B-speak parlance, how will this deal “grow the game” with better productions?

The question is a logical one given that we suffered through another dreadful CBS presentation of the Genesis Invitational. The reactions both public and privately ranged from disgust to outright shock at the inability of the network to tell the PGA Tour story with any coherence.

CBS entered the season still fresh off of buyouts that depleted their team, several new announcers and the usual array of promotional excess interfering with the ability to show a triple bogey by the world No. 1 when he’s contending. Or a topped tee shot by the co-leader only shown after social media griping. Things did not improve when Frank Nobilo questioned a story about the moment and was met by commenters with nearly unanimous disdain for the broadcast.

I was on course most of the day so only saw the Golf Channel replay Monday. What I saw was sad. There was a lack of storytelling, weird mistakes and even more bizarre decisions to ignore several contenders. Then there was the absence of technology to explain why the course was a factor. A telestrator in front of Nick Faldo, anyone?

CBS also devoted a crew to Tiger’s dead-last play on the front nine and didn’t even provide basic audio to give a sense of the atmosphere. The entire thing could not have been flatter or more clearly showing signs of missing all of the institutional crew knowledge that went out the door last year.

And this, for a tournament hosted by Tiger Woods enjoying “elevated status” and dream-sponsor in Genesis.

If you want more, Ryan Ballengee detailed many of the issues here.

No Laying Up’s podcast this week also highlighted many of the problems and then some.

And not to be outdone, the Shotgun Start guys also chimed in at the continued issues doing the basics.

I could go on about how the Genesis CEO’s ill-fitting shirt went live before a too-tight camera shot for a painful 3:17, or point out that it’s too soon to be showing helicopters flying around LA, and just go on and on. But it turns out these are not questions for me to raise.

These are questions for the PGA Tour to answer when announcing a ten year and $8 billion at the Players, hypothetically.

Will there be money left over to invest in a broadcast and a business model that allows networks to show golf instead of merely coming on air to share an excess of commercials and promos interspersed with golf shots?

Does the new deal demonstrate any care for the viewer hoping to savor great golf on a fabulous venue, perhaps even with telecast elements that enhance the experience? Or will everything just look like the what we have now to help pay for a bump in the Bermuda Championship’s purse?

Varner's Not-Intentional Lay-Up At 10: To Show Or Not To Show A Bad Shot?

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Harold Varner (purple shirt) just off Riviera’s 10th tee short of the first fairway bunker.

Harold Varner (purple shirt) just off Riviera’s 10th tee short of the first fairway bunker.

Leading the Genesis Invitational at the time, Harold Varner hit an unfortunate 129-yard tee shot at Riviera’s 10th and ultimately made double bogey. Yet CBS did not show the shot for almost an hour. (Other issues with the broadcast were noted here by Joel Beall at GolfDigest.com.)

Not until the 14th hole and after much social media griping did CBS show the shot as Varner was playing the 14th hole.

After the round, Varner explained what happened:

Q. Did your foot slip at all?

HAROLD VARNER III: I don't know, I just know I missed it, I missed the ball. I couldn't tell you what exactly happened. I just know that I hit the dirt before the ball. I've actually done it before, which is funny enough. I did it in Korea, same exact thing, same exact wind.

Q. Were you playing off the deck before then, too?
HAROLD VARNER III: No, I teed that up. Yeah, I wish I would have hit it off the deck.

Q. And then after that now you've got to regroup and try to approach the hole from a different way, right?

HAROLD VARNER III: Yeah, I was screwed pretty much. Yeah, it's not like you can just hit the next one on the green and be like, all right, salvage it. Yeah, it's just funny, I'm looking at the hole right now as we're talking about it. It is what it is. There's nothing I can really do about it. I just wish I would have rebounded a little bit better. That's what I kind of, you know, alluded to all week is just how you respond to it.

No one wants to pick on Varner or revel in his horrendous shot. But not showing it until after a social media storm suggests that it may have been intentionally kept off-air.

At last year’s Genesis, a final round 8 by Jordan Spieth at the same hole was also not shown.

Naturally, CBS has a truckload of promos to show and other obligations as the round proceeds, but one of the three leaders hitting a disastrous tee shot by PGA Tour standards, should have been a focal point of the broadcast.

And while social media can get carried away with telecast griping, the outrage likely stems in part from a sense that network broadcasts and announcers increasingly are feeling pressure to put players only in the best light.

Had Varner made a miraculous par, perhaps the tee shot might have been shown sooner than the 14th hole. Either way, the overall sense of a State television vibe will only make fans less interested in watching PGA Tour golf, even when the player does something all golfers can relate to.

**This just in to Newscenter 7 with the video:

CBS’s Frank Nobilo took to Twitter to defend the coverage.