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

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?