Six of Eight Premier TOUR Events Including TOUR Championship, THE PLAYERS Championship & Two World Golf Championships
NEW YORK – January 11, 2006 – NBC Sports and the PGA TOUR today announced a six-year extension of their broadcast rights agreement, under which NBC substantially expands its golf commitment and will more than double its coverage of PGA TOUR events beginning in 2007. The highlights of the new agreement include THE PLAYERS Championship with limited commercial interruption and the final three season-ending events in the PGA TOUR Championship Series featuring The TOUR Championship. NBC Sports also has extended its agreement to broadcast the Presidents Cup through 2011. The announcement was made today by Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics and Tim Finchem, Commissioner, PGA TOUR.
With this new agreement and recent contract extensions with the USGA and PGA of America, NBC Sports now will air golf’s premier network package and televise at least 25 golf events per year.
Highlights of the new PGA TOUR agreement include NBC’s exclusive broadcast coverage of:
* The final three season-ending PGA TOUR Championship Series events featuring The TOUR Championship
* THE PLAYERS Championship
* Two of the three World Golf Championship events: The CA Championship and The Accenture Match Play Championship
* PGA TOUR’s "Southern Swing"
"We are excited to extend our partnership with the TOUR and greatly expand our golf coverage," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. "This is a great deal both for NBC Universal and for the TOUR. This new agreement, along with our USGA and PGA of America partnerships, gives NBC a formidable golf lineup.
"We’re absolutely delighted with our new relationship with the TOUR for a variety of reasons. It’s a good, responsible and profitable deal for NBC. It obviously is going to do great things for the TOUR. We’re particularly thrilled with the quality events we’ve picked up including the three season-ending Championship Series events, featuring The TOUR Championship, two of the three World Golf Championship events and obviously our continued association with THE PLAYERS Championship has been assured as it moves to May. We’re particularly looking forward to this new limited commercial interruption format that they’ll have on that event, not unlike what goes on right now at Augusta Nationals for the Masters. I’m particularly eager to exclusively share this on a network basis with CBS. I think these two organizations over the last 25 years have set the standard for golf production in television."
NBC Sports will add five new PGA TOUR events in the new agreement, doubling its current roster of five. In addition to continuing its weekend telecasts of THE PLAYERS Championship, now moving to an early May date, NBC becomes the network home of the final three weeks of the Championship Series. NBC has also secured the rights to two World Golf Championships, including the World Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play Championship in late February as a prelude to its traditional five-event March run. Newly added to the March run of events will be the World Golf Championships – CA Championship, to be played at Doral Golf Resort and Spa.
THE PLAYERS Championship
Beginning in 2007, THE PLAYERS Championship, in its 20th year on NBC, will have a new date – the second week in May. The new date will elevate the focus on the event and improve the schedule’s overall spacing of those events that bring all the world’s best players together. Further, THE PLAYERS Championship will be broadcast by NBC Sports with limited commercial interruption; network advertisements will be restricted to three exclusive partners.
World Golf Championships
NBC will become the broadcast home of the World Golf Championships – CA Championship, to be played in March, 2007 at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. Eligibility will continue to be the top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking along with top finishers on the money lists of the six Tours comprising the International Federation of PGA Tours.
NBC also will be the network home for the WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship. This dramatic match play event will continue to be played in February and feature the top 64 available players based on the Official World Golf Rankings.
The new agreement also includes coverage of select Champions Tour events and the Target World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods and Shark Shootout hosted by Greg Norman.
NBC Sports also gains enhanced digital and replay rights which include distribution of highlights via NBC Universal platforms and co-branded NBC Universal platforms.
With this new agreement and recent contract extensions, NBC Sports now holds the broadcast rights to premier events with the PGA TOUR, the USGA and PGA of America, including:
Premier PGA TOUR Events
THE PLAYERS Championship
The TOUR Championship
World Golf Championship – The CA Championship
World Golf Championship – Accenture Match Play
USGA Championships (through 2014)
U.S. Open Championship
U.S. Women’s Open
U.S. Senior Open
U.S. Amateur Championship
Premier Team Match Play Events
The Ryder Cup (2006, ’08, ’12, ’14)
The Presidents Cup (2007, ’09, ’11)
Members of the media can get more information about NBC Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at www.nbcumv.com.
Contact:
Brian S Walker
212-664-5533
Brian.Walker@nbcuni.com
