Reading Between The (TV Contract) Negotiation Lines: Davis To CBS Edition

Michael Bamberger’s Golf.com story on Davis Love joining CBS features this paragraph highlighting the state of the PGA Tour’s closely-watched television contract negotiations, if we will even call it television by the end of the next deal.

Love has a two-year contract with CBS, for 2020 and 2021. It couldn’t go beyond that because the CBS-PGA Tour contract expires at the end of ’21. The NBC-PGA Tour contract does, too. Golf Channel is under the NBC Sports umbrella. Contract negotiations are ongoing. Traditional TV-watching, as Davis grew up doing it, has been turned on its head in the age of ever-connected phones and laptops and iPads. It’s not at all clear what golf-on-TV will look like in the years to come, as attention spans continue to shorten and as live gambling becomes a bigger part of fan engagement. Love’s deep relationships in the game, at the PGA Tour headquarters, among corporate executives, on Capitol Hill, can only help CBS.

While Love no longer holds a seat on the PGA Tour Policy Board like AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, he does have an intimate knowledge of the Tour’s plans, dreams and desires. Will that bolster CBS’s bid? More revealing though may be the idea that longtime PGA Tour partner CBS needs to pull out such stops to retain rights. Stay tuned…

Kostis On CBS: "I believe the production has suffered over the last few years."

Rick Young caught up with ousted CBS announcer Peter Kostis to discuss his departure. Many comments are of note, but these two in particular stood out:

“The timing and the reason for mine and Gary’s departure are the ongoing negotiations with a new television contract,” Kostis explained. “That’s involved here. I don’t know how exactly or what it could be but I do believe the next television contract is going to be radically different. I don’t have any basis for saying that other than my gut instinct. I do know the tour is gearing up to be able to handle gambling. I think it’s one of the ways they’re hoping to grow their fan base with younger people.”

Interesting that he ties the timing with negotiations. Meetings started some time ago, so is he implying a Hail Mary play by CBS?

And this probably means he and producer Lance Barrow won’t be trading Christmas cards:

“There’s a fine line between familiarity and staleness,” he said. “What we’ve been hearing over and over from fans since this happened is, ‘You guys are the voices of my weekends watching golf and we’ve grown to love it.’ There’s a familiarity for the viewers with the CBS team. Having said that, I don’t think it was the announcers that were stale. I believe the production has suffered over the last few years. That’s all I’m going to say. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Hank Haney Pod: Tiger vs Snead, McCord, Kostis Out At CBS & Gambling

It was a pleasure to talk golf with Hank after Tiger’s 82nd win. We also covered the CBS announcer news and touched on the move toward gambling on golf.

The Apple pod address.

Or you can listen on any podcasting app or below:

Davis Love Joins CBS Golf Team In 2020

Moving swiftly after not renewing Gary McCord and Peter Kostis, CBS hires Davis Love.

I spoke to Love for Golfweek not long after the announcement below.

For immediate release:

HALL-OF-FAMER AND MAJOR CHAMPION DAVIS LOVE III JOINS CBS SPORTS GOLF TEAM 

Davis Love III, PGA champion, 21-time PGA TOUR winner, two-time Ryder Cup captain and World Golf Hall-of-Famer, joins CBS Sports full-time as golf analyst for its coverage of the PGA TOUR, the Masters and PGA Championship. The announcement was made today by Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports.

“Davis is one of the most accomplished and respected players in the game of golf,” said McManus. “With his playing experience, reputation and relationships across the golf community, he brings a unique perspective and insight that will enhance our broadcasts. Davis is the perfect fit for CBS, and we look forward to him making the best broadcast team in golf even better.”

“I have long considered CBS Sports the gold standard in golf coverage,” said Love. “Whether playing or coaching, I have always loved the team aspect of golf, and I am thrilled to now be a member of the best team in television. My playing days are not totally over, as I will play select events, but my focus now shifts to broadcasting. I have been fortunate to spend a lot of time with the men and women of CBS Sports, and I look forward to getting started in January.” 

Love will make his CBS Sports debut as an announcer on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020 at the Farmers Insurance Open when the Network tees off its 2020 golf season. 

Love started his professional career in 1985 and won his first PGA TOUR event in 1987. Throughout his illustrious playing career, he ranked in the Top 10 in the Official Golf World Rankings for more than 450 weeks while winning 21 PGA TOUR events, including the 1992 and 2003 THE PLAYERS Championship and the PGA Championship in 1997. After winning the Wyndham Championship in 2015, he became one of three players ever – joining Sam Snead and Raymond Floyd – to win on the PGA TOUR in four different decades. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017. 

Love was a U.S. staple during international competition, as he was selected to six U.S. Ryder Cup teams and six U.S. President Cup teams as a player. In 2011 he was named team captain of the 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup team, and led the team to victory as captain in 2016. 

Along with his play on the course, Love has consistently been honored for his demeanor off it, winning the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in 2013, the PGA TOUR Payne Stewart Award in 2008, and the Jim Murray Award in 2016, presented by the Golf Writers Association of America each year to the golfer who best cooperates with the media. He also has been elected by his fellow players to the PGA TOUR policy board four times.

Love was a three-time All-American at the University of North Carolina, and won the 1984 ACC Championship.

McCord: "Bottom line, they fired me"

There is a lot to digest in Dave Shedloski’s Golf World story catching up with Gary McCord, now a former CBS broadcaster.

McCord, a former PGA Tour player and winner of three PGA Tour Champions events, is smarting over the decision mostly because he didn’t have a chance to personally thank all his CBS teammates behind the scenes who have supported him through the years, people who have become like family. “You just don’t do something like this,” he said. “You shouldn’t do it this way. No chance to say thanks to the viewers, to all my CBS friends? That’s what you get for 35 years?”

“Bottom line, they fired me.”

The story says CBS offered McCord the opportunity to work the first two weeks of 2020’s broadcast schedule, but he declined.

He also shares the one bit of reasoning given to him by the head of CBS Sports, Sean McManus.

“He [McManus] tells me, and he told Peter the same thing, that ‘We think CBS golf is getting a little stale, and we need to go in another direction,’ ” McCord told Golf Digest by phone from his home in Scottsdale. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but one thing I’ve never been called is stale.”

There was a great deal of sniping in recent years over McCord’s act having grown thin, but never felt that way. He was often the one person trying to inject some life into telecasts, but without his old foil David Feherty or many opportunities to exhibit his knowledge of the swing, McCord was often limited to the role of 16th hole traffic cop. Therefore the notion of “stale” strikes me as more a statement about the CBS production elements (Yanni?) or overall energy than the work of any one announcer.

Kostis: "Bye for now! I’m off to UPS to send some packages!”

Many are still trying to wrap heads around the abrupt end to long runs for Gary McCord and Peter Kostis, particularly given their longevity and CBS’s general unwillingness to make sudden changes.

Awful Announcing’s Jay Rigdon attempted to decipher the news and added this conclusion:

CBS has their current rights through 2021, so it’s unlikely this move is the result of a vote of no confidence in their own bid. It could be a move signaling a revamp of their coverage, or at least a willingness to evolve; maybe that’s something the PGA Tour is looking for in the next round.

In a farewell statement posted by Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand, Kostis said he’d “been thinking quite a bit about requesting a reduced travel schedule, but CBS made my decision easier when they elected to not exercise the two-year option on my contract.”

More interesting was an apparent jab at the PGA Tour’s partnership with FedEx.

Finally, I have to say a big thank you to all the announcers I’ve worked with over the years. I believe that the CBS golf announce team is the gold standard. A special shout out to Gary McCord who has been with me every step of the way, (including that infamous 1989 Ryder Cup broadcast team!) and Jim Nantz who has been there for my entire CBS career. To the cameramen, technicians and support staff at CBS I simply say it was a privilege to work alongside you. Bye for now! I’m off to UPS to send some packages!”

McCord And Kostis Not Returning To CBS Golf Coverage

A bit of a stunner as the two long-time veterans are out at CBS.

Here is my report for Golfweek.

With CBS having two more years on its current deal, plus two major championships, the move opens up two key positions on their broadcast team. It’s been a year of cost-cuts at CBS, with multiple longtime crew members offered buyouts in February and goodbyes said on air in May.

Every Shot, Live On-Demand To Debut At 2020 Players

The PGA Tour says in today’s release that the newly-announced every shot, “live on-demand” is the eventual goal for all golf coverage. Bold!

In conjunction with NBC Sports Gold, the tour will roll out the first attempt at the 2020 Players, just weeks prior to the Masters, where a slightly tape-delayed on-demand debuted in 2019 with mostly great success (things were rough at the start and some shots never were captured).

The technology and concept is undoubtedly exciting, but it does the raise the question": how people will watch golf going forward. Given the length of a round, the number of variables involved and the slow nature of the sport, the act of sitting down to watch one or two groups go about their round, minus announcing and other storytelling elements, seems like a big ask. Perhaps those who have fantasy pool or waging implications at stake will pay for the privilege, as will family and friends of players.

The technology seems far more compelling in the Presidents Cup or WGC Dell Match Play, where such formats make you want to follow the mini-dramas within a match. But even then, you need announcing and other production elements to make for compelling viewing.

Anyway, For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR, and NBC Sports Group announce live streaming of every shot during THE PLAYERS Championship in 2020

Marks the first time ever fans can follow every shot by every player live 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – For the first time ever in golf, every shot by every player will be live-streamed from a full-field tournament when THE PLAYERS Championship returns to TPC Sawgrass, March 12-15, allowing fans to follow any player in the elite field, all four rounds.  All of this revolutionary coverage will be available to PGA TOUR LIVE subscribers on either NBC Sports Gold or Amazon Prime Video Channels.

“The PGA TOUR is the most content-rich sport on the planet and we have been focused on expanding the amount of content we bring to our fans from our competitions,” said Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer for the TOUR.  “Our vision is to bring every shot in every PGA TOUR golf tournament live and on-demand to our fans, and this is the first step to making that happen.”

PGA TOUR Entertainment and NBC Sports Group will accomplish the monumental task of showcasing more than 32,000 shots over 72 holes from a starting field of 144 – live – by utilizing nearly 120 cameras positioned throughout THE PLAYERS Stadium Course, with each group having its own dedicated stream.

“Every shot of THE PLAYERS on PGA TOUR LIVE is a natural next step in the innovative partnership between NBC Sports and the PGA TOUR that spans nearly 60 years,” said Mike McCarley, president, GOLF, NBC Sports Group. “Super-serving golf fans with more comprehensive coverage of THE PLAYERS is emblematic of our commitment to elevating this championship and builds upon our success in adding enhancements to PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold.” 

PGA TOUR LIVE already has expanded its coverage for the 2019-20 PGA TOUR Season by adding early round featured groups coverage from seven events between September and December. This includes, for the first time ever, live streaming of “featured matches” all four days of competition from the upcoming Presidents Cup at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia (December 12-15, 2019).

All told, approximately 140 hours of additional live content is available, bringing more than 1,100 total hours to subscribers and extending live content across each month of the calendar year. With NBC Sports Gold and Prime Video Channels being available on dozens of connected devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast, connected device consumption has spiked to about one-third of total minutes in 2019.

Further, the PGA TOUR will be launching an all-new TOURCast product that will allow fans to follow every shot from each group with a beautiful 3D rendering of the golf course and shot trails.  The new TOURCast platform will also include deep access to the PGA TOUR’s ShotLink powered by CDW data, as well as video clips of every single shot available for fans to see, on demand.  The launch of TOURCast at THE PLAYERS will mark the start of every event in the PGA TOUR Season through the FedExCup Playoffs being offered on the platform. TOURCast will be available on the PGA TOUR’s mobile apps and website.  

“Since the launch of PGA TOUR LIVE four years ago, fans have consistently asked when they would be able to watch every shot of every player's round live as it happens.  We are thrilled to be able to do this for the first time at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2020,” said Luis Goicouria, the TOUR’s Senior Vice President of Media.  “THE PLAYERS Championship has long been the tournament where the TOUR debuts the newest technology, including LIVE@ 17, our first Virtual Reality experience, and the PGA TOUR Augmented Reality iPhone app, just to name a few.”

TOURCast, which originally launched in 2003 as a state-of-the-art graphical scoring platform that provided unprecedented tournament coverage, won an Emmy in 2005. “We’re very excited to bring back a greatly enhanced version of it to a new generation of fans, utilizing the latest technology and data,” Goicouria added.

From the historic competition to an iconic golf course with an unparalleled fan experience, THE PLAYERS is uncompromising in its pursuit to deliver the best. The 144-player field represents the strongest collection of players assembled each season, competing on Pete Dye’s masterpiece, THE PLAYERS Stadium Course, that favors no single style of play and demands excellence in every facet of the game.

THE PLAYERS also was the first tournament conceived with the fan as its focal point. From the original design incorporating viewing mounds, to embracing change to deliver the best experience in the modern game, THE PLAYERS provides the highest expression of hospitality and entertainment. Morgan Stanley, Grant Thornton LLP and Optum are the exclusive Proud Partners of THE PLAYERS.

Lee Westwood Scores The First Hole-In-One Captured By Plane Tracer

Definitely a first! And what a fantastic look given how tight the shot was to the ball.

From round one of the Alfred Dunhill Links, Lee Westwood making an ace at Carnoustie’s 8th hole.

View this post on Instagram

Hole-in-one. Filmed from a plane. With tracer.⁠ Sit back and enjoy 🚀⁠ #DunhillLinks⁠

A post shared by European Tour (@europeantour) on Sep 26, 2019 at 12:05pm PDT

Awkward Alert: Romo Opens Strong In Napa; A Made Cut Will Interrupt His CBS Work Sunday

In a contract year with CBS and rebelliously teeing it up during all-important NFL regular season, former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo opened the Safeway Open with a 70, his best PGA Tour round by far.

The possibility of a made cut has him potentially playing the weekend and missing his Vikings-Bears NFL assignment with Jim Nantz.

According to the New York Post, Boomer Esiason is slated to replace Romo.

While this is an awkward situation for CBS given Romo’s popularity as a broadcaster and his obvious passion to play golf over watch film of the Bears, imagine how the 74 PGA Tour pros who were beat by Romo feel? Granted, the field includes a few retreads and folks you didn’t know have tour status, but Romo’s T28 position has him well ahead of several major winners.

From Adam Schupak’s Golfweek report in Napa:

That would prevent him from doing his day job commentating for CBS Sports on the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game on Sunday.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Romo said with a smile.

Romo is playing this week as the lone amateur in the 144-man field, and had players buzzing about his round.

“It’s bloody impressive,” said Adam Scott, who held a share of the lead after shooting 65. “I ain’t ever going to throw a pass in the NFL, that’s for sure, so I think it’s unbelievable that he can do that.”

Romo tees off at 1:25 Pacific, putting him in a good portion of Golf Channel’s broadcast window.

SBJ: Pitchtime In Ponte Vedra For Network Executives

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reports in great detail that some network heavyweights are descending on Ponte Vedra Beach to make initial PGA Tour, Champions, Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and LPGA Tour media rights pitches.

Ourand lays out the schedule to include sessions with Warnermedia chairman Jeff Zucker and Turner Sports head Lenny Daniels, CBS’s Sean McManus and David Berson, ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus (EVP programming), Eric Shanks and president Mark Silverman from Fox Sports, Amazon’s Marie Donoghue and Jim DeLorenzo, with NBC Sports Group President Pete Bevacqua and Golf Channel President Mike McCarley helming Comcast’s effort.

With the NFL’s timing in limbo, Ourand notes the PGA Tour’s desire to wrap things up by year’s end comes with risk.

The tour is coming to market after a year that saw weekend television viewership (excluding the majors) drop considerably. NBC’s weekend coverage was down 18% this season; CBS’s was down 10%.

The looming NFL rights negotiation also could have an effect on these negotiations. All the networks are prepared to pay a lot more to keep the NFL when its rights come up in 2021 and 2022. The risk is that the prospect of those rights could keep networks from committing as much money as the PGA Tour is hoping for.

(The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan filed an update on the NFL’s proposed plans which now focus on a 17-game schedule and other elements that might take their schedule into late February if the season begins in the traditional post-Labor Day period, including an extra playoff game and an added bye week.)

Ourand says the number of bidders is working in the PGA Tour’s favor in spite of a ratings drop.

AT&T has told tour officials that it has looked into flipping one of its existing channels (Headline News or truTV) into a golf channel that would pick up the rights that currently are on Golf Channel. It’s likely that AT&T would offer the PGA Tour a stake in that channel.

ESPN is expected to make an aggressive pitch centered on streaming rights for its ESPN+ platform. CBS has carried PGA Tour rights since 1970 and wants to maintain that relationship. Finally, NBC has built a healthy business around PGA Tour rights, like Golf Channel and GolfNow, and is expected to be aggressive in trying to keep them.

Notably absent from the meetings: Discovery and its GOLFTV Powered by the PGA Tour, aka golf Netflix.

Not Surprisingly, Michelle Wie's Got A Future In TV

As compelling as the Solheim Cup final day was, the week was also marked by Michelle Wie’s start in television.

I would agree with the Forecaddie that it’s not a huge shock given her Stanford degree and communications experience since the age of 12 or so, but it’s still another thing to be thrown onto a set with bright lights and captain’s decisions to dissect. Wie not only did that smoothly, but had not problem questioning Juli Inkster’s Sunday singles lineup.

Wrapping Up Last Season Before Next Season Starts (Thursday): 2018 v. 2019 PGA Tour Ratings Comparison

Robopz calls him/herself “anonymous 3rd-tier 4th estate type” but did some nice work trying to compare 2018 PGA Tour ratings vs. 2019. While the overall number was slightly down and a few events took steep plunges due to date change or a Tiger presence, overall a flat number these days is good news.

While golf is expensive to broadcast and the demographic isn’t as gullible and hooked on its phones as the coveted M’s, it still delivers a lot to sponsors, fans and beats airing informercials (I would hope).

Anyway, give him/her a follow here as you’ll find some other fun stats and info. You can click on the images to see them better:

2019 TV Ratings down compared to last year. Here's a comparison of the 31 Sunday Network final ratings for 2019 to 2018.

Bottom Chart is events played after the OPEN prior to this year. 2019 compared to prior 5-year avgs. @GeoffShac @BobHarig @RyanBallengee pic.twitter.com/vUr361KeVs

— Robopz (@Robopz) August 28, 2019

Video: Bodenheimer Recalls Arnie's Iconic Sportscenter Promo

As part of ESPN’s 40th anniversary celebration, former president George Bodenheimer is interviewed about Arnold Palmer’s ESPN visit to shoot the iconic, icea-tea-and-lemonade mixing “This is SportsCenter” commercial also featuring the late Stuart Scott and Scott Van Pelt. Of course Arnold delivered the greatest of all Sportscenter ads, though oddly I found this one flat the first few times. But, like most great masterpieces, it’s the repeat viewings revealing the genius behind them!

Nantz On Whitaker: "He had a unique ability to blend peak thought with context in perfect prose."

What a grand tribute from Jim Nantz to his friend and mentor Jack Whitaker.

The Athletic kindly made this available to non-subscribers and it’s well worth your time, even if you are of a vintage that does not recall the days of Whitaker and the ABC golf team.

He first met Whitaker at Pebble Beach when his roommate that week, Bob Drum—oh that Chirkinian humor!—took Nantz down to Club XIX for a nightcap. It was a somber day after the space shuttle Challenger had exploded earlier in the day:

Upon entering the restaurant, there was Jack Whitaker, leaning against the bar, a martini filled to the top, perfectly poured. He had on a tweed jacket with a turtleneck underneath and he was just the personification of elegance, a man well-traveled. I honestly could not believe I was shaking his hand, feeling as though I had just been introduced to Ernest Hemingway.

His short essays often concluded the biggest sporting events around the world, and he had a unique ability to blend peak thought with context in perfect prose. Though there were no words that could soften the shocking horror of the day, Jack, with his gift, was somehow able to bring some solace and perspective to an otherwise unexplainable event.

The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame tribute piece has now been added to YouTube: