An intense desire for live sports has some TV executives taking a new swing at golf. NBC Sports is hoping viewership of its Sunday broadcast of a charity match between Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johns…
, Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson and Peyton Manning. And CBS is seeing high interest for PGA Tour events it plans to air in June, with appropriate social-distancing requirements. “For us, the PGA starts on June 11 in Texas. We’re seeing very strong demand for that,” said ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish during a recent call with investors.
Golf has long been important to various networks, which fill hours of their weekend schedules televising the Masters and sundry PGA Tour stops. That relationship was spotlighted in early March, whenthat could come to at least $680 million. Whether the current demand reflects a new desire for golf – or for Nascar, another sport that started up last weekend with a race that took place in South Carolina without fans – remains to be seen.
Golf does have some advantages, however. Social-distancing is easier to achieve than in team sports like football or hockey. And the sport boasts a range of endemic sponsors who sell golfing supplies and equipment to aficonados, as well as PGA Tour partners that include Coca-Cola, John Deere and Rolex.
Golf “probably has a little bit more of a b-to-b focus than, say, an NFL, but it’s a very loyal base of supporters,” says Lovinger.unit owns GolfNow, a service that helps book tee times, and since April 21, it has clocked an increase of 41% the in total number of online rounds of golf sold year over year for 19 of the last 23 days. In May, the service measured a 60% increase in golf rounds sold over the year-earlier time period.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
John Oliver Looked Everywhere and Found Your New Sports Obsession: Marble RacingJohn Oliver wants to revive the country’s morale in the only way he knows how: spending a ridiculous amount of HBO’s money on high-risk investments, like becoming a sponsor for an online marble league
Read more »
New York sports teams should plan to play games without fans, Cuomo saysThe US coronavirus outbreak has altered daily life in almost every way. Here's the latest updates on US Covid-19 cases, deaths, reopenings, the government response, unemployment and more.
Read more »
ESPN Player: Watch live and on demand sports video onlineGrab some popcorn and get your binge on 🍿 All 10 episodes of TheLastDance are available to stream now:
Read more »
Gov. Gavin Newsom Targeting June Return for Pro Sports In CaliforniaGov. Gavin Newsom says pro sports could re-open in California by June 1 ... but there's a serious catch.
Read more »