As ESPN continues to vacuum up golf broadcast rights, it is taking over a portion of the PGA Championship telecast that is typically reserved for CBS.
The Worldwide Leader airs eight hours of tournament coverage on Thursday and Friday, which will be played this year at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. Typically, during the six years that ESPN has held rights to the PGA Championship, CBS announcers Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman have cut in for two hours each day on the call.
According to a report from Josh Carpenter at Sports Business Journal, that will change this year, as ESPN will take over all early-round broadcasts.
That means that Scott Van Pelt and ESPN’s well-regarded golf crew will have the reins all day Thursday and Friday before CBS takes over during the weekend. Without CBS’s presence during the week, ESPN will now air more total hours of PGA Championship coverage than CBS. Of course, viewership and interest are stronger down the stretch of major tournaments.
SBJ reported that the move could be part of a growing interest in golf by ESPN, which provides early-round coverage of the PGA Championship and the Masters and has been a founding partner of TGL.
ESPN is also facing incursions from newcomers in sports broadcasting, as Prime Video entered the fray this year with early-round coverage of the Masters for the first time, and Netflix has produced golf docuseries and live specials.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.