Versant exec shoots down idea of Golf Channel sale to PGA Tour

As the PGA Tour looks to completely restructure its schedule within the next couple of years, introducing a more formalized two-tier system that sees top-level players competing together in 21-26 premium tournaments each season, questions about the Tour’s current media rights agreements with CBS, NBC, Golf Channel, and ESPN will become central to solidifying those plans.

In particular, Golf Channel faces interesting circumstances operating under Versant, the spinoff company made up of NBCUniversal’s old cable assets which officially went public in January. The company has been clear about its interest in further M&A to help its portfolio of declining legacy television assets make an unlikely turnaround; though those acquisitions won’t include more cable channels, rather businesses it sees as complimentary to its cable portfolio.

But while Versant has addressed its strategy for potential acquisitions, it hadn’t spoken much to the possibility of selling assets. One asset that would hypothetically be ripe for a sale is Golf Channel. The network airs extensive coverage across the sport of golf, including PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, DP World Tour, and college golf, among other properties. It’s something that the PGA Tour would presumably be interested in if it were on the market, especially considering the Tour recently opened new state-of-the-art production facilities in its Ponte Vedra Beach, FL headquarters.

Alas, that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for Golf Channel.

Matt Hong, president of USA Sports, the sports division of Versant, recently told Front Office Sports that the company is focusing on buying additional assets, not selling. “I think our M&A strategy is more about us acquiring properties than vice versa,” Hong suggested.

Hong did, however, speak to the uncertainty surrounding the PGA Tour’s media rights situation.

Currently, the PGA Tour sanctions around 40 events per year, ranging from FedEx Cup Playoff events to opposite-field tournaments that most outside of ardent golf viewers have never heard of. Brian Rolapp, the new CEO of the PGA Tour, has been clear about his plans to manufacture scarcity by culling the unwieldy schedule and ensuring the best players in the world compete together in the same tournaments.

Such changes will require buy-in from the Tour’s four media rights partners: CBS, NBC, Golf Channel, and ESPN. When the PGA Tour entered into its new nine-year agreements in 2022, inventory was divided on the premise of 40-odd events per year. Cutting that substantially, and replacing some tournaments with codified second-tier events, will necessitate cooperation from the broadcast partners.

Even under the proposed changes, Hong doesn’t believe Golf Channel, which airs weekday tournament coverage and lead-in coverage on weekends, will be impacted much.

“Scarcity impacts the Saturday-Sunday partners a little bit more than it does us,” the USA Sports president said. “We probably won’t be as impacted by some of the changes. Our discussion with the tour has really been about the quality of the hours, the quality of the players, and having there be consequence.”

Of course, the PGA Tour, like many other sports leagues, also finds itself facing media rights uncertainty on account of the NFL’s planned early media rights negotiations happening several years before originally anticipated. The NFL’s negotiations stand to take billions of additional dollars out of the market, leaving every other professional sports entity fighting over a smaller slice of pie.

The PGA Tour has reportedly already approached its media partners about negotiating deals early itself in an effort to beat the NFL to market. Per Hong, that’s something that Golf Channel is open to.

“If it makes sense for the tour and the other networks that we start talking sooner rather than later on lengthening the deal, we’re certainly up for that,” he told Front Office Sports.