PGA TOUR: ESPN+ set to become exclusive online streaming service
PGA TOUR fans will soon have a new way to watch events online, as ESPN+ is set to become the exclusive online partner of the Tour.
Cord-cutters, mobile fans and everyone looking for new, easier ways to watch golf, rejoice. The PGA TOUR is set to give us all a new outlet for golf when we can’t be glued to CBS, NBC or Golf Channel on our TVs, and it comes from the Worldwide Leader in Sports (RIP to that old tagline), ESPN. More accurately, ESPN+, the premium subscription service from the Disney-owned icon.
The PGA TOUR has seen its television viewership dramatically increasing in recent years, with the rise of a new generation of superstars, and the return of Tiger Woods to his winning ways. According to Golf.com, the Tour had the option to opt out of their CBS and NBC deals at the end of 2017, but they elected to stay with their longtime home channels through at least the end of 2021.
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The value of those deals is expected to land somewhere around $700 million annually, and that’s for television rights alone. Add in another $2 billion from Discovery Television for their GOLFTV launch outside the United States, and you’ve got a monstrous windfall for the Tour. However, domestic digital has been something of a challenge to lock down, with NBC Sports nearing the ending of their current deal.
ESPN is no stranger to golf coverage, of course. They’ve been the home of the first two rounds of the Masters Tournament since 2008, and they just landed another major, winning streaming rights to the PGA Championship beginning with this year’s event at Harding Park. As the company says, their mission is to “serve sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere.” And what could be a better way to satisfy rabid golf fans than to give them access to tournaments in a way that’s already wildly popular?
Look, I know ESPN has plenty of critics, but they also have a phenomenal golf team, and they have the resources to make online coverage of golf better every single week. And the value is real, coming in at just $4.99 a month, or less than half the price of Netflix for live golf and tons more content.
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The days of needing to set aside an entire afternoon to watch golf on TV are over, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We’ll still make time for Jim Nantz and Mike Tirico, but we all live busy lives, and they’re not slowing down anytime soon. More golf with fewer interruptions and easier access on our own time is always going to be a good thing.