This week sees the FedExCup season come to a conclusion with the TOUR Championship crowning a king as the final top 30 players begin play on Thursday on GOLF Channel. Stroke play will be used to determine the champion of the PGA TOUR’s season-long points race, led by Justin Thomas starting at 10-under and $15 million in prize money for the winner. Cynopsis Sports asked Mike McCarley, President, Golf for NBC Sports Group, about this past season, the playoffs and the year ahead.
McCarley on measuring success for the Championship: The PGA TOUR’s playoff system is now 12 years old and the true success of the new schedule and format should be measured over the next decade or more. There will be ways to gauge early success, but these changes not only impact the sport’s competitive landscape, but also fans’ perception of these events and both will take years to take root. However, undoubtedly, avoiding direct football competition, even if it’s August, should be a positive step towards building a true finale to the season.
On approaching the Playoffs: We’ve expanded on our collaborations with SKY, in order to help us elevate the FedExCup Playoffs in the U.S. and U.K. — the world’s two largest golf markets. Our tournament and news teams on both sides of the Atlantic are happy to be talking much less about points and more about a player’s position, concepts sports fans regularly follow. Several years ago, we met with the TOUR, East Lake Golf Club that hosts The TOUR Championship and several sponsors: FedEx, Coke, and Southern Co. and discussed how to build this championship into what we all believed it could be. Out of that meeting, came our focus on expanding this week.
On golf’s schedule shift this fall: With all of the changes to the golf schedule this year designed to have the Playoffs culminate before football season, many events moved into football season. In a crowded landscape, it’s even more important to collaborate with our partners and find ways to make this all work. For golf, the fall becomes a showcase for the sport’s global nature with events worldwide with PGA TOUR and LPGA’s swings in Asia, as well as marquee team events with the U.S. women looking to defend the Solheim Cup in Scotland and the Tiger Woods captained U.S. team defending the Presidents Cup in Australia. Fold in niche aspects like the World Long Drive Championships and college golf’s East Lake Cup, and the fall features a wide-spectrum of events with GOLF Channel as the consistent home for golf fans.
On how the streaming/digital landscape for golf is going to evolve: We’ve innovated with PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold this year, blending linear and digital delivery and optimized our ability to market through our dedicated golf businesses to die-hard golf fans, who have an appetite for comprehensive coverage. As more platforms become more broadly accepted by consumers, we’re able to super-serve fans and better connect them to their sport. Remember in golf, most fans don’t just watch — they also play. That is part of the recipe behind our comprehensive digital membership, GOLFPASS, which provides benefits and perks for golfers who want to learn, travel, shop and ultimately play more golf.
On the 19-20 schedule and the Olympics: Golf is already a global sport, but what we saw in Rio and will see again in Tokyo is the effect the Olympics can have on the pockets of the world that don’t already follow the sport. Big picture, the Olympics broadens opportunities for golf to connect with fans no matter where they live and adds another pathway for kids to discover and dream about a new sport. From a domestic media perspective, Tokyo offers a time zone that benefits several sports, including golf. In the U.S., viewers will see golf in primetime. In the meantime, we’re keeping a close eye on the U.S. team as well. Every four years, Olympic viewers are mesmerized by these athletes who toil in a lifetime of sacrifice and obscurity for a chance at a brief moment of glory. But on occasion, true global superstars get a chance to compete in the Olympics — we saw it with the “Dream Team” in Barcelona and Atlanta — and we have the chance to see it with Tiger Woods in Tokyo. We’re following that story very closely and anticipate a massive impact on interest if it happens. You don’t get many chances to be an Olympian — let alone a gold medalist — and this is Tiger’s shot.
