Following Rory McIlroy’s victory over the weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship, along with headline-grabbing wins in recent weeks by Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, the PGA TOUR has hit 2015 looking to shake up audience growth with its stars continuing to cement their places in pop culture. With Golf Channel on NBC’s coverage of THE PLAYERS Championship reeling in 19.3 million viewers and CBS posting its best numbers for The Masters since 2011, the organization is lining up new initiatives, including an OTT service, to cultivate fans for the future.
Cynopsis Sports asked Jay Monahan, PGA TOUR Deputy Commissioner about the year so far, how the organization is planning to grow audiences and its relationships with sponsors.
Monahan on 2015: The timing of your question is impeccable, considering we just witnessed one of the great finishes in memory, on one of golf’s great stages, won by one of golf’s brightest young stars. Rickie Fowler’s playoff victory at THE PLAYERS Championship was captivating playing the last four holes in five under par, baptizing the three-hole aggregate playoff format with Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner, birdieing the island 17th hole for the third time on Sunday to finally win on the first hole of sudden death all happening in front of record crowds at TPC Sawgrass and a strong global television audience.
But this was just a continuation of the great play by the game’s great young stars stepping up this season. The week prior, it was World No. 1 Rory McIlroy winning the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play. Several weeks before that, it was Jordan Spieth’s record performance at the Masters and not to mention other 20-something winners Patrick Reed and Jason Day. And then you throw in names like Justin Rose, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Jimmy Walker … we’ve had a tremendous balance of young stars and established veterans taking turns, giving us a tremendous first half of the 2014-15 season. Plus, THE PLAYERS was the 11th playoff we’ve had, already four more than all of last season. It makes you wonder what will come next as we continue through the season toward the FedExCup Playoffs. This sort of competitive excellence featuring the best and brightest can only help draw interest to the PGA TOUR.
On the new-look WGC-Cadillac Match Play: Overall, we are very pleased with the first year of the new group format, as it eliminated the “one-and-done” aspect as each player plays at least three matches, and ensured that our fans see everyone for the first three days of competition. We had a great week and a remarkable finish. We also learned a lot this first time around and will certainly evaluate it, talk to the players and see how we can make it better.
With that said, we are very excited about the future of the Match Play, particularly as we welcome Dell as the new title sponsor and move the event to Austin, where Dell is headquartered, beginning in 2016.
On sponsors: We have been consistent over the years about the value of affiliating with the PGA TOUR, which begins with the positive image and values of our athletes, playing golf at the highest levels in the world. Corporate partners keep coming back because we offer an unmatched brand-building platform, outstanding media value, hospitality opportunities and global exposure for sponsors. Our tournaments are telecast to more than 225 countries and territories, and we have an unmatched quality of audience when it comes to reaching decision-makers and influencers. Our partners are also excited by the opportunity to work with a sports organization and athletes who have an unmatched history of charitable giving.
We can point to a number of sponsors who have been with us for many years, as well as new sponsors who represent entirely new categories for the TOUR. Moreover, we have had an increasing number of sponsors signing longer-term deals, including Charles Schwab for 20 years, Rolex for 11 years and PGA TOUR tournament title sponsors AT&T, Travelers, Waste Management and Wyndham for 10 years. We believe that is a very powerful message regarding the value our corporate partners realize through an affiliation with the TOUR.
On PGA TOUR Live: We have always felt there was a missed opportunity to bring great action early on Thursday and Friday to our fans. At last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, for instance, Phil Mickelson had a chance to shoot 59 and everyone missed most of his round. Our relationship and new venture with Major League Baseball Advanced Media gives us an opportunity to bring this to our fans through exclusive live early-round coverage of featured groups across all Internet-connected devices. PGA TOUR LIVE, which will launch this summer, will feature two marquee morning groups on Thursdays and Fridays of our tournaments leading up to the start of Golf Channel’s television broadcasts. This will be available at over 30 tournaments during the season. We have seen the success of these types of initiatives in other sports, including MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, MLS Live, as well as WWE Network. We thought this was the right time for us to enter this space and we have a great partner in MLBAM.
Earlier this year, we also launched complete, over-the-top live coverage of the PGA TOUR in New Zealand. So we do see a real benefit to OTT service and will continue to explore opportunities.
On the role of athletes: Our athletes are very savvy when it comes to realizing the importance of the PGA TOUR brand and their own brand, the value of interacting with fans and sponsors. So that is very important to the continued health of the TOUR. Then, as long as they continue to perform like they have, as I noted from the outset, I have no doubt that the positive momentum will continue. Our players have continued to embrace social media and grow one-on-one connections with our fans. As they continue to do that, we see great opportunities for the overall fan base to grow.
