[PHOTO: James Gilbert]
In an effort to “modernise” television coverage of PGA Tour tournaments, the tour is working with its TV partners to roll out changes to its FedEx Cup ‘Fall’ events on Golf Channel, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said on Wednesday at East Lake Golf Club.
During a wide-ranging press conference on the eve of the Tour Championship, the final event of the FedEx Cup schedule, Monahan provided an overview of the 2024 season and a look ahead on several fronts, none more compelling than potential changes to golf broadcasts in the weeks ahead.
“Other platforms are growing and reaching importance, but TV remains the primary way fans consume the PGA Tour,” Monahan said. “It’s an area where we know our core fans are hungry for innovation, and we’re responding to that appetite.”
Monahan said the tour and Golf Channel will be “piloting a new broadcast approach” based on feedback from fans. Potential changes will be implemented during Friday coverage of the second round each week. While light on details, plans will include shot selection – Monahan specifically cited airing more full shots and fewer putts – and additional technical innovations.
Selecting second-round coverage for trying out new ideas made sense, the commissioner said.
“Friday is one of the most important days on the PGA Tour. It’s what defines this organisation,” Monahan said. “We’ve got more than half the players that don’t make it to the weekend. Being able to tell those stories, not just for that week but in context for what they’re trying to achieve, and in the [American autumn] obviously they’re competing for their cards, they’re competing for their careers and they’re competing for consequence.
“So being able to pull those stories forward is something that you can expect us to do, as well as you’ll see a number of other broadcast innovations that we’ll continue to test as we go forward.”
Another enhancement will come on the international front as the tour rolls out its revamped world feed from its new broadcast studio in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and its capabilities to target coverage of top players from other countries and customise coverage to various regions. The world feed will premiere during the 2025 Players Championship.
Here are three more subjects that Monahan touched upon at some length:
What is the status of negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia?
In short, no news is nothing new. Talks continue. Disclosing details of those discussions isn’t going to happen. As Monahan was moved to say yet again, “I’m not going to negotiate details in public or disclose details or specifics. All I can say is that conversations continue, and they’re productive.
“We have the right people at the table with the right mindset. I see that in all of these conversations, and that’s both sides. That creates optimism about the future and our ability to come together,” he added. “But at the same time, these conversations are complex. They’re going to take time. They have taken time, and they will continue to take time.”
Has the PGA Tour changed its position at all in declining to go along with the rollback of the golf ball planned by the R&A and USGA in 2028?
It appears that the tour isn’t budging on this issue. At least that is the takeaway when Monahan said, “We feel very strongly about the way our athletes are performing and the energy that’s creating, not just on the PGA Tour but across our sport.”
Tyler Dennis, executive vice-president of competitions, added the tour is still studying the data – which, by the way, is their own ShotLink data. The best Dennis could say is that the tour has implemented changes in the past that the governing bodies have instituted.
“Going back a very long time, we’ve collaborated very closely with the USGA and R&A on all things related to equipment, and particularly the last 20 years or so we’ve worked on and supported, I believe, eight equipment rule changes,” Dennis said. “Our process right now is really looking at the wealth of data we have with ShotLink and everything that goes on out here on the PGA Tour and trying to understand the implications of the rule change.”
The PGA Tour continues to emphasise fan engagement. How exactly is that being addressed?
Monahan promoted the tour’s new “Fan Forward” initiative, which is a survey-based program modelled after those enacted by the NFL and Major League Baseball. This “comprehensive research effort” already has begun, with 30,000 people responding to an initial survey. That’s not exactly a big sample size, but, hey, it’s a start, and the tour appears genuinely interested in what fans are interested in. For example, the aforementioned television experimentation is being implemented, in part, with input from viewers.
“We’re looking at what we offer to fans from all angles, and everything is on the table,” Monahan said. “We’re going into this without assumptions. We will listen, we will learn, we will act, and we won’t stop. From restructuring our schedule to end our FedEx Cup Playoffs before Labour Day [the first Monday in September in the US], to introducing new elements such as player walk-and-talk interviews within our broadcasts, to offering more behind-the-scenes looks at the PGA Tour via Full Swing, Fan Forward builds on a years-long effort to give our fans more of what they crave.”
