‘Better TV Experience’: NFL’s Bold Move Motivates 30YO Golfer to Throw PGA Tour a Massive Reality Check

You can almost hear Jay Monahan shouting ‘Eureka!’ One of his players has casually handed him the solution to a problem that he was stewing over for the last few years. The PGA Tour has long faced criticism because of the broadcasting issues. But Michael S Kim might just have found a solution in what the NFL will do in the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills game.

Joe Pompliano, who recently talked about Tiger Woods’s $300M impact on Nike, tweeted that the fourth quarter of the Bills-Charger game will be commercial-free. Instead. sponsors, Walmart, Hyundai, and Capital One will “receive a shoutout from the broadcast crew at the start of the 4th quarter.” Kim takes inspiration from there but takes it a notch further which might solve another problem for the PGA Tour as well. 

The NFL approach might work for the PGA Tour

Michael S Kim wondered what if the PGA Tour also removed the commercial from the back nine of Sunday’s final rounds. Instead, he asked fans, how it would be if the Tour had “a small Aramco sign the entire time, would that be a big turnoff for you? Or would the better TV experience make it better? Did Rolex do something similar at an event?”

The mention of the ‘Aramco’ sign is significant. Because Yasir Al Rumayyan, the Saudi Aramco chairman, is also the governor of PIF, the financial dynamo that powers LIV Golf. As the PGA Tour looks to bring PIF on board, bringing Aramco as a sponsor might solve two problems in one shot.

Furthermore, Pompliano revealed that Peacock is planning to do the same in the playoffs as well. NFL fans will have to watch 20-25 fewer commercials during the game. As a result, fans are expected to get an “additional ~12 minutes of game content.”

Interestingly, LIV Golf offers more game time as the breakaway league has yet to find any big-money sponsors. While the Tour doesn’t boast the riches of PIF that they can go ahead without giant sponsorships, the fact that one of their players accepts the overload of commercials as a problem should prompt the Tour to do a course correction. 

More golf, less commercial

Golf fans repeatedly slammed the Tour and its broadcasting partners for giving more importance to ad revenue than showing the game. Notably, it compelled the PGA Tour and NBC to make some amends this year. 

Read More: ‘Had Enough’: Jay Monahan’s Dreamy PGA Tour Plan Spells More Trouble as Organizers Get Riled Up by the Expected Jump

At this year’s Sentry, the final one hour was shown commercial-free. Instead, NBC announced the presenting sponsorship from Callaway Golf. Earlier, the broadcasting giant said the option of commercial-free presenting sponsorship was there. However, not all sponsors are ready to accept it. LIV Golf’s uninterrupted broadcasts and Kim’s novel idea might just provide the right impetus to the Tour at the right time.

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