The Masters is one of the most anticipated events every year, and fans look forward to it, eagerly. However, not only the weather but the limited broadcast also ruined the experience of many fans this year. The community bashed the tournament and the organizers for it. Witnessing this, Augusta National is taking a step to improve things, but fans are still unsatisfied.

This year, for fans who were watching the season’s first major from home, there was an overall four-and-a-half-hour delay, as the NBC Golf Channel’s coverage started late. This was because they had a rule where organizers only provided a limited window for live coverage. The final round of the 2024 Masters averaged 9.59 million viewers on CBS, a 20 percent drop in viewership compared to 2023’s final round. Keeping that in mind, the organizers are taking this step to improve the condition next year.

The news came to light after recently NUCLRGOLF shared a post on X. “The Masters has announced that there will be expanded coverage of the 2025 tournament. An additional hour of main broadcast coverage on Saturday, as well as two extra hours pre-broadcast on Paramount+. Bank of America also signs on as a ‘Champion Partner,” read the post. This year the tournament was off to a rough start as there was a 150-minute weather delay.

There isn’t much change to their live coverage rule, as each round takes an average of four hours and thirty minutes to complete. Despite the efforts, the fans are having mixed thoughts. Some are happy with an additional hour of main broadcast coverage, while others want to watch the whole tournament on TV.

Fans want coverage of the “whole tournament” 

The Masters tournament spans four days and takes about 12 hours and 30 minutes to complete all the rounds. This fan wants to watch the whole action on TV and said, “There should be coverage from the minute it starts until the last group ends. It’s ridiculous not to show full coverage.”

Despite receiving comments like “Normalize wire-to-wire coverage in Majors, you clowns!” this year the organizers only added an hour on Saturday and another 2 hours on paramount+. Witnessing this, another frustrated fan added, “NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!” Meanwhile, this fan simply expressed his mind about the broadcast, saying “Wall to Wall coverage!!” 

This fan talked about the rule of limited coverage that the Masters has where they provide a specific time frame to the NBC Golf Channel and European broadcasts to stream the tournament and said, “Thank God. The Masters was honestly the hardest tournament on the tour to follow because of the limited coverage.” However, they have now decided to tweak the rule a little bit and added one more hour on the third day of the tournament.

Because of the limited coverage rule, the broadcasting used to be between ESPN+ and Golf Channel. However, they have now added Paramount+ as well. This fan sarcastically talked about it, saying, “Looking forward to using 9 apps to watch a few rounds of golf.” Meanwhile, another suggested, “I wish they would just do all-day coverage on TV.” Just like the Open and US Open.” Highlighting that, instead of having this bizarre rule, the organizers should stream just like other majors so that people can enjoy the whole tournament.

What are your thoughts on this step? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!