Why the PGA of America and NBC extended their media rights deal

CBS’s long-standing partnership with the Masters (rightfully so) is being hailed as the golf TV handshake deal, but it’s certainly not a deal. only one.

NBC’s partnership with the Ryder Cup has spanned three decades, and on Monday afternoon, the network and the PGA of America announced it will continue for a fourth, announcing an extension of media rights that will extend beyond the 2033 Ryder Cup at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

The expansion of the partnership – which includes a related agreement with USA Sports, the current owners/operators of the Golf Channel – extends the PGA of America’s long-standing relationship with NBC, the network that has played a major role in building the Ryder Cup from one of golf’s showcases into a sustainable commercial and economic behemoth. two of golf’s major governing bodies, the PGA of America and the DP World Tour.

Few golf fans know that the Ryder Cup owes a debt of gratitude to golf’s friends in Major League Baseball, and its network partners at NBC, for injecting a jolt of energy and financial success into the event. After all, it was former MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti who opened the door for the Ryder Cup to NBC by parting ways with the network in the winter of 1988 — and it was NBC who seized a new window of opportunity by signing a strategic deal with the Ryder Cup in 1990, paving the way for the elite. War by the Shore to capture the hearts and minds of golf fans across the country, dramatically increasing the economic impact of the Cup in the process.

As GOLF.com first profiled back in 2023, newcomer to NBC’s Dick Ebersol Sports department was the first network executive to see the potential of the Ryder Cup as a television business. His name was Jon Miller, and he got a chance to play golf for NBC. At the time, the network had several PGA Tour telecasts, but no major tournaments. While the Ryder Cup wasn’t “big” in the traditional sense, it provided a lot of stuff that made for compelling golf (and sports) television: two hot rivals, a badass group of American underdogs, and a respectable group of European underdogs who had won three straight editions of the cup.

Cup again had something compelling for NBC: a lack of traditional TV partners capable of NBC’s broader cultural impact. A partnership that could be beneficial to both sides of the negotiating table: a new TV spot for the Ebersol sports department (which was suddenly owned), and a new TV partner for the PGA of America.

Ebersol liked Miller’s idea, and before long the contract was inked. When the American team won in dramatic fashion the following fall at Kiawah Island, the trophy became the talk of the sport, and the NBC deal went from ink to ink.

While NBC’s hold over the Cup may not be considered as ironclad or as large as CBS and the Masters (which will the seventh ten years in 2026), the network and the PGA of America have maintained a close relationship in the decades since that first Ryder Cup. While Ryder Cup rights he can goes anywhere – especially as one event with huge commercial potential – it’s a testament to the strength of the relationship and the residual interest from that first jump in 1990 that NBC remains the partner of choice.

For NBC, the announcement provides an interesting window into the latest state of the network’s golf partnership, which has come under heavy scrutiny as Peacock continues to add sports programming by the truckload. NBC’s growth strategy in these broadcast years appears to be predicated on the strength of its TV sports rights, which have proven to be one of the few constants in a collapsing media economy — and the explosion of new rights at NBC (including, ironically, the return of Major League Baseball) has led some to question golf’s long-term viability.

The PGA of America deal will give NBC Cup rights through 2033, extending a year beyond NBC’s existing deal with the USGA, which will provide US Open coverage through 2032, and three years beyond the network’s existing deal with the PGA Tour, which expires in 2030.