CBS bullish about the future of golf on network TV, even if PGA Tour's schedule is a big unknown

CBS Sports begins its 69th consecutive year broadcasting the PGA Tour this weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open from Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, the first of 22 events on its schedule that includes the Masters, PGA Championship, six signature events and the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The network is coming off a year in which ratings for golf coverage increased almost across the board, but on Tuesday during a media conference call, considerable attention was directed towards the subject of what year 70 and beyond might look like for the tour’s primary television partner that traditionally airs the highest number of events.

“We're really excited for the season,” said David Berson, president and CEO of CBS Sports. “Interest and participation in golf is at an all-time high, including among young fans. [More] importantly, we're working very closely with Brian Rolapp, the tour's new CEO, as well as Jay [Monahan, PGA Tour commissioner]. Super excited for what's being discussed and explored for the future of the tour. We have such a great partnership dating back close to 70 years now as a leader in the sport. We're ready. We're really excited and looking forward to build on this momentum.”

Beyond speculation and a few insights from sources, little is known about what the tour is planning for a potential overhaul of the tour schedule. In August, Rolapp announced the formation of a Future Competition Committee headed up by 82-time tour winner Tiger Woods. “The purpose of this committee is pretty simple: we're going to design the best professional golf competitive model in the world for the benefit of PGA Tour fans, players and their partners,” Rolapp said at the Tour Championship. “It is aimed at a holistic re-look of how we compete on the tour. That is inclusive of regular season, postseason and offseason.”

Last month at the Hero World Challenge, Woods didn’t elaborate on the committee’s work beyond general terms. “We're trying to give the fans the best product we possibly can, and if we're able to give the fans the best product we can, I think we can make the players who have equity in the tour, we can give them more of that. So the financial windfall could be fantastic for everyone who's involved.” He added that numerous scheduling models have been torn up attempting to streamline the tour product.

Berson said that network partners, thrown a curve a few years ago when the tour introduced elevated (now signature) events, has been involved in the process of a new tour paradigm that undoubtedly condenses the season to bring the top players together more often while avoiding competition with the NFL from September through January.

A primary reason for CBS to be enthusiastically in support of the initiative is that limited-field signature events that feature most if not all of the top 50 tour players have generated higher ratings than non-signature events, a development, Berson said, is “somewhat logical, and the data supports that.

“We've been thrilled that we and other media partners have been asked to participate in conversations with Brian and Jay and Joe Gordon and John Henry [members of Strategic Sports Group that invested $1.5 billion in the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises] and Tiger Woods and Adam Scott because they know we too care immensely about this game, about this tour and about the future of it.”

He added that it’s not wise to jump to conclusions about what proposals are being put forth. “The fact that we've been asked to give our take, it means a lot to us because, again, we care so much about this. I'm not going to get into the specifics because that's for the tour to talk about more than us, but the concept of having events of more consequence and having events featuring the best players in the world, playing against each other more often is something that we and other media partners and the tour and the fans all should be excited about. … We're enthused about what the future could be.”

In addition to the 22 PGA Tour events on its slate, CBS will provide final-round coverage of four LPGA events.

With the NFL off this week before the Super Bowl on Feb. 8, the Farmers Insurance Open returns to a traditional Sunday finish after ending on Saturday with primetime telecasts the last two years to avoid a conflict with the AFC Championship Game.

"David discussed it really well. I have no idea where the schedule's going," said CBS golf anchor Jim Nantz, "but as long as the NFL has an open weekend ... this to me would be the number one piece of real estate you could have on the West Coast for television."

Perhaps one piece of the puzzle. Makes sense.