By BETH ANN BALDRY
Senior Writer
KAHUKU, Hawaii – When it comes to television coverage, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens puts one attribute above everything else: A regular home for its tournaments. The tour’s product has never been better, she says, and fans should be able to find it.
To that end, the LPGA announced Feb. 11 an unprecedented 10-year partnership with the Golf Channel – making the tour the first stand-alone women’s sports organization to receive a rights fee agreement for domestic broadcast coverage.
“We’re not going to talk about any of the details about that,” Bivens (pictured above) said, “but it is ground-breaking.”
Beginning in 2010, Golf Channel will provide fans virtual one-stop shopping for domestic events. It will broadcast start-to-finish coverage of most domestic events, including one major championship, and international feeds of LPGA global events. In addition, Golf Channel will show early-round coverage of tournaments that will have weekend coverage on other networks. It also will continue to broadcast the Solheim Cup.
As many as six other official events – including one major – likely will be packaged and offered to one or two networks. LPGA officials didn’t provide details as to how the TV deals for these tournaments would be structured.
Historically, the LPGA has bought time, rather than receive rights fees, for its domestic events. The Golf Channel partnership marks a significant change for the tour and quickly won praise from players.
Michelle Ellis, the newly-elected president of the players executive committee, regularly receives phone calls from fans on Thursdays asking one question: What station are you on this week?
Last year the answer could’ve been ESPN2, GC, TNT or any of the three major networks. ESPN2 televised eight events from start to finish in 2008.
“The staff has worked overtime on this,” Ellis said. “It’s just an historic moment for all of us.”
When asked how much the LPGA’s coverage would be live and how much would be tape-delayed, Golf Channel President Page Thompson said it was “a little early to go into detail on that.”
Ellis isn’t concerned at all about the LPGA potentially taking a backseat to PGA Tour coverage each Sunday.
“It doesn’t really matter what time of the day it’s going to come on,” Ellis said. “If you’re a big fan of something, like myself in Australia staying up to watch the Super Bowl ...”
Said Paula Creamer: “To be able to be on a network week in, week out is very important. It’s good for the game of women’s golf.
The Golf Channel’s existing five-year deal with the LPGA expires at the end of 2009. It will continue to broadcast 12 regular-season LPGA events this year as well as the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and Solheim Cup.
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Beth Ann Baldry is a Golfweek senior writer. To reach her e-mail bbaldry@golfweek.com.
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