PGA agrees to nine-year deal with CBS, NBC

In a move that refutes the idea television networks are interested in only one golfer and that they would be wary until Tiger Woods returns to form, the PGA Tour announced Thursday that it has extended its agreements with CBS and NBC through the next 10 years.

The schedules will be pretty much the same as they are now, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said during a news conference at the Deutsche Bank Championship. CBS still will cover about 20 events a season and NBC about 10 (the rest will be on Golf Channel, which is now under the NBC umbrella).

Finchem and the heads of the two network sports divisions declined to give money figures about the nine-year extension, which will follow the one year remaining on the current contract. The commissioner did say that the rights fees will increase under the new deal, as will prize money for golfers. CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus and NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus both said the contract will be profitable for their networks every year.

The announcement occurred while Woods, winless since the SUV crash outside his Florida home on Thanksgiving night in 2009, still is struggling with his game. He missed much of the season because of injuries and did not qualify for the tour's FedEx Cup playoffs, which began last weekend with The Barclays in Edison, N.J., and is continuing with the Deutsche Bank outside Boston.

Fellow pro Rocco Mediate this week blasted Woods' current and previous swing coaches, telling the San Francisco Chronicle that the teachings of Hank Haney and Sean Foley represent "complete and absolute destruction." He called the situation "sad."

Mediate said that the sport needs Woods, an opinion widely held in golf circles. Television ratings are clearly larger when Woods is in contention. But the CBS and NBC packages indicate that network TV is willing to commit to the PGA Tour, regardless of whether Woods ever is dominant again.

"Fans clearly have taken increasingly to the nature of our competition over the last couple years and in doing so have re-instilled confidence in our sport that might have been waning when our No. 1 player was not that active two of the last four years," Finchem said. "There is such tremendous buzz and focus on this juxtaposition of Tiger and Phil [Mickelson] and other mature, veteran players against this huge increase in young players who are coming forward and are able to win tournaments at every level."

Although golf's TV ratings represent only a fraction of those for major team sports, especially football, Finchem said that the golf audience "has huge buying power" and that "we rank No. 1 in terms of the appetite for digital applications."

Digital content is a big component in the new TV package, Finchem said. The tour recently ended its ban on cell phones at tournaments, so spectators can follow the telecast or watch other streaming video while they are at the course.