We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Fox Gives Up US Open Rights

For some reason this move by Fox does not surprise me.

I had this notion that sporting events with no fans in attendance, would not be worth televising.

I have no real real reason for my opinion, other than without fans in attendance, it's not a real sporting event. It's just a bunch people going to work.
 
Jeff Spicoli said:
I'm really surprised Fox would give it up unless the economics didn't make sense or they didn't think they could safely pull it off. Outside of Nascar and news coverage, there is other live coverage that seems relevant right now and I would think a sports broadcaster would be jumping at any opportunity for live coverage.
Click to expand...
Nappy said:
Really surprised by this - I thought Fox was on the right track. Maybe Joe Buck got tired of it.
Click to expand...

I read that the decision was affected by FOX's desire to have the Open on FS1 as opposed to FOX because would be airing NFL games on Sunday. Football is way more important to FOX than the US Open. The USGA didn't want it on FS1.
 
Bernoulli said:
I read that the decision was affected by FOX's desire to have the Open on FS1 as opposed to FOX because would be airing NFL games on Sunday. Football is way more important to FOX than the US Open. The USGA didn't want it on FS1.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. We will see if football gets played though.
 
I surprised so many are unhappy, I think it's great, FOX was terrible with all that macho football style golf commentary, I usually had the sound off.

For me this is good news!
 
Last edited:
Bernoulli said:
I read that the decision was affected by FOX's desire to have the Open on FS1 as opposed to FOX because would be airing NFL games on Sunday. Football is way more important to FOX than the US Open. The USGA didn't want it on FS1.
Click to expand...

that makes a ton of sense, but getting out of it for the rest of the deal for 1 year complication is still wild. My guess is the ROI on televising what, 4 golf events wasn't close to what they wanted it to be. give it to NBC who is already covering a multitude of golf events.
 
The best part of the USGA/Fox contract was the spotlight on the non-US Open USGA tourneys. Fox could put them on FS1 - even if you didn't care about the event, you could see some really cool courses that you never saw on tv. Did Fox keep those? If not, hopefully golf channel will be picking them up?
 
mancest said:
that makes a ton of sense, but getting out of it for the rest of the deal for 1 year complication is still wild. My guess is the ROI on televising what, 4 golf events wasn't close to what they wanted it to be. give it to NBC who is already covering a multitude of golf events.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree regarding the 1 year aberration of the relationship caused by the Open scheduled to be played in competition with the NFL. There has to more to this. It is true that maybe FOX has buyers remorse about televising Golf, but why is the USGA letting them off the hook and taking less money from NBC?

I think that we would need to have a complete understanding of the terms of the contract between FOX and the USGA to fully comprehend the decision to terminate the contract and for the USGA to accept less money from NBC.
 
Damn that kind of sucks. NBC needs to step up their game. Hope/wonder if fox will look to pick up other coverage though
 
Bernoulli said:
I definitely agree regarding the 1 year aberration of the relationship caused by the Open scheduled to be played in competition with the NFL. There has to more to this. It is true that maybe FOX has buyers remorse about televising Golf, but why is the USGA letting them off the hook and taking less money from NBC?

I think that we would need to have a complete understanding of the terms of the contract between FOX and the USGA to fully comprehend the decision to terminate the contract and for the USGA to accept less money from NBC.
Click to expand...

Oh for sure, without knowing the details it is all speculation but I remember thinking fox was overpaying for it when they bought the rights and maybe they thought they would get more ratings out of the Women's open and the amateurs they televised. Curious if NBC will be televising them or not.
 
I am bummed. Fox had the most technological broadcasts. Not going to miss Joe Buck but I am sure NBC is going to stink...

Sounds like Fox was not making any money though so, why keep doing it?
 
So this is mixed for me - I hated the majority of the Fox broadcast - but I did enjoy that they were TRYING something new instead of sticking to the same old same old. So it was neat to see what new thing they came up with the next time.

At least I'll be able to listen to the commentary (and there'll be TON i'm sure)
 
Bummer for sure. I liked FOX.

The only plus side is now the entire USGA should be on Golf Channel in the AM and NBC/NBCSports in the afternoon? I don't remember if FOX carried the entire round, they might've on a different network but I don't remember.
 
Bernoulli said:
I read that the decision was affected by FOX's desire to have the Open on FS1 as opposed to FOX because would be airing NFL games on Sunday. Football is way more important to FOX than the US Open. The USGA didn't want it on FS1.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but seems like a tough price to pay for 1 sunday game. I believe its a multi year contract, so must have been more than the return from one NFL game that may or may not get played.
 
Jmk202 said:
Yeah, but seems like a tough price to pay for 1 sunday game. I believe its a multi year contract, so must have been more than the return from one NFL game that may or may not get played.
Click to expand...

Having a very good understanding of contracts and the law, I can only assume that FOX wanted out of the contract that runs until 2026. I can also assume that there was some provision in the contract that allows them to terminate the agreement under specified circumstances. Without knowledge of the contract terms, I can only speculate as to what the provisions may be. But, there is some reason why the USGA is allowing them FOX to terminate the agreement and why the USGA would go with NBC. FOX was legally bound to pay them X dollars until 2026.

So, I know why FOX wanted out: it was a bad deal (overpaid significantly for the rights to televise USGA events). I don’t know why the USGA is letting them off the hook legally and accepting less money from NBC.
 
My guess would be that the USGA didn't want FOX shifting coverage to FS1 and FS2 which is in far fewer housholds. The contract was also to show other USGA events and amatuers. SOme of the innivations hopefully will move over and for the USGA they can get a lot more events on TV with NBC owning the Golf channel. And I would not be surprised if FOX didn't have to buy its way out or pay the difference.
 
j_sizzle9 said:
Bummer on this one. I thought the Fox coverage, while different, was a breath of fresh air and a nice change from the week to week coverage we see.
Click to expand...


BoilerCLE said:
The best part of the USGA/Fox contract was the spotlight on the non-US Open USGA tourneys. Fox could put them on FS1 - even if you didn't care about the event, you could see some really cool courses that you never saw on tv. Did Fox keep those? If not, hopefully golf channel will be picking them up?
Click to expand...

I think this may be part of the problem. I do not understand the anti Joe Buck bias! He learned the game and commented on it quite well. And those of you who seek to deny that are hoist on your own petard!

I think that it may come down to the schedule change, and the fact that Fox was willing to go whole hog, televising amateur championships as well as pro, and paying a ton of money to do all that. I think that it bit them in the ass!
 
As many rightfully said before me, at least this means we are rid of Joe Buck, he is the absolute worst. As we walked Pebble last year, anytime someone hit a poor shot, the battle cry in our group was “thanks for nothing Joe Buck, you SOB!”
 
If they stay with the expanded shot tracer commitment and bring along Brad Faxon in an expanded role I won't complain too much. Would not hate seeing Shane Bacon continue to be part of the coverage either.
 
Joe Buck is terrible at football
Joe Buck is terrible at baseball
Joe Buck is terrible at golf

Broadcasts will be much more enjoyable
 
No more Joe Buck, who just didn't seem to "get" golf. Hopefully no more Paul Azinger, either. But without Johnny Miller, I'm not going to give NBC a thumbs up just yet.
 
RecGolfer said:
No more Joe Buck, who just didn't seem to "get" golf. Hopefully no more Paul Azinger, either. But without Johnny Miller, I'm not going to give NBC a thumbs up just yet.
Click to expand...
Azinger is NBC's lead analyst now, so I'm sure he'll still be there. Hopefully, Faxon won't make the jump.
 
Bernoulli said:
I read that the decision was affected by FOX's desire to have the Open on FS1 as opposed to FOX because would be airing NFL games on Sunday. Football is way more important to FOX than the US Open. The USGA didn't want it on FS1.
Click to expand...
Still seems strange to pay out all future years for just one scheduling issue this year. There must be more to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top