Show me the video! Please! Yes, I'm begging you, anyone, send me the video of the final round of the LPGA Championship. You see, I didn't get to see the final round. No, it wasn't because I was playing golf, or, heaven forbid, working. It's because the cable system we are hooked up to this summer does not include The Golf Channel. The "what's" and the "why's" of all that are another story. The real question is why was the television coverage of a major championship delivered on a subscriber channel instead of a major network? Well, I think I have the answer, if we can assume that a report in Golf World is correct. According to GW, it's a matter of economics and, when you clear away the economic jargon and the corporate speak, it's all pretty simple.
In their television dealings with the networks the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour have a totally different relationship. In short the PGA Tour gets paid by the networks to televise golf, but the LPGA Tour has to pay the networks to televise golf. The LPGA must then turn around and sell advertising time. Basically, if they don't sell more advertising than they paid the network, they lose money. So it all boils down to which network, or in this case which (golf) channel, presents the best deal. If I remember the numbers correctly, the networks wanted over $1 million to do the broadcast, but TGC was only $300,000. You know which way the LPGA went despite the fact that it was a major championship.
But the problem is exposure. Even though the LPGA has got the goods (and this week in particular with Michelle Wie playing), it is still struggling for recognition. Deciding not to televise one of its four major championships on one of the major networks certainly does not help. How low is the exposure? Fox Sports on the MSN Homepage on Monday morning June 12, 2006 decided to place results from the NBA and NASCAR (perhaps legitimate), the World Cup (between Mexico and Iran), and the French Open (between two non-Americans), ahead of the LPGA Championship.
I ask you: Is the LPGA becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of the sports world? Please submit your answers with a video copy of the final round.
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