With seven sponsors paying a total of nearly $9M, and
USA Network paying "more than" $1M for the rights to first-
round coverage, NBC will take in "nearly" $3M after
production costs for its telecast of the Ryder Cup,
according to Dave Shedloski of GOLFWEEK. NBC paid the PGA
nearly $4.5M for rights to this year's event, "with that
figure jumping to an estimated" $7M starting in '99.
Karsten Manufacturing's Dir of Communications Bob Cantin:
"From a (ad) buying standpoint, the Ryder Cup ranks right up
there with the majors." NBC's second round coverage will be
tape delayed on Saturday from 12:00pm-6:00pm ET, while
Sunday's final round will pick up the matches live in
progress from 8:30am-12:30pm (GOLFWEEK, 9/20 issue).
MORE FROM THE CUP: USA Network will carry the first-
round on Friday from 8:00am-6:00pm ET (USA)....IBM is
offering two official World Wide Web sites, with the U.S.
site at www.rydercup.com, and the European site at
www.97rydercup.com. The sites feature a custom scoring
program which allows users to launch a second browser to
follow matches in progress (IBM).
