Canadian Tour Commissioner Jacques Burelle yesterday
announced the tour's first TV deal, a ten-year agreement
with Orlando-based The Golf Channel (TGC) "that will see as
many as six" Canadian events played in the U.S., according
to Chris Zelkovich of the TORONTO STAR. TGC will carry four
events in 2001 and six per year "for the duration of the
deal." Burelle said the tour will increase its prize money
C$1M, which "will come from a combination" of TV rights and
sponsorships, and "enhance the tour's chances of securing a
full-time sponsor." The U.S.-based events will be known as
the Canadian Tour, but Burelle said that could change "if we
get a tour title sponsor" (TORONTO STAR, 5/19). TGC
President & CEO Joe Gibbs, on the Canadian Tour: "We
anticipate ratings will be comparable to the BUY.COM Tour
(formerly the Nike Tour) and some LPGA events. (But) our
ratings are fairly classified. We only give them to our
advertisers" (TORONTO SUN, 5/19). The NATIONAL POST's John
Gordon writes, "Some critics will moan about why it took a
U.S. network to televise Canadian golf, but that argument is
... suspect. ... Unless it's a PGA or LPGA event, sponsors
aren't going to queue up. More than three million Canadians
subscribe to TGC. Even if that number watched a Canadian
Tour event on a Canadian network, the total would be a
fraction of those who would watch it on TGC worldwide. Now
that attracts sponsors" (NATIONAL POST, 5/19).
