PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan yesterday worked his first full day as head of the organization, and he said that "one of his priorities will be to expand" golf's appeal "beyond its base," according to Brian Costa of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. How much he is "willing to tinker with a stable business in pursuit of new fans remains to be seen." Monahan said, "What are the ways that we can evolve to be relevant to broader audiences? Over the next year or two, you’ll see us be more aggressive in that area." Costa notes the PGA Tour is "trying to rearrange the golf calendar in a way that would maximize attention on the sport during the months when the NFL is not in season." That "means moving the Players Championship from May to March, moving the PGA Championship from August to May and ending the FedEx Cup playoffs on Labor Day weekend." Monahan: "That’s certainly something that we would like to see happen. Having big events every month, culminating in the FedEx Cup playoffs in August prior to the NFL season, that would be a very powerful schedule." Monahan acknowledged that a schedule change is "unlikely to happen" in '18. Meanwhile, the Tour's broadcast agreements with CBS, NBC and Golf Channel run through '21, but it "can opt out of the CBS and NBC deals" in '18, and Monahan would "not rule out the possibility that it will do so." The Tour has also explored the possibility of starting its own cable network, but Monahan said that it is "not necessarily determined to do so." He added that it would "make sense for the Tour to gain partial ownership of a network as part of its next broadcast rights agreements, rather than simply selling those rights for cash." Meanwhile, Monahan said that he is "in talks with potential sponsors" for a joint PGA Tour-LPGA event that would "have men and women compete in the same field" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/4).
LAYING OUT HIS VISION: Monahan said there is "merit to, and it's logical to think, that we would be looking at completing our season prior to the start of the NFL season, finishing our Playoffs and ending with a bang." He said, "While we continue to operate under our existing schedule, we're always thinking about what are the ways that we can improve our product, and that's potentially one way. But it's complicated. We've got a number of partners and a number of tournaments and we've got to look at this holistically." He added, "I really don't hear that much about the wraparound schedule. I hear a lot of positives about the wraparound schedule, but I don't get a lot of questions about why or whether it's working" (PGATOUR.com, 1/3). However, Golf Channel's Geoff Shackelford said Monahan has a "lot of things to work through" regarding the schedule, as former PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem "left a situation that, let's be frank, has some problems." Meanwhile, Shackelford called the idea of moving the PGA Championship to May "bold." He said, "I like the thinking because it really is about getting golf back on the television screen of the golf fans and getting the playoffs done before the NFL season starts. I love that kind of bold thinking. I'll be impressed if he can pull it off" (“Golf Central,” Golf Channel, 1/3).
