Fox Sports and the USGA "shot down whispers that they wouldn't mind an early end” to their broadcast deal, which has 10 years remaining on it, according to Ron Sirak of GOLF DIGEST. Sources said that "tensions between the USGA and Fox increased after the network's aggressive handling of rules controversies" at the '16 U.S. Open and the U.S. Women's Open. Sources added that there was also "significant dissatisfaction within the USGA" over the fact that Fox and FS1 "did not take advantage of a West Coast venue for the Women's Open to push the broadcast deep into East Coast prime time, bringing the women's game much-needed exposure." When the 12-year deal worth a reported $1.1B deal was announced in August ’13, the financial gamble for Fox "made sense." The net "needed content for FS1,” which launched the same month. While the contract was “expected to lose money initially,” the hope was that it would “prove worth the price over 12 years by driving viewers to FS1, generating subscriber fees." One reason then-USGA President Glen Nager picked Fox over NBC/Golf Channel was because of the "expectation the new platform would reach new fans." However, Sirak notes it feels “like that hasn't happened." During the first round of the '16 Women's Open, FS1 left the broadcast to cover a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race although the “glamour group of Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson still had six holes to play." Then, both weekend rounds were "played in threesomes off two tees, which did not please most players but allowed for an early finish that let Fox broadcast baseball on Saturday and pick up its regularly scheduled prime-time programming on Sunday." The USGA and Fox said that although the ratings were "unimpressive, the number of eyes that experienced the product increased because of more hours on the air and because of the other devices viewers use to see the product” (GOLF DIGEST, 2/ '17 issue).
