The PGA Tour's planned schedule changes for '19 has caused new speculation that the Tour "might choose not to return to TPC Boston" after '18, according to Kevin Paul Dupont of the BOSTON GLOBE. The Dell Technologies Championship teed off Friday, marking the "15th year in a row" the Tour has played in Boston. However, the Tour has an "ever-increasing desire to wrap up its schedule each year before football, particularly the NFL, kidnaps the TV viewing public." Golfer Jordan Spieth said, "It’s very much up in the air. There’s still the chance that we would (play) up here every other year or something. So there’s still a lot of options available. There’s not much set in stone right now." Dupont notes it is widely believed the FedExCup could "trim its playoffs from four tournaments to three" in order to conclude the season on Labor Day weekend, and the stop in Boston would be the "likely casualty." One scenario could have Boston "placed in a rotation to share playoff dates with New York and Chicago" in which it would host an August FedExCup Playoffs stop "every third year." Dell Technologies Championship Tournament Dir Rich Brady said, "There’s a lot of variables at play before that schedule is ultimately released. Our sole focus has been on this year’s tournament. We’ll start to plan next year’s tournament after this one is done, but we want this to be a great experience for Dell’s first time out." Dupont notes the Tour's proposed changes "pointed toward the Olympic Games as much of the impetus behind its thought process." However, should the schedule changes take the Tour out of Boston, it will be the "behemoth NFL, along college football dominating TV viewing on Saturdays, that truly drove the decision" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/1).
