ABC and ESPN will carry the final holes and championship presentation of this year’s Masters in the unlikely event that Sunday’s round runs past 4:00pm ET, according to several sources. The use of ABC and ESPN is not Augusta National’s only contingency plan should the tournament run long. CBS Sports Network, CBSSports.com and Masters.com also would carry live coverage in the event of an unexpectedly late ending. ABC's fellow Disney subsidiary ESPN holds rights to The Masters coverage today and Friday. CBS’ announcers and production crew still would be used even if the ending comes on ABC and ESPN. Still, it would be jarring to see the '20 Masters Champion crowned on a channel other than CBS, which has carried every Masters tourney since '56.
CBS and Augusta National created a schedule that make such contingency plans highly unlikely. They built in more than an hour cushion between the tournament’s projected ending time and the 4:00pm start of CBS’ NFL schedule, which includes three regional games (Bills-Cardinals, Broncos-Raiders and Chargers-Dolphins). The tournament could go past 4:00 with any significant weather-related delay, though forecasts do not call for rain in Augusta over the weekend. A prolonged playoff also could push the tournament past 4:00.
If the tournament’s finale extends to Monday, CBS would carry it. CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus addressed this possibility during a teleconference earlier this week. “We do have quite a bit of pad in between the final putt and when NFL football starts,” he said. “But we’ll be ready and we’ll work with our partners as we always do and figure it out.”
