The U.S. Golf Association is considering putting its cable television rights out for bid by exercising an option to open up its contract with ESPN two years before it expires.
The rights package includes the U.S. Open and six other events, and has not been on the market in decades, with ESPN televising the early rounds of the U.S. Open since 1982.
"We're looking to see if there are other opportunities out there," said the USGA's director of broadcasting, Mark Carlson. He would not comment further.
NBC's broadcast deal with the USGA through 2006 is not affected by the possible movement on the cable side.
The USGA has until Sept. 1 to inform ESPN if it intends to exercise its option. It already has commenced talks with other interested parties, including Turner Broadcasting, USA Network and The Golf Channel.
The talks have been preliminary in nature, and no dollar figures have been discussed, sources said. There is a chance the USGA will break out the U.S. Open separately, which an executive at one of the interested networks said would likely fetch $4 million to $5 million a year.
The other component of the deal would include the U.S. Women's Open as well as the U.S. Senior Open.
The entire rights package is thought to cost ESPN more than $10 million a year, said executives from two television networks.
With most networks looking to spend less, not more, on sports events rights fees, it may not be great timing for the USGA to seek a new deal. Ratings for golf are in decline and the golf advertising market is lagging that of all other sports programming, so getting a deal better than ESPN's may be a long shot.
That logic isn't lost on the USGA. That's why the organization is trying to get a better read on the market before making a final decision as to whether to open the deal up.
NBA MAKE-GOODS FOR "MNF": Advertisers who bought commercial time during the NBA Finals will be offered free units during "Monday Night Football" telecasts this fall, making up for ratings shortfalls from the NBA.
The six-game Finals averaged a 6.5 household rating on ABC, well short of the 11.5 guaranteed to advertisers. Some free spots were filled during Game 6, but most advertisers are still waiting for make-goods. They are owed on average 5 ratings points a spot.
Providing the free units is a complicated process. Although ABC Sports and ESPN have a joint sales team, the NBA broadcasts are an ESPN time buy on ABC's books. That means all the ad dollars from the NBA Finals go to ESPN's profits and losses, and ABC just collects a flat fee from ESPN.
In order to fulfill its commitment to advertisers, ESPN essentially will have to buy commercial time from ABC during "Monday Night Football."
ABC'S NHL SCHEDULE ALMOST DONE: ABC will complete its NHL schedule for next season, 
its last under the current five-year contract, in the next several weeks. It is expected to continue airing regular-season games on five weekend afternoons, doing three regional games at once.
The NBA schedule won't be prepared for a few more weeks, but the network is already making decisions regarding which teams to feature and the number of games.
A source said ABC will probably add a handful of NBA games to its regular-season schedule but not make any radical additions. In terms of teams, the usual suspects, Western Conference powers Los Angeles, Dallas, Sacramento and champion San Antonio, will play a prominent role. Houston and Yao Ming also will likely make the cut for national broadcast television on a few occasions next season, something the team didn't do this past season.
Still on the fence is New Jersey. If it holds onto Jason Kidd, the two-time Eastern Conference champion will probably get a few national games. Without Kidd or a suitable replacement, the Nets are relegated to a lower status. Unlikely to break into broadcast television this season are LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. ABC's schedule doesn't begin until Christmas Day, and by then the Cavs may be out of playoff contention.
EMPIRE FUTURE ON HOLD: Adelphia Communications still hasn't made a decision regarding the future of Empire Sports Network, the Buffalo-based regional sports network it owns.
Adelphia has indicated that Empire will be reorganized, but it has not said whether that means pulling the plug on the network.
The decision may depend on the carriage deal it works out with Time Warner Cable, which accounted for roughly half of Empire's subscriber base of 1.5 million homes until Time Warner moved the service off analog cable and onto a digital tier.
Adelphia and Time Warner never negotiated a new carriage deal, as Adelphia's management, trying to guide Adelphia through bankruptcy proceedings, has been concerned with other matters. If in the end Empire doesn't return to basic cable, it would mean cutting the network's affiliate revenue nearly in half.
Empire has an additional four years to go in a rights deal with the Buffalo Sabres that pays the team about $6.5 million a season. Should Empire go under before next season, one of the three New York City-based regional sports networks would likely pick up the team.
Andy Bernstein can be reached at abernstein@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
