Monday, April 28, 2008

You Mean I Have to Stay Up for the Open?

We all know that the US Open is being played at Torrey Pines this year. And, that Torrey Pines is in San Diego in the Pacific time zone. That means that the east coast is three hours ahead of the action at the Open this year. That doesn't mean that East Coast Bias does not apply to tournament scheduling, too. As it turns out, the USGA - based in Far Hills, NJ - wants to end the Open in primetime...east coast time.

NBC Sports will take advantage of a West Coast location to air the final round of this year’s U.S. Open golf tournament in primetime.

The championship is scheduled to air 4-10 p.m. EDT June 14 from Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif. It will be the first time the U.S. Open has been scheduled to air in primetime.

NBC Sports president Ken Schanzer said that the network sees a ratings bump when the Open tournament bleeds into primetime, as it did in 2002 when the event on Long Island lasted until 8:40 p.m. EDT, delivering the best Sunday rating ever. This year will be different because the second of golf’s majors will occupy most of primetime and already outrates primetime when it airs in the afternoon.
I am guessing that 10pm is just a guess and that, with 6 hour rounds in the cards, we are looking at an 11pm finish.

2 comments:

Hound Dog said...

So if it goes to a Monday 18-hole playoff, will NBC show the end of that in primetime too?

I'm being facetious. Of course they won't. Golf Channel should really root for that playoff!

The Florida Masochist said...

HD,

NBC would put the playoff in prime-time if its Tiger vs someone, Mickelson for sure.

Now if its Daniel Chopra vs. Arjun Atwal, NBC would run re-runs of Laugh-in before putting the playoff in prime time.