This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to most sports fans and many will probably think that I’m making much ado about nothing, but I find it highly ridiculous and inappropriate of NBC to make the PGA Tour move up the tee times for the third round of their FedEx Cup Playoffs event the BMW Championship because the network wants the round completed by 2:30 p.m., when the Notre Dame/Michigan State game is set to kick off on the network.
I know that NBC has shown Notre Dame home games dating back to 1991, and they are somewhat considered America’s team because of this (though I doubt many non-Notre Dame fans care at this point, because of how poorly Notre Dame has played of late or rather of long), but shouldn’t PGA Tour playoffs trump week three of the college football season? Especially when the matchup is likely going to see the network’s beloved Fighting Irish start the season 0-3 to the number 15 ranked Spartans.
Some would say that this move by NBC is good in that it will give fans the chance to see both events. Others will say that the football game will draw more viewers and ratings are all that is important to networks. I can’t disagree with both of these aspects, because, well, they’re true.
However, I do think that NBC’s decision to almost force the PGA Tour to schedule their tee times earlier, so that the tournament could end by 2:30 is degrading to the PGA Tour and the sport of golf. By the way, NBC has known about this scheduling issue for months now, so why did they just bring it up late in the week? Also, why couldn’t they just start the Notre Dame/Michigan State game on their sister sports network Versus?
If I were PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem I would’ve put my sport and athletes first over what the network carrying the coverage of it wanted. The PGA Tour doesn’t have to kowtow to NBC and Finchem should have told NBC Sports head Mark Lazarus tough. Yes, this may not sound like much of a deal to many fans, but NBC Sports effectively just told the PGA Tour and golf fans all around the country and world just how much the sport means to them, and that’s nothing in comparison to a relatively unimportant college football game.
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