#MSBLFriday411 – A new formula for golf?

As with a lot of what we’ve been experiencing…this last Memorial Day weekend was an experience unlike any other. As the country slowly crawls out of lockdown, it altered most people’s plans…but in a way set up a unique marketing and engagement opportunity for professional golf with a large segment of the population craving some new viewing. Viewers, both golfers and non-golfers, had the chance to watch “Capital One: The Match Champions for Charity,” which pitted Tiger Woods and Payton Manning against their on the field/course rivals Phil Mickelson, and Tom Brady, may have just provided the sport of golf the new formula it needs to keep itself fresh and attractive on an ever-increasingly crowded media landscape.

The idea for this year’s event was born in 2018, with the first “The Match” when it pitted Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in a unique one-on-one single day 18-hole match with a winner-take-all prize of $9 million at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Interestingly enough, this event was set-up to be jointly owned by Mickelson and Woods, who pay a fee to the PGA Tour for the ability to broadcast and promote the event. “The Match” was an attempted modified reboot of “The Skins Game,” which was an unofficial event on the PGA Tour from 1983 – to – 2008. It was canceled in 2009 when the title sponsor (LG) pulled out, as well as the Tiger-centric series “Monday Night Golf,” which was discontinued after 2012.

While the first “The Match,” won by the underdog Mickelson, was a viewing success it was overshadowed by two significant black eyes to the presentation:

• The original pay-per-view model of the event, and platform, had such significant issues that eventually the event was shown for free with refunds being issued to those who already paid

• The 18-hole event ended with the players all-square, and after the first playoff hole (due to darkness), the production set up a makeshift 93-yard Par 3 hole that was able to be lit and both players played it twice more before Mickelson finally won on the third attempt.

The second version of “The Match,” planned initially to be still a fundraiser for charity, featuring Woods, Mickelson, Manning, and Brady, to kick-off the 2020 PGA Tour Season; however, when the entire sports world was put on pause, the decision was made to shift this event earlier in hopes of using it as a tool to fundraise for relief efforts. With the move to make this a charity event, and difficulties with a pay-per-view format prior, it was decided that the event would be broadcast free on TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN.

In a stroke of luck for the new version of “The Match,” it was reported on May 8th that Turner had said its entire advertising inventory for the event sold out, underscoring what the return of sports means to the advertising world after being without for two-plus months. Turner reported besides Capital One’s title sponsorship; the other following corporations had secured space on the broadcast:

· Audi of America

· Michelob Ultra

· Progressive

· Cisco

· DraftKings

· Callaway

· E-Z-Go

· Wheels Up

· AT&T

· HBO Max

After all was said and done, by multiple media metrics, “The Match: Champions for Charity” was an overwhelming success. Front Office Sports reported that, with 5.8 million viewers, it became the most-watched golf event ever on cable TV. It was the number one trending topic on Twitter, 5 million social engagements, and 172 million impressions for content leading up to and during the event, and 38 million video views on Bleacher Report digital and social platforms. The most critical metric, of course, is the $20 million raised for charity during the event.

Here is just a small sample of the social media “magic moments” of the event which drew both online and real-time reactions (notice the level of engagement on these posts):

· Tom Brady’s miracle hole-out from the middle of the fairway to just tie the hole which not only drew feedback from fans across the country online (including Patrick Mahomes) it included some excellent broadcast banter between Brady and Charles Barkley (one of the studio commentators)

…it, unfortunately, was one of the few highlights for Brady which included some real-time “shade” being thrown by (now) NFC South Division Rival Head Coach Sean Payton

Of course, who could forget Brady’s (perhaps) most notable lowlight from the event which he seemed to take in stride later in the broadcast:

But, what I’m sure got the producers and fans really excited was seeing comments like this from stars watching the event:

Those flames were even further fanned by Mickelson, as reported on in the New York Post, he talked about how he (and by extension Woods one is to assume) feel there is a definite interest in more of these matches continuing to involve starts from other sports. Sunday’s match, by including the star quarterbacks’, drew in more non-golf fans because of their presence plus the ability to feature some personality too with each player mic’d up for the entire round, plus the presence of fellow tour professional Justin Thomas on the course providing commentary. One also can’t forget the notable call-ins to the program, including JJ Watt and Brooks Koepka, who provided their twist on analysis for the event as well as interaction with the golfers too.

“I think you could showcase guys like Steph Curry and Michael Jordan or Tony Romo and Patrick Mahomes, who are all good golfers, elite talents, and have great personalities…Those personalities are going to come out with this event…Or you could have someone who loves the game and is competitive but is really entertaining like Larry David and Bill Murray, I think that could shine.” - Phil Mickelson

Overall the second version of ‘The Match’ seemed to discover the winning formula for making the event an attractive media event, having learned from the last one. Now golf fans, and sports fans in general, are left to sit and wait for the next installment of the event (myself included) as the entertainment, on-course banter, and give-back aspect to the event made it one of my personal favorite sports events I’ve watched in a while. I also suspect that with the involvement of other non-golf celebrities in the event, it will help golf gain a foothold for media attention that’s been needing these last couple of years with lack of a real dominant media presence.