Terry Duffy in June on the World Golf Corridor of Fame induction ceremony.
Getty Photographs
NAPLES, Fla. — Terry Duffy, whose firm sponsors the LPGA’s season-ending occasion and is accountable for its report prize fund, says ought to different companies be interested by an analogous transfer, no, he wouldn’t inform them something.
He’d present them.
The CEO of the CME Group mentioned he’s even accomplished so earlier than.
“I’d been requested when Mike Whan was nonetheless the commissioner of the LPGA — and I talked to Mike yesterday; he’s an incredible buddy — he requested me, he had a sponsor that was interested by dipping their toes in,” Duffy mentioned. “And he mentioned, will you discuss to them? And I mentioned, no, however I’ll let you know what I’ll do: I’ll host them. And I introduced them right here and I confirmed them what we had.
“And generally whenever you take a look at it and see it and have a touchy-feely versus simply somebody telling you, that is actually good, your shopper goes to find it irresistible, and also you go, it feels like I’m being pitched by everybody else. That’s not what that is all about. I feel that is considered one of these occasions that it’s a must to expertise.”
Ought to anybody, although, be concerned about watching Saturday’s third spherical of the CME Group Tour Championship on stay tv, they will’t. Protection shall be proven solely on tape delay, from 4-7 p.m. ET on Golf Channel — and when the choice was introduced up by a reporter, Duffy’s first thought was each unsurprising and 4 phrases lengthy.
“That’s bulls**t, isn’t it?”
Speaking to a small group on Wednesday, a day earlier than the beginning of the match, Duffy then continued for about 5 minutes. He mentioned he voiced his frustration to the LPGA’s commissioner, Mollie Marcoux Samaan, and hoped that she would “make that not be the case.” He additionally mentioned he understood offers lengthy in place (in 2020, the PGA Tour and LPGA agreed to let the boys’s tour negotiate their home TV contracts collectively) and admitted he’s not “overly exercised” in regards to the transfer and — however “I might hope that individuals would acknowledge that when you’re going to proceed to construct ladies’s sports activities, it’s a must to give them the identical billing as males and cease — cease — the nonsense of claiming that, effectively, now we have to indicate a males’s match as a result of they’re the boys.”
So what does Saturday afternoon’s stay TV schedule appear to be? From 1-4 p.m. ET, Golf Channel will present the PGA Tour’s RSM Basic, whereas on NBC, a Golf Channel companion, there’s a Premier League Soccer match from 12:30-2:30 p.m., adopted by a post-match present and two ladies’s school basketball documentaries which are working as a part of a preview for a 4 p.m. sport. On Sunday, the match will obtain three hours of broadcast time, from 1-4 p.m. on NBC. (Notably, Saturday’s play could be seen from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on ESPN+ and from 2-5 p.m. on nbcsports.com.)
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For readability, under is a lot of the back-and-forth between Duffy and a reporter, with the reporter’s questions in italics.
“The third spherical right here is on tape delay.”
“That’s bulls**t, isn’t it?” Duffy mentioned.
“May extra have been accomplished? Was time spent with that? Was there — may it have been …”
“I can do lots of issues and cash can remedy so much, however it might’t remedy sickness, it might’t remedy sure issues,” Duffy mentioned. “I checked out that tape delay and I don’t prefer it. I agree with you. I feel that that’s inappropriate for a match of this magnitude to be on a tape delay. I’ve instructed Mollie that I don’t like that. I’ll go away it in her palms the place that finally finally ends up and hopefully she will work with the oldsters on the Golf Channel and others to make that not be the case.
“What’s essential to me, I don’t know anyone that watches 4 days of golf, to begin with, besides the Masters, perhaps the U.S. Open and the British. I don’t know anyone that watches the PGA 4 days in a row. And I don’t imply to say that sarcastically, it’s just a few folks catch snippets of it or else they’ll watch it later. And the rationale I’m not overly exercised is due to what I mentioned earlier. I’m in 200 nations all over the world. Golf Channel’s all over the world. Individuals can watch my occasion of their time zones, too. In order that’s additionally useful for the delays on sure issues. I’m not a fan of it, as a result of they will re-run it once more clearly like they do. However on the identical time, I might hope that individuals would acknowledge that when you’re going to proceed to construct ladies’s sports activities, it’s a must to give them the identical billing as males and cease — cease — the nonsense of claiming that, effectively, now we have to indicate a males’s match as a result of they’re the boys.
“And I do know why they do it due to the connection and the deal they’ve with the boys. And I get it. So I’m not making an attempt to have them violate an settlement they’ve and I’m not asking for the Golf Channel to be put in a foul spot. However there’s lots of other ways for content material to be distributed on this planet that we stay in right now. I had my pricey buddy Vince Vaughn right here yesterday at my convention. And we talked in regards to the proliferation of synthetic intelligence and the proliferation of streaming and what’s happening with the film theaters versus streaming. There’s so many various methods to get content material right now. So I’m not suggesting we go a unique route. However I don’t assume Golf Channel is the one sport on the town anymore. There’s lots of methods for folks to get content material. …
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May you will have …
“I didn’t attempt to affect the method,” Duffy mentioned. “I didn’t ask to affect the method.”
Notably, Duffy has beforehand voiced displeasure on the match. As reported in a narrative written by Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols — which you’ll learn in full right here — the CME Group had requested LPGA gamers to attend a dinner, however none got here, main Duffy to query LPGA management.
“I’m exceptionally dissatisfied with the management of the LPGA,” Duffy mentioned in Nichols’ story. “They higher get their act collectively as a result of they’re going to lose folks like me over stuff like this.”
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