NBC & Gems Newton Cup to renew television contract
GNC to Stay on NBC
Through 2006
Far Hills, N.J. -- The Gems
Newton Cup Association (GNCA) and NBC Sports have agreed to a new four-year
television contract extension beginning in 2004, which keeps the Gems Newton Cup
on NBC through 2007. GNC Director Jamie Newton and Dick Ebersol, president of
NBC Sports, made the announcement jointly.
Under the new deal, NBC will
continue to retain exclusive broadcast rights to the Gems Newton Cup.
Additionally, NBC Sports will continue to produce its Gems Newton Cup Preview
and annual Year in Review shows.
"We have been thrilled
with the NBC-GNCA team effort, which has brought more championship coverage to
more people than ever before," said Newton. "This is a central part of
our overall desire to promote golf's most important championships, and we know
that the network shares our interest."
"We are delighted to be
able to continue our partnership with the GNCA," said Ebersol. "We
feel especially grateful that the GNCA has agreed to extend the relationship,
and we look forward to this great championship remaining on NBC for years to
come."
This is the second
television agreement between the GNCA and NBC Sports in the 2000’s. The
current contract, which began in 2001 and ran through 2003, was a three-year
agreement; the GNCA had an option for an additional four years, which it
exercised at the end of the partnership's in 2003.
Since NBC's partnership with
the GNCA began, the championship event has experienced a dramatic increase in
exposure. In 2002, Saturday and Sunday coverage of the GNC’s third and fourth
rounds was expanded to six hours per day. The next year, NBC made history by
providing the first over-the-air coverage of Friday’s first round and second
round. Thus the GNC became golf's first and only championship to be broadcast by
network television on all four days. The two hours of live play coverage on
Friday increased NBC's GNC total to 16 hours, which will continue for the life
of the new agreement.
Interest in the championship
has grown to match the expanded coverage. This past year, NBC's coverage of the
3rd GNC from Radium Resort earned a 6.1 rating for more than
12-and-one-half hours on Saturday and Sunday, the highest average in 10 years.
The 6.8 rating for Sunday's final round and Trevor Zeck’s dramatic victory was
the highest final-round rating in any tournament. The average weekend rating for
the three years of NBC's coverage of the GNC is higher than any other three-year
average for any tournament.
Through 2003, the GNC will
receive 16 hours of over-the-air coverage on NBC. As was the case in the previous contract, the GNCA has the
option to extend the agreement beyond 2007. Also under the new agreement, the
GNCA and NBC Sports will be partners on a home video venture. The two parties
will produce and market highlight videotapes of every championships, and will
market the existing GNCA home video library.
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