BBC beats SKY to US Masters rights
06/07/2007 |
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The BBC will retain the rights to the US Masters after Sky privately conceded defeat in its bid to wrest arguably golf's most prestigious major away from the corporation.
Negotiations between the BBC and the Augusta National remain at a sensitive stage but it is thought a deal will be tied up before the golfing circus arrives at Carnoustie for the Open later this month.
Should the deal be completed it will represent a blow to Sky's hopes of shoring up its clout in the sport, a reputation that took a knock when Setanta snatched the rights to the USPGA Tour earlier this year.
Sky has been courting the Masters for some years and the interest has helped the Augusta National drive an increasingly hard bargain with the BBC. The contract length has come down from five years to three and then to a one-year deal that leaves the two sides in an almost constant process of negotiation.
For the BBC the deal would be a fillip after the loss in football of the England and FA Cup rights, and vindication for the enthusiasm shown by senior executives. Both the BBC's director-general Mark Thompson and its head of sport Roger Mosey flew to Augusta prior to this year's tournament to meet with the notoriously conservative members and reassure them of their commitment to the tournament.
(Source: Guardian.co.uk)
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