TACOMA, WASH. — At a UW Tacoma lecture on Tuesday, Nov. 5, two seasoned experts in the world of “big sports” will discuss their experiences in sports broadcasting, and the impact of a stunning deal between the U.S. Golf Association and FOX Sports. The deal means the 2015 U.S. Open—to be played at Pierce County’s Chambers Bay Golf Course—will air on the new FOX Sports 1 cable network and on FOX’s broadcast network.
Terry Gannon of NBC Sports and Bill Kunz, director of UW Tacoma’s Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, will give a talk entitled “Long Days, Big Money: Television Coverage of the U.S. Open and What $1.2 Billion Means for Chambers Bay.”
$1.2 billion is the reported value of the contract—estimated at $100 million per year for 12 years—FOX Sports signed with USGA to become the “principal domestic media partner” of USGA. The agreement covers the U. S. Open, the U.S. Women’s Open, the U.S. Senior Open and USGA’s national amateur championships. The new agreement means the USGA championships will no longer be aired on Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and Comcast Corp.’s NBC.
Gannon is a former college basketball star (at NC State) who became a sports broadcaster with ABC in 1991. For ABC Sports and ESPN, he’s covered the Tour de France, the Little League World Series, the Olympic Games, college basketball and football and the FIFA World Cup. In 2010, he joined the Golf Channel broadcast team, doing play-by-play coverage of the PGA and LPGA tours, and the 2013 U.S. Open.
Kunz teaches courses on media regulation and ownership. His research looks at the regulation of the broadcast and cable television industries and consolidation and concentration in the ownership of media outlets. He has worked as a producer in the sports divisions of Turner Broadcasting, ABC Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN. He was senior producer for the 1998, 2000 and 2001 Goodwill Games and for cable coverage of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
The lecture is part of UW Tacoma’s Fairway to the U.S. Open, a series of events intended to give the South Sound community a unique perspective on the 2015 U.S. Open, which is expected to bring world attention to Chambers Bay, along with more than 200,000 attendees. Earlier in 2013, a golf tournament raised more than $40,000 to establish the Robert Trent Jones Jr. Scholarship Fund at UW Tacoma, named in honor of the architect who designed the links-style course located along the shore of Puget Sound. Another tournament has been scheduled for Sept. 9, 2014, and future lectures will shed further light on the world of golf as sport and business. More information about all the remaining events that are part of Fairway to the U.S. Open can be found at tacoma.uw.edu/golf.
What: Long Days, Big Money: Television Coverage of the U.S. Open and What $1.2 Billion Means for Chambers Bay
Who: Terry Gannon, NBC Sports and Bill Kunz, director Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Tacoma
When: Nov. 5, 2013, 7 p.m.
Where: William Philip Hall, UW Tacoma campus
Cost: $10 (free for UW Tacoma students); register online at tacoma.uw.edu/golf