BBC TV executives are set to ditch their 56-year association with the Masters amid cost-cutting efforts at the corporation, Telegraph Sport understands.
The opening major of the season is a little more than two months away, but there has been no word of an extension to the contract that ran out last April.
An 11th hour deal could be salvaged, but sources indicate the BBC are moving towards cutting ties with the revered tournament it first broadcast in 1967.
If Barbara Slater, the BBC’s director of sport, does pull the plug on the Augusta showpiece it will inevitably add more substance to the growing conviction that the corporation has lost interest in golf.
The BBC have shown every Masters since 1986 when they wrested the coverage back off Channel 4. However, in 2011, Sky secured rights to broadcast all four days, with the terrestrial channel having live footage from the weekend action. This was reduced to a highlights program in 2020 with Sky Sports – courtesy of an annual fee in excess of £10 million per year – finally landing the exclusive deal it had coveted.
During last year’s Masters, Sky announced that it had signed a multi-year extension with the greenjackets, but there was conspicuously nothing from the BBC. It is believed that the per annum cost for the highlights was in excess of £1 million and, as they seek to cut their outgoings, this apparently has, at the very least, convinced Slater to hesitate in the negotiations.
Sources close to ITV have ruled the rival free-to-air broadcaster out of the running. Channel 4, which has been expanding its sporting offering in recent years, was unavailable for comment.
Golf is no doubt an expensive sport to cover, but there will be skepticism of the BBC’s efforts to keep hold of the vestiges of its TV output anyway, because the decline has been incredibly swift as the budgets have tightened.
In 2005, Peter Alliss and Co presented 28 days of live broadcasts from tournaments ranging from The Open to the Women’s Open to regular European Tour events such as the PGA Championship from Wentworth and the Scottish Open. All have been lost to Sky.
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