Could the PGA Tour\u2019s West Coast swing, as we know it, cease to exist after this year?\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s certainly a possibility. New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has preached the idea of increasing the circuit\u2019s \u201cscarcity,\u201d and it\u2019s been speculated that the season could begin after the Super Bowl in the upcoming years as Rolapp and the Tour\u2019s Future Competition Committee<\/a>, led by Tiger Woods, look to revamp the schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out what is the best schedule possible so we can create the best fields and have the most viewership and also the most fan involvement,\u201d Woods said in December. \u201cLooking at different timetables of when we start and finish, different tentpoles throughout the year and what that might look like.\u201d<\/p>\n CBS Sports executives, however, are putting the brakes on the idea that their product could suffer if some longtime Tour stops get the axe.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been thrilled that we and other media partners have been asked to participate in conversations with Brian and [Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan] and Joe Gorder and John Henry [Strategic Sports Group members that invested $1.5 billion in the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises] and Tiger Woods and [FCC member] Adam Scott and so on and so forth,\u201d said David Berson, president and CEO of CBS Sports, in a conference call Tuesday, \u201cbecause they know we too care immensely about this game, about this Tour and about the future of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t jump to conclusions too soon about what those changes will be. They\u2019re still in the process of assessing. But the fact that we\u2019ve been asked to give our take, it means a lot to us because again, we care so much about this.\u201d<\/p>\n The first of CBS\u2019s 22 PGA Tour telecasts in 2026 is this week\u2019s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. The event, usually the fourth of the season, has been played since 1960, and in recent years has had a Saturday finish to avoid conflicting with the NFL\u2019s conference championships. Now, however, it\u2019s back to a typical Sunday finish, being contested the week before the Super Bowl. There were still benefits to the tournament concluding in prime time on Saturday night, but this year, it\u2019ll occupy a golden television window.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as the NFL has an open weekend [after the conference championships], and that could change moving forward with their schedule, I have no idea where that\u2019s going, but this to me would be the No. 1 piece of real estate you can have on the West Coast for television,\u201d said Jim Nantz, CBS\u2019s lead golf and NFL commentator. \u201c.You\u2019re not competing against football. And I think there\u2019s something exciting.<\/p>\n Farmers is in the last year of its sponsorship and the company isn\u2019t expected to renew. However, there\u2019s reportedly strong interest<\/a> in the event, and perhaps it could be moved to another point in the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first two events of the 2026 season were only on the Golf Channel, not on network television, going head-to-head with the NFL playoffs. The Sony Open in Hawaii, which is rumored to be going away after this year<\/a>, averaged 106,000 viewers for the final round, according to Sports Business Journal<\/a> (that\u2019s down from 344,000 in 2025, when there was an NBC lead-in). Although, Scottie Scheffler\u2019s American Express win<\/a> last week yielded an average audience of 617,000 people, a 127% spike from a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to minimize that Scottie won last week and it was a great performance by our greatest player of this time,\u201d Nantz said. \u201cBut it was going on against a rather high-profile event [the NFC and AFC championships] that would be in the tens of millions as far as audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tour recognizes that it can\u2019t compete against the NFL, and Rolapp knows that as well as anyone, considering he was previously the NFL\u2019s chief media and business officer (\u201cI didn\u2019t cheer for teams [with the NFL], I cheered for television ratings,\u201d Rolapp said last year).\u00a0<\/p>\n Not everyone is a fan of tightening the schedule, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, I think we\u2019ve all heard starting maybe after the Super Bowl and then going through to the end of August before the football season starts again,\u201d Rory McIlroy said after Monday\u2019s TGL match. \u201cThat seems very condensed to me. Seems like a lot of golf in a pretty short period of time, depending on how many events they want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n The stars still deliver ratings <\/p>\n But regardless of where and when the Tour plays, there\u2019s one factor that usually generates a ratings boost.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe see viewership increases when big names and stars are playing,\u201d said Berson, \u201cand then when they\u2019re near the top of the leaderboard. For example, the signature events lately have generated greater viewership than the non-signature events. It\u2019s somewhat logical and the data supports that.\u201d<\/p>\n