Sentry TOC commercial-free hour to make NBC Sports history

This story is brought to you with limited commercial interruption.

Golf fans … prepare your couches!

On Thursday morning, NBC Sports shared news with the Hot Mic that should have golf TV watchers jumping for joy (and, the network hopes, their remotes): For the first time in NBC Sports history, the final hour of a primetime PGA Tour broadcast will be shown commercial-free.

The commercial-free hour will take place during Sunday’s final round at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the first event of the 2023 calendar year and the PGA Tour’s first “elevated event.” The announcement comes thanks to a sponsorship by Callaway Golf, who bought the hour’s worth of commercial-free broadcast time as part of the marketing effort behind its new Paradym product line, which was released on Wednesday evening.

NBC Sports said the commercial-free coverage will encompass the final hour of Golf Channel’s Sunday coverage from Kapalua, beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The commercial-free production will feature a welcome announcement from Callaway Ambassador (and golf content creator) Roger Steele, and will also feature “on-screen graphics” promoting the new Callaway line.

Landing the full hour of commercial-free golf will mean an added burden on the NBC production team, whose uninterrupted hour will also mean 60 minutes of constant focus, but not an unusual one. Avid golf watchers will know that NBC has dabbled with commercial-free broadcasts in the past both as part of its Players Championship, Ryder Cup and Open Championship coverage. The network is also responsible for carrying the final hour of the U.S. Open commercial-free annually as part of a long-running sponsorship agreement with Rolex.

But landing a commercial-free final hour is a function of sports TV economics as much as it is one of production might. In order to pursue a commercial-free final hour, NBC had to first find a sponsor willing to spend enough money with the network to make an agreement make sense. Then factor in the cost of a nationally televised advertisement — the national average, per this report from FitSmallBusiness, is $105,000 — and the fact that final-hour advertisements generally cost more due to the natural increases in viewership and intrigue, and suddenly, you’re looking at a very costly agreement.

This is, of course, why we see only a handful of commercial-free hours per year in golf: they’re expensive, and advertisers aren’t always overeager to spend precious marketing dollars on a product that, in its essence, is the absence of advertisements. But it is also worth wondering if perhaps that logic is backward, particularly considering the overwhelmingly positive response to this news on social media.

It’s also worth noting that the whole proposition comes with an added carrot for Callaway: exclusivity. Each year, Kapalua marks more than just the beginning of the golf season, it marks the beginning of the golf gear season. As players enter Hawaii with new clubs fresh off the USGA conforming list, golf fans learn for the first time about the gear lines that will be filling their retail stores and online shopping carts for the remaining 12 months.

In purchasing the commercial-free hour, Callaway will hand its new Paradym line 60 glorious minutes of public goodwill and — much more importantly — a head start for its product line in a crowded field. That both of those benefits come at the most important time in the calendar year for golf club manufacturers is no mistake, but rather a carefully coordinated piece of the puzzle.

It’s a savvy bet from a brand that prides itself on its forward-thinking, and one that comes as very welcome news to those planning on enjoying the first PGA Tour Sunday of 2023 on television. Will it also result in a sales jolt? You can bet we’ll be tuned in Sunday to find out.