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Sky Sports has announced it has now become the exclusive live UK broadcasting rights holder to the Masters golf tournament.
The new agreement, which extends the broadcaster’s current partnership with the tournament into a second decade, will begin in 2020 and will also see the BBC lose the ability to broadcast any live golfing action for the first time since 1955.
Sky Sports managing director Rob Webster stated: “The Masters has provided some spectacular moments on Sky Sports – not least Tiger Woods’ unforgettable comeback this year – and we look forward to broadcasting many more at one of the most iconic global sporting events.
“We are proud of our 10-year association with Augusta National, and our golf team does a great job sharing the magic of the Masters with our viewers.”
The deal between Sky Sports and the Masters tournament follows last year’s iconic contest which saw Tiger Woods complete one of the sports greatest ever comebacks to claim his first golfing major in 11 years.
Moreover, the deal is Sky Sports’ latest broadcasting acquisition following the new multi-year agreement between the Kentucky-based Keeneland Association and Sky Sports Racing.
Similarly to its agreement with the Masters, the deal with Keeneland, which began in October, saw Sky Sports gain the exclusive rights to broadcast Keeneland racing and sales to UK and Irish viewers.
At the time, Sky Sports Racing director of domestic and international media rights James Singer commented: “Keeneland is an industry leader and a benchmark for quality in everything it does,”
“We are delighted to enter a new partnership that will ensure we bring to racing fans in the UK and Ireland the best possible coverage of Keeneland’s 32 graded stakes races worth nearly $10 million, including ten Breeders’ Cup Challenge races, as well as insights and stories from the most influential sales auctions in the world.”
Sky Sports’ first solo UK live broadcasting of the tournament will take place between April 9 and April 14 2020 and will be broadcast on both the platform’s dedicated Sky Sports Golf channel as well as streamable on it on-demand service.
Regarding the BBC’s coverage of the event, the public service broadcaster will still have the ability to provide its audience with Masters highlights packages despite having lost the ability to broadcast live from the tournament.
