U.S. Open: Four nights in primetime for Fox’s coverage

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Fox Sports is making the most of its first U.S. Open being on the West Coast in Seattle

All four nights of the tournament will air on Fox, not Fox Sports 1. That means watching live U.S. Open golf until 11 p.m. on the East Coast. Yes, we love West Coast Opens.

With that kind of primetime coverage, Fox needs a significant comeback from Tiger Woods; another Open challenge from Phil Mickelson; and Rory McIlroy going for his fourth straight major after his Masters victory in April.

Is that too much to ask for its reported $100 million annual rights fee?

Here’s the rundown from Fox:

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Planned linear and digital media coverage for the 115th U.S. Open Championship is unprecedented.  FOX Sports is scheduled to offer 38.5 live hours from Thursday through Sunday on FOX and FOX Sports 1, a three-and-a-half hour increase from a year ago.  Moreover, FOX Sports is televising 22.5 hours on FOX, up from 19 hours on broadcast television in 2014.  Of the 22.5 FOX hours, 11.5 hours of live action are slated for prime time, up from five prime-time hours scheduled for broadcast television in 2012, the last time the U.S. Open was played in the Pacific Time Zone.  In addition to almost 40 hours of coverage on FOX and FOX Sports 1, FOX Deportes domestically televises three hours of U.S. Open coverage on both Saturday and Sunday in Spanish, a first in the championship’s storied history, and FOX Sports Digital offers three distinct alternate production feeds available daily on USOpen.com for desktop viewers and via FOX Sports GO and U.S. Open digital platforms, adding an additional 120 hours of coverage.

Date                Program                                             Time                                       Network

June 18           First Round                                         12:00-8:00                               FS1

8:00-11:00                               FOX

June 19           Second Round                                    12:00-8:00                               FS1

8:00-11:00                               FOX

June 20           Third Round                                        2:00-10:00                               FOX

June 21           Final Round                                         2:00-10:30                               FOX

June 22           Playoff            (if necessary)             12:00-4:00                               FOX

 

One thought on “U.S. Open: Four nights in primetime for Fox’s coverage”

  1. Dear Fox,

    You could put the U.S.Open on 24/7 in six different platforms starting with Monday’s practice round, but if Martin Kaymer is dueling Brooks Koepka and Russell Henley down the stretch on Father’s Day, the ratings will be substantially less than the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this weekend!

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