Masters Handshake Deals Are a Shrewd Tradition Unlike Any Other
No major sporting event is more haunted by tradition than the Masters, which practically groans under the weight of its hallowed signifiers. Among the elements that have become synonymous with the tournament are the blooming azaleas, the devilish Amen Corner, the caddies in their white coveralls, and the Green Jacket, the shade of which (Pantone 342) is designed to match the ⅜-inch fairways. When experienced first-hand, Augusta is almost overwhelmingly sublime; the televised version is merely gorgeous.
The aesthetic principles that inform the layout of Bobby Jones’ celebrated course are as rigorously managed as Tom Brady’s caloric intake. While many of the club rules are a bit precious—“patrons” aren’t allowed to bring cellphones onto the grounds, and a folding chair tricked out with armrests is about as welcome here as a samurai sword—they ensure a level of control that is commensurate with the mystique of the place.
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If Augusta at times seems like a more-uptight version of Judge Smails’ Bushwood, the sniffy punctiliousness goes a long way toward maintaining the mythic air that permeates the Masters. In exchange for all the goosebump-raising moments under the dogwoods—moments which are in no way diminished by the medium of television—those who pass through the front gate effectively agree to behave as if they are entering a sacred space.
The same principle applies to the conduct of Augusta’s media partners, which cede a certain amount of control in return for the right to bask in a four-day stopover in Golf Heaven.
Some of this carries a whiff of schmaltz, certainly, but that’s only because a) sports is schmaltzier than a poultry farm, and b) the usual flint-hearted bromides about America and the breathless accumulation of cash don’t really apply here. The informal (yet strictly codified) 68-year arrangement between Augusta and CBS is such that both entities leave massive sums of money on the table every spring. While the club takes in an estimated $145 million in gate, merch and concessions, it doesn’t charge CBS or Thursday-Friday host ESPN a dime for the media rights. Given that the U.S. Open rakes in $93 million a year with its rights package, the higher-rated Masters could be scaring up an additional $100 million to $125 million every April with a traditional TV deal.
Augusta’s uniquely uncluttered commercial environment—ad breaks are restricted to just four minutes per hour, or roughly a quarter of the average broadcast load—is reserved for just six sponsors, or three for each network. For example, IBM, AT&T and Mercedes-Benz last year ponied up a grand total of some $24 million to air their spots during the final two rounds, a cash infusion that offset CBS’ production costs. Any money that wasn’t earmarked for broadcast expenses paid for the care and feeding of a few high-end CBS clients.
Now, if the Masters carried the same ad load as the other three majors, that inventory would sell like Slurpees in Hell. Then again, a Masters clotted with ads for graphite-shaft clubs and COPD meds would no longer be the Masters.
The handshake TV deals and the minimal commercial payouts are part of what makes the tourney so unique; it’s no accident that Augusta secured a trademark on Jim Nantz’s signature phrase “a tradition unlike any other” back in 2015. There simply is nothing like it, and the arrangement allows Augusta to operate under a guise of secrecy that’s not possible under standard media deals. As a privately held for-profit organization, the club is at liberty to keep all of its financial dealings—income, membership rolls, badge sales, etc.—under wraps. There is perhaps no greater measure of having secured complete control over one’s business than the bulwark of extreme privacy.
What, then, does CBS get out of the deal? Mostly, it’s a prestige thing. CBS has televised the Masters every year since 1956, making this the longest-running media tie-up in history. The sense of stability that accrues with such a durable relationship is impossible to overstate. Advertisers are nothing if not conservative, and the security of such an improbable arrangement has a halo effect on the rest of the network’s schedule. In a sense, doing business with CBS is like investing in the Hartford or DuPont or Colgate-Palmolive: companies that have earned a considerable measure of trust by virtue of having been in business for a couple hundred years.
Which isn’t to say that there aren’t some monetary gains to be made off the Masters. Some downstream effects are immediate; for example, during the last five Sunday rounds that weren’t impacted by pandemic- or weather-related calamities, Masters lead-out 60 Minutes has on average gained 2.22 million viewers compared to the previous week’s total.
More to the point, CBS’ demo deliveries have soared in the hour after the Masters, as the number of adults in the 25-54 age range improved by 55%, which translates to an increase of 823,800 members of the group that is most prized by 60 Minutes advertisers. That boost gives CBS’ ad sales team the latitude to charge higher rates for spots in the post-Masters broadcasts.
But like performing in the clutch or demonstrating grace under pressure, it’s the intangibles that may matter most to Augusta’s network partners. On the Monday after the final round, the ad sales execs will hit the course with favored clients and reps from companies which maybe could stand to spend a little more cash with CBS and ESPN. One long-time CBS sales boss used to bring his most loyal clients to Augusta every year as a way to thank them for their business. Sure, you could always send a box of Gran Habanos and a nice card for the holidays, but nothing will make a bigger impression on a blue-chipper than 18 holes at the club that’s harder to get into than Beyoncé’s birthday party.
The beauty of inviting a potential business partner down to Augusta is that you don’t even have to talk shop. Along with the free Mercedes rentals and the dinners at Frog Hollow Tavern, the course pretty much does all the heavy lifting, so while nobody’s writing deals on cocktail napkins at the 19th Hole, that new best friend you just made may very well decide to call in a big media buy before your plane lands at Kennedy. Hell, introduce that freshly minted pal to Tiger Woods and you might have a big chunk of your upfront inventory accounted for weeks before the spring bazaar officially gets underway.
Leave off the whole economic aspect of an Augusta partnership, and you’ll come to realize that the Masters is the object of near-universal reverence. This is never more apparent than when listening to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt talk about what the course means to him as both a sports guy and a big ol’ softie.
Speaking on a Masters preview call last week, the late-night SportsCenter anchor and rabid golf enthusiast described a patch of grass on the eighth hole that has almost a spiritual significance for him. “I’ve gone back to that spot every year since I’ve been there, and it’s just a place that I sort of stop and spend a little moment being grateful,” Van Pelt said. “And I looked over one year to my left and I thought I was the only person out there, and I saw a guy standing there doing the same thing, and it was Jim Nantz, and I thought, ‘I must have found the right spot.’”
Or as CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus has said, every trip down to Augusta is an opportunity to tread the same ground once covered by his father, the late Jim McKay. “Every day I step foot on Augusta, I think of my father,” McManus said. “He loved the Masters. He loved Augusta, and for me, this is like life coming full circle. Whatever legacy I have, it is small compared to my father’s.”
For Van Pelt, the place holds the same sense of wonderment that it did when he made his first trip down there, back when he was in his late 20s. In a stroke of great good fortune, his inaugural trek to Augusta coincided with history, as Tiger Woods won his first-ever major with a 12-stroke advantage over Tom Kite.
“I can still remember what it all felt like then,” Van Pelt said. “Now I’m an old guy with no hair, but I’ll show up with the same sense of excitement and gratitude to be there on Monday as I did in ’97.”
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