Tulsa: Sports broadcasters ESPN will offer an alternate telecast during golf’s PGA Championship next week in a test of whether such formats can succeed in sports beyond football.
Joe Buck, who recently joined ESPN from Fox, will cohost the broadcast with Michael Collins, a golf analyst who is also a former caddie and stand-up comedian. It will mark Buck’s first ESPN appearance under his new deal.
Several celebrities - including Troy Aikman, Jon Hamm, Charles Barkley, and Peyton and Eli Manning - will offer commentary and conversation during the programme, ESPN said in a statement on Tuesday. The PGA Championship, one of golf’s four majors, starts May 19 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
ESPN is betting that less-formal alternate telecasts can reach a new and different audience for sporting events. The network wants to re-create the success it found last fall with its alternate broadcast of Monday Night Football hosted by the Manning brothers, colloquially known as “Manningcast.”
This season, former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and broadcaster Michael Kay are teaming up for alternate broadcasts of select “Sunday Night Baseball” games on ESPN2. ESPN has dubbed the programme “KayRod Cast.”
The alternate golf telecast will air on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+. ESPN is co-producing the event with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. Earlier this year, ESPN and parent Walt Disney Co. expanded their agreement with Omaha Productions to add another season of Monday Night Football alternate programming plus alternate telecasts for UFC, college football and golf.
‘‘We loved doing ‘Monday Night Football’ with ESPN and the entire Omaha team has been looking forward to pcast’roducing alternate telecasts that celebrate other sports,’’ Peyton Manning said. ‘‘As one of golf’s majors, the PGA Championship is a perfect place to do our first one for golf and we look forward to working with Joe, Michael and everyone in ESPN’s golf team.’’
The alternate telecast will be shown for four hours a day during all four rounds.
