The US Open will return to NBC starting this year on Winged Foot after Fox Sports requested to terminate its 12-year contract with the USGA, several people told The Associated Press on Sunday night.
Three people with direct knowledge of the change say it occurred in the past two weeks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been announced.
An announcement was expected on Monday.
The US Open, originally scheduled to be played last week, was postponed from September 17 to 20 at Winged Foot in New York when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf for three months.
NBC televised the US Open from 1995 to 2014. That ended when the USGA signed a 12-year contract with Fox Sports worth approximately $ 1 billion that began in 2015.
Fox broadcast its first US Open from Chambers Bay, south of Seattle, with Greg Norman as principal analyst. He was replaced by former PGA champion and Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger.
One person said NBC would pay just under half the royalty fee through the rest of the contract.
Two other people said the deal began to take shape this month, especially when the US Open moved to September during the first month of the NFL.
One person said Fox was considering moving the US Open to FS1, an idea that was rejected by Mike Davis, the CEO of the USGA. That led to deeper conversations about the contract and how it could be resolved.
Fox Sports has always been in a difficult situation since the start of the contract because the USGA championships, mainly open and amateur, were the only golf it produced.
Sources said NBC would have the last seven years of the contract until 2026. They did not say who would televise the first rounds of the United States Open. Under the previous contract with NBC, ESPN had the rounds on Thursday and Friday.
ESPN now has the midweek rounds of the PGA Championship starting this year, with CBS doing the weekend.
The deal, owned by Comcast NBC, along with Golf Channel, the US Open and British Open, The Players Championship, three World Golf Championships, the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup. It will also have the FedEx Cup playoffs every two years when start the new media rights agreement with the PGA Tour.
NBC and Golf Channel will also have all specializations on the LPGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.
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