Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing golf isn’t a novel concept. Here's what is: Paying to watch them on TV.
The two most accomplished golfers of the past 25 years will face off in a match play event Friday at the exclusive Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las Vegas. But in order to watch the winner-take-all $9 million exhibition, you'll have to shell out $20 in the first-ever pay-per-view event for golf.
“It’s an experiment,” Stephen Espinoza, president of sports and event programming at Showtime Networks, told USA TODAY Sports. “Everybody in the pay-per-view industry is going be watching Tiger and Phil to see what happens on a few different fronts.”
The top pay-per-views in history have been dominated by boxing, with UFC and WWE also being major draws. Traditional stick and ball – or, in this case, club and ball – sports aren’t among the top 50 pay-per-view events in history as broadcast outlets have shelled out billions to keep them locked into their traditional spheres.
What sets this one apart is price and timing.
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