Golf fans of a certain age will remember the Thanksgiving weekend tradition of The Skins Game, that featured four of the biggest stars in golf playing in the popular recreational format with big money at stake.
The Skins Game was a broadcast sports staple that ran for 25 years from 1983-2008 and featured luminaries like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson, and of course Tiger Woods. However, declining interest and participation led to its demise before the 2009 edition. America wasn’t quite as enthused to watch Stephen Ames win hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Well, after being off the radar for 15 years now, The Skins Game is making a return. The PGA Tour is partnering with a golf media startup to bring the franchise back to life by airing on Black Friday in 2025.
Via Golf.com:
Now, though, the PGA Tour is stepping back into the driver’s seat. On Thursday morning, the PGA Tour and the golf media startup Pro Shop announced plans to revive The Skins Game with a match on Black Friday 2025. The Tour, a minority owner in Pro Shop, will own the rights to the event, but hand over distribution to Pro Shop, which will work with another media boutique, Propagate Media, to deliver the made-for-TV event to audiences.
“Reimagining an iconic event like The Skins Game in a retro-modern way that engages today’s sports fans is exactly why the PGA Tour has partnered with Pro Shop,” said Chris Wandell, an executive at the Tour and board member of Pro Shop, in a release. “We look forward to seeing how the newest iteration of The Skins Game unfolds as Pro Shop and Propagate identify cast, format and creative approach.”
Principally, the news marks the latest effort from the Tour to revitalize its media footprint in the LIV era, a strategic shift leading to Tour investments like Pro Shop, a Tour-affiliated media outlet; the Creator Classic, a made-for-TV influencer event; and the new PGA Tour studios, a multimillion-dollar twin for the Tour’s hulking global headquarters. At the center of much of that shift is the idea of control; the Tour believes its media business is best served by maintaining ownership from concept to distribution. The return of The Skins Game in particular marks a notable punch back for the Tour at a rare corner of golf television without the Tour’s corporate footprint.
Made-for-television golf events have continued in the absence of The Skins Game of course, namely through TNT’s The Match series that have combined golfers, celebrities, and athletes. The network will also air the much-anticipated PGA Tour-LIV showdown starring Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka.
It’s unclear just who might be interested in picking up The Skins Game as a television partner. Given there are connections within the setup here to Netflix’s Full Swing docuseries, that could loom as a potential option and fit with their recent strategy of one-off special events.
A couple challenges exist for a 2025 version of The Skins Game, though. First, the sporting calendar is way more crowded on Black Friday compared to the mid-1980s, especially with the NFL now taking a foothold. Second, if it’s a PGA Tour production and they still aren’t mixing with LIV Golf players, the field of possible players may not be the draw that it could be. If The Skins Game was cancelled because of ratings and interest in 2009 during Tiger Woods’ prime, it’s going to be an uphill battle given the ratings happening now largely thanks to the fracture in professional golf.
[Golf.com]
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