Eleven Sports to launch UK service with live coverage of PGA Championship

Eleven Sports has secured the live UK and Ireland rights to the 2018 PGA Championship and will use the 9-12 August tournament as the official launch event for its new on-demand and streaming service.

The 2018 PGA Championship will take place at the Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis Missouri with all four rounds shown live and free-of-charge on Eleven Sports as part of a seven-day trial.

Coverage will be made available via www.elevensports.uk, and on iOS and Android mobile and tablet apps. The first two rounds will also be streamed for free on Facebook.

Highlights will also be available on demand on all four days of the tournament.

“Launching Eleven Sports in the UK and Ireland with such a prestigious event as the 100th PGA Championship, confirms our position as a major player in the market,” said Danny Menken, Group Managing Director at Eleven Sports.

“We are looking forward to maximising this fantastic opportunity to appeal to existing golf fans through comprehensive free-to-air live coverage and analysis, while also growing new audiences with our fresh and innovative ways of delivering leading sports action.”

Presentation, commentary and analysis will be provided by Dominik Holyer, Anna Whiteley and Seb Carmichael-Brown. More pundits, including professional golfers, will be announced soon, the company said.

The move to stream live sports action on Facebook is part of an “innovative way of delivering more contemporary sports coverage that appeals to existing audiences and extends access to new fans,” it added. 

PGA of America Chief Commercial Officer Jeff Price said: “It is a tremendous way to celebrate the 100th PGA Championship by becoming the inaugural free-to-air program on Eleven Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland. We are excited that Eleven Sports will deliver major championship golf to diverse audiences through multiple, leading-edge digital platforms that are uniquely designed to connect to both the modern day and the next generation of fans.”

The PGA Championship is the fourth and final golf major of the year. The 2017 edition was broadcast live on the BBC. 

Last week Eleven announced that it had secured the live rights to top-flight domestic football from the Eredivisie (Netherlands), the Chinese Super League and Allsvenskan (Sweden). It already has the rights to Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A.

Eleven will produce coverage together with IMG, which is a minority stakeholder in the channels, from its Stockley Park HQ.