(May 16th, 2015) -- The USTA confirmed today in a joint announcement with ESPN that the sports network will become the exclusive broadcast home of the U.S. Open starting in 2015.
In an 11-year, $770 million deal, ESPN will take over all rights from CBS who have broadcasted the Grand Slam event since 1968. Per
Sports Business Journal, CBS chose not to renew their current contract that would have paid the network $30 million a year partially due to sagging ratings for the tournament in recent years.
As part of the new agreement, ESPN plans to provide 130+ hours of coverage and offer viewers the opportunity to watch all 17 show courts at the USTA National Tennis Center either through streaming on WatchESPN or on the network's ESPN and ESPN2 channels.
"We at ESPN are thrilled to be the USTA's partner, "said ESPN President John Skipper, on a conference call today. "We believe in the continued importance of live events, and there's nothing more important among live events than world‑class events like the U.S. Open. We are pleased and proud to have this privilege and want to thank our friends and partners at the USTA."
Although the men's final is scheduled to move back to Sunday starting in 2015, there is still the possibility that weather or unforeseen circumstances could push the final once again to a Monday start. When asked if that might conflict with ESPN's broadcast of Monday Night Football, Skipper was noncommittal but confident the final would be shown on one of the network's many platforms.
"I can state categorically whatever happens with rain, 15‑hour matches, delays or whatever, that we will on our significant platforms have all the matches. It's the flexibility, of course, having multiple networks, having different places you can put events, plan for contingencies," said Skipper. "We will not have any issue. We are thrilled. It's been our intention to continue to increase the strength of our schedule and to continue to present across all of our networks great product, and that allows us to do this. We don't have any concerns about rain delays or contingencies. We and the USTA have a plan."
With regards to Tennis Channel and their participation in helping to broadcast the tournament starting in 2015, Skipper said that ESPN had not yet had a conversation with Tennis Channel and that those details were still to be determined.
Speaking on behalf of the USTA, Executive Director and COO Gordon Smith talked about the importance of having a long-term deal in place with ESPN as part of the USTA's ongoing expansion efforts.
"It really gets us in a very stable position as we go out and start making the changes in the facility. We're going to transform not only the way it's delivered by ESPN, we're going to transform the tennis center. It's going to be a magnificent place. It's going to be the preeminent tennis facility in the world when we're done. Now we have the preeminent sports outlet in the world to partner with."