NBC's decision another slight to women’s athletics

In yet another blow to women’s sports, NBC, which broadcast the tournament, left its coverage of the tournament at 4 p.m., switching the broadcast feed to its sister network, Golf Channel.

I don’t have Golf Channel. I’m probably not the only one who does not have Golf Channel. I have the Tennis Channel, which I barely watch, but no Golf Channel, which I would watch all the time.

But this is not about me not having the Golf Channel. This is about another women’s major sporting event that gets short shrift from those who put on the event. It was only a couple months ago that the NCAA’s discrepancy was on full display between the men’s and women’s training facilities.

NBC’s decision to cut away from the national championship golf tournament is just another slap in the face to women’s sports. Can you imagine any television network cutting away from a men’s major?

It wasn’t just the end. Sunday’s final round NBC broadcast did not begin until noon, despite the last group going off around 10:30 a.m. By the time coverage started, the final few pairs were nearing the turn.

You better believe CBS aired nearly every single swing on every single hole when Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship a few weeks ago. Why aren’t the women given the same treatment?

And it’s not just golf. Tennis pro Victoria Azerenka, a two-time majors winner and former No. 1 players in the world, criticized French Open organizers for giving the majority of the primetime matches to the men.

This after Roger Federer retired from the tournament following a third-round win. Naomi Osaka was roasted for pulling out a week ago to take care of her health. I didn’t hear a lot of criticism about Federer’s decision, who explained himself by saying he was “listening to his body.”

Critics will say women’s sports don’t make as much money as men’s athletics. But when these organizations — the NCAA, tournament organizers or television broadcasters — have a chance to put women’s athletics in the spotlight, with the goal of increasing revenue all around, they continually botch it. Maybe if the women were in the spotlight a little bit more, there might be more money to be made.

Here’s all you need to know about the continuing gap between female and male athletes: Saso won $1 million for winning the U.S. Women’s Open, one of the most prestigious championships in all of golf.

Patrick Cantlay won the Memorial tournament on the PGA Tour. Just a regular tour stop.

He made $1.675 million.

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OK. I’ll admit it. I ordered the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition “fight” Sunday night. My wife’s nephew was in town, he really wanted to watch it, it was “only” 50 bucks, I haven’t bought a pay-per-view in a while, so — why not?

The good news is, I actually didn’t have to pay for the event. I did order it, but couldn’t watch it. The stream for Showtime, which broadcast the spectacle, was unusable. It was the worst experience I’ve had trying to watch a PPV broadcast. My educated guess is that Showtime’s servers could not handle the internet traffic.

We spent the better part of two hours downloading the Showtime app; signing up for the free, 10-day trial (which I now have to remember to cancel) and then constantly refreshing the feed, trying to get the fight.

We caught a couple rounds of two of the bouts on the undercard, but had no luck whatsoever with the main event.

What a disaster.

My nephew, being the tech-savvy individual he is, eventually found a feed on his smart phone, so we watched the “fight” on an 8-inch screen. Not what I would call ideal viewing.

Having tried to call technical support during the course of the evening, I finally got ahold of Amazon customer service. Probably a good thing I got the PPV through it rather than Showtime because Amazon immediately credited back the price of the fight.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: Nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 650-344-5200 ext. 117. Results and statistics can be emailed to: sports@smdailyjournal.com.