The greatest show in golf is going digital.
On Tuesday morning, Amazon and Augusta National announced a deal to bring the Masters to a streaming partner for the first time, tying golf’s largest event to the streaming giant responsible for the NFL’s popular Thursday Night Footballpackage. In following with longstanding club tradition, financial terms of the agreement were not announced.
According to a release, Amazon Prime Video will debut as a “domestic broadcaster of the Masters Tournament” beginning in April 2026, delivering content that will “complement” the club’s outstanding TV deals with ESPN and CBS, the latter of which has televised the Masters for seven decades. Amazon will cover two additional hours of first and second round coverage on Prime Video, from 1-3 p.m. ET, providing a lead-in to ESPN’s coverage on both days. According to the club, additional details about the scope of the Amazon agreement will be announced “prior to the 2026 Masters Tournament.”
“Working alongside Amazon in this capacity is an exciting opportunity for the Masters Tournament and its fans,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said in the release. “We are proud of our longstanding partnerships with CBS Sports and ESPN, who have set the highest standard for broadcast coverage of the Masters. The addition of Amazon will only further our abilities to expand and enhance how the Tournament is presented and enjoyed.”
The announcement marks a major coup for Amazon, giving the big-money streamer arguably the two most elusive broadcast rights agreements in sports between the NFL and Masters. Augusta National chooses new TV partners about as frequently as visits from Haley’s Comet, and it has long been rumored that the club leaves money on the table in its annual agreements with CBS and ESPN in order to showcase the Masters in the best possible light, including limited commercials and lots of buzzy technology.
Amazon, meanwhile, has pursued major sports programming in streaming for the last five years, seeking to pounce on the considerable market opportunity presented by cord-cutting, and its TNFagreement has been largely lauded as a successful trial balloon for sports streaming (though audience sizes have lagged behind traditional linear TV).
“It’s an honor for all of us at Amazon to become a broadcast partner of the Masters Tournament and to provide fans additional hours of live coverage of this treasured event,” Jay Marine, head of Prime Video’s sports department, said. “We are humbled and proud to begin our relationship with Augusta National Golf Club, and we cannot wait to get started.”
Critically, as part of the agreement, CBS will retain streaming rights to both Saturday and Sunday’s lead-in coverage. The network earned plaudits for its handling of two additional hours of lead-in coverage on Paramount+ in 2025, and Paramount’s streaming platform remains a major focus of new owner David Ellison.
On the whole, the news marks the latest expansion of a Masters telecast that has morphed from a two-hour Sunday afternoon affair into one of the sports world’s most accessible TV properties. After decades as one of the world’s most reclusive TV properties (the so-called “first nine” was not televised until the turn the century), Augusta National has shot to the fore of availability, providing new viewing experiences each year. The Amazon partnership complements the work done by the Masters digital team, which allows fans at home to see every shot of tournament play live on any device.
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
