Irish public service broadcaster RTE has bolstered its domestic golf portfolio by securing highlights rights to the 2027 Ryder Cup men’s team tournament and a multi-year deal to air the annual Irish Open.
Under its Ryder Cup agreement, RTE will provide free-to-air (FTA) highlights and radio coverage of the iconic biennial tournament, set to take place between Team Europe and Team USA at the Adare Manor course in County Limerick next year.
The agreement includes 30-day catch-up rights, as well as rights to post clips on social media.
The 2027 edition will be the first time since 2006 that the Ryder Cup will be held in Ireland, with the event to run between September 17 and 19.
Pay-TV giant Sky Sports holds the exclusive live broadcasting rights to the Ryder Cup in the UK and Ireland through 2029, which it will air across its linear channels and streaming service.
In 2029, the event will take place at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, before returning to Europe in 2031, when the tournament will travel to Camiral, Catalonia, in Spain.
RTE’s multi-year rights extension to the Irish Open, part of the DP World Tour, will see the broadcaster continue to hold domestic TV and radio rights beyond the current edition.
The extension comes as RTE begins its coverage of this year’s edition, which will air across its RTE2 linear channel RTE Player streaming service from today through September 13.
RTÉ head of sport Declan McBennett said: “Given the drama, excitement and world-class field the Amgen Irish Open now attracts, we are delighted to renew our broadcast agreement and bring more great live sport to Irish audiences FTA
‘On top of that, to be able to incorporate highlights from one of the world’s great sporting spectacles that is the Ryder Cup means that RTÉ will ensure Irish audiences have even more access to memorable sporting moments on Irish soil and all FTA.”
For the Ryder Cup, the new deal bolsters its commercial slate, having most recently added Dutch brewing giant Heineken as a new commercial partner earlier this month, becoming the beer, cider, and stout supplier to the 2027 edition.
Early August saw US-based technology company CDW announce its return as a commercial partner of the event, for next year's edition. CDW builds on its role as official IT services supplier to the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, with an expanded remit for 2027.
Before that, multinational financial services platform Stripe was named a worldwide partner for the 2027 and 2029 Ryder Cups in July, while sustainable packaging manufacturer Smurfit Westrock joined in the same top-tier category in March for the next three editions.
