Paul Azinger not returning to NBC Sports in 2024

Paul Azinger (Ed Balaun, Wikimedia Commons)

According to Alex Miceli of Sports Illustrated on Monday, Paul Azinger will not return to the PGA Tour golf coverage in 2024. The reason is because Azinger refused to take a pay cut.

Azinger’s contract was reportedly up for renewal in 2024. NBC Sports offered him a contract. However, Azinger was to earn less money than when the signed his initial contract in 2018. He then gave NBC Sports a counter proposal, which was rejected by NBC. The network known for its peacock logo, then notified Azinger’s agent Rich Braund, that NBC Sports would have a different analyst accompanying Dan Hicks. Curt Byrum will reportedly replace Azinger at the Hero World Challenge, which Tiger Woods is set to compete in at the Bahamas, starting November 30.

Azinger won one major championship in his golf career. That came at the 1993 PGA Championship, where he shot a four round score of -12 and beat LIV Chief Executive Officer Greg Norman of Mount Isa, Australia in a playoff at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

A cancer survivor, Azinger is 63 years old. The Holyoke, Massachusetts native initially joined NBC in 1995 to cover the Ryder Cup singles match between Tom Lehman of the United States and Seve Ballesteros of Spain. Azinger then joined ABC as an analyst from 2005 to 2015. During this time ABC had rights to the British Open. Azinger then joined FOX’s coverage of the United States Open from 2016 to 2018, and has been the lead analyst on NBC since 2018. Byrum has won one PGA Tour event in his career. That was the 1989 Hardee’s Golf Classic in Illinois.

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