In the high-priced offices of NBC Sports’ headquarters, Sam Flood, the executive producer and president of production, oversees a sprawling portfolio that spans the NFL, NASCAR, the Olympics, and golf. A 29-time Emmy Award winner and a titan in sports broadcasting, Flood’s influence is undeniable.
Yet, after NBC’s coverage of the 125th U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club drew scathing criticism from fans for excessive commercials, a chaotic analyst rotation, and lackluster production, Flood has emerged as the lightning rod for golf fans’ frustrations. Many blame him for steering NBC’s once-revered golf broadcasts into a tailspin, raising questions about his priorities and whether his vision for the sport aligns with its passionate audience.
A Trailblazer’s Rise
Flood’s journey to the top of NBC Sports is a masterclass in ambition. Born into a blue blood family in Massachusetts, Flood attended Noble and Greenough School — considered “Boston’s most exclusive day school,” before matriculating at the Ivy-adjacent Williams College where he captained the hockey team.
Flood began his career as a researcher for NBC’s 1988 Summer Olympics coverage, later working for Turner Sports and CNN. By 2010, he was named NBC Sports’ seventh executive producer, a role that cemented his status as a visionary behind innovations like hockey’s “Inside the Glass” analyst position. His resume boasts accolades, including a 2016 Sporting News ranking as one of the most influential people in sports, along with multiple Emmys for events like the 2006 NASCAR season and the 2024 NFL Playoffs.
In golf, Flood took on day-to-day oversight of Golf Channel production in 2023, replacing Mark Loomis, and has shaped NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and PGA Tour events. His leadership style, described by colleagues as autocratic and experimental, has driven changes like the much-criticized “odd-even” analyst format and Smylie Kaufman’s amateurish “Happy Hour” segments. These decisions have fueled a growing backlash, with fans and insiders questioning whether Flood’s focus on cost-cutting and innovation has come at the expense of golf’s broadcast quality.
The Heart of the Criticism
The 2025 U.S. Open broadcast crystallized fan discontent, with one X post in particular summarizing NBC’s commercial overload: “Come back from commercial, show 3 shots, go to ‘playing through’ ads for 2 minutes, show another 3 shots, go on commercial again. Complete disregard for its audience.” Other posts slammed the lack of streaming options, noting Peacock’s limited featured group coverage as “totally ridiculous.”
The revolving door of faces at “desk” (Steve Sands, Terry Gannon, Brad Faxon, Dan Hicks, Mike Tirico, Kevin Kisner, Gary Koch, Mark Rofling, Rich Lerner, Curt Byrum, and Notah Begay) drew equal ire, with one fan lamenting, “Hicks and Miller had personality. Now it’s just a bunch of guys talking over each other and stating the obvious.”
At the core of these complaints lies Flood’s strategic overhaul of NBC’s golf coverage. A 2024 Golf Digest exposé by Dave Shedloski painted a damning picture, alleging Flood’s “lack of direction, investment, and enthusiasm” had kneecapped the network’s golf product.
Sources claimed Flood, who reportedly expressed a need to “shake up” coverage in early 2024, prioritized bigger events like The Players Championship while scaling back resources for regular PGA Tour broadcasts. The article suggested Flood’s indifference to golf, a charge he refuted in a recent Golf.com interview, insisting, “It’s a completely false narrative. We are investing and looking at opportunities to grow the game.”
Flood’s defenders, including lead golf producer Tommy Roy, argue he’s restored resources stripped in prior years, with Roy stating, “Sam has switched that around. We’re getting the toys back.”
Yet, fans point to tangible cuts: fewer cameras, reduced tracers, less graphics, and layoffs of familiar faces, which has fueled perceptions of a network in retreat from golf.
The $27 billion NBA deal signed in 2024 further stoked fears that golf, a less lucrative sports property, was being sidelined, though Flood insisted, “Golf is a major sport on our network. We have an entire network dedicated to [it].”
The Analyst Debacle: Flood’s Risky Experiment
Perhaps no decision has drawn more scrutiny than Flood’s handling of the analyst booth. For nearly two decades, Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller defined NBC’s U.S. Open coverage, their chemistry a gold standard. Miller’s 2019 retirement thrust Paul Azinger into the lead role, but after NBC declined to renew his contract, a free-for-all ensued. Flood’s much-criticized solution was a rotating cast, with analysts splitting duties in some kind of “odd-even” format.
The experiment backfired. Fans on X have called it “a carousel of generic voices” that lacks cohesion and causes “confusion” as to who is even talking.
The absence of a singular voice, akin to Miller’s authoritative presence, left broadcasts feeling disjointed. Azinger, who is now seen as a stabilizing force in hindsight, was arguably a victim of following a legend, with one commenter noting, “Zinger got a raw deal. He’d be the best of this bunch.”
Flood’s delay in naming a permanent replacement only amplified the chaos.
Unlike CBS, which swiftly replaced analysts like Nick Faldo and Gary McCord, NBC has adopted a fragmented approach, relying on a rotating cast of analysts like Brandel Chamblee, Brad Faxon, Notah Begay, and Kevin Kisner without promptly filling key roles. This lack of stability has hindered NBC’s ability to engage audiences effectively, fueling criticism of Flood’s leadership in managing the broadcast puzzle.
Flood justified the rotation as a way to offer “different perspectives,” telling Golf.com, “It’s kind of fun every week to figure out who’s going to be on and how it all meshes together.”
But fans disagreed, craving the familiarity of a Hicks-Miller duo. The rehiring of veterans Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch for limited roles in 2025 hinted at an attempt to appease traditionalists, but this only underscored Flood’s haphazard preference for experimentation over continuity.
“Flood operates like someone with a serious case of attention deficit disorder or something. The guy is all over the map,” said an unnamed media critic.
Flood’s Vision: Innovation or Delusion?
Flood’s defenders argue his innovations reflect a forward-thinking approach in a fractured media landscape. The “odd-even” format, designed to create a conversational feel, and Kaufman’s “Happy Hour” segments, which offer player access, show his willingness to take risks. His push for technology, like the Emmy-winning ARL Drone Tracing at the 2025 U.S. Open, and a “Rolex Hour” of uninterrupted final-hour coverage, earned some praise. Yet, these flourishes couldn’t mask broader issues.
Flood’s critics contend his focus on big events, allocating more cameras and shot tracers to majors while cutting back on regular tournaments, betrays a corporate mindset that undervalues golf’s grassroots appeal. Further, his dismissal of LIV Golf as a “total sideshow” in a recent Golf.com interview, citing its low ratings (603,000 viewers for LIV Miami), further alienated fans and players, who see LIV as part of golf’s ecosystem.
“This is a guy who works at the same company that broadcasts MSNBC to far less viewers than 600,000 per hour… and he’s calling us a sideshow? What a buffoon,” said a LIV Golf caddie via email.
The comment, which also drew pushback from LIV CEO Scott O’Neil, highlighted Flood’s narcissistic streak, reminiscent of his 2023 contract negotiations with then NBC lead golf analyst Paul Azinger, who called the NBC Sports chief an “a-hole.”
The Bigger Picture: A Network at a Crossroads
Flood’s tenure comes at a pivotal moment for NBC. The Golf Channel’s 2025 spinoff to Versant, a new entity housing NBCUniversal’s cable assets, raises questions about golf’s future under Flood’s watch. He downplayed the change, telling Golf.com, with a hint of arrogance, “People really won’t know the difference. It’s a back-room business change.”
But with the USGA media rights deal expiring in 2026 and negotiations looming, fans worry NBC’s commitment to golf is waning.
Comcast’s plan to cut $1 billion from NBCUniversal, reported in a 2022 earnings call, looms large, with golf — a costly, niche sport — potentially bearing the brunt. Flood’s insistence that NBC isn’t cost-cutting, coupled with high-profile hires like Mike Tirico ($10.5 million annually), contrasts with the leaner production seen in non-major events. The 2024 Golf Digest report alleged Flood’s budget adjustments targeted early-week telecasts, a claim he denied, but the perception of a penny-pinching network persists.
Flood’s Legacy: Visionary or Villain?
To his supporters, Flood is a trailblazer navigating a challenging media landscape, balancing golf with juggernauts like the NFL and Olympics. His 2024 pledge to reduce commercial interruptions, though met with skepticism, showed responsiveness to fan feedback. To detractors, Flood’s missteps — Mike Tirico’s intrusive role, failing to replace Johnny Miller, overestimating Kevin Kisner, general analyst churn, and commercial overload — have eroded NBC’s legacy as a steward of the sport.
The loss of voices like Miller, Azinger, Maltbie, Koch, and David Feherty, combined with a failure to replicate the Hicks-Miller magic, has left fans nostalgic for a golden era.
As NBC prepares for the 2025 Open Championship at Portrush next month, followed by the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, Flood faces a defining test. Can he restore faith in NBC’s golf coverage, or will he remain the man fans blame for its decline? For now, the verdict is harsh, with one X post summing it up: “Sam Flood’s running golf into the ground. Fix it or get out.”
Whether Flood can silence the critics will shape his legacy in a sport that demands nothing less than excellence.
