A joint sales team from Bell Media’s TSN and Shaw Media’s Global have combined to sell spots around The Masters golf tournament for three years, beginning with this week’s 2013 tournament.

The tournament has had broadcast rights shared between the two channels for many years, with Wednesday, Thursday and Friday being shown on TSN and continuing with the final rounds on Saturday and Sunday on Global Television. However, prior to this year ads for The Masters in Canada were handled by Sanborn Media, a third party company, and that was getting a bit cumbersome for all involved so TSN and Global decided to set aside their differences and create a combined sales force for the tournament, Greg McLelland, VP, national sales, Shaw Media, tells MiC.

“We put together a cross-functional team that included people from Shaw Media and Bell Media and put together a joint package that is seamless for advertisers and went out and made sales calls together,” he says. “When you can combine the specialty channels of sports with mainstream channels it makes sense with events like this that run over multiple days.”

Targeting affluent males, The Masters has sold out of sponsorship spots for its four minutes of airtime per hour during the tournament this year, with Cisco signed on as a new sponsor, and RBC and Acura back with spots this year, says McLelland.

In addition to tournament coverage, TSN and Global will also air pre- and post-round analysis as well as specials like 4 Days in April: The Mike Weir Story, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Canadian golfer winning The Masters in 2003. That special will premiere tonight on TSN at 9:30 p.m. and also air on Global on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Photo: Courtesy of TSN