RTÉ Secures Ryder Cup 2027 Highlights Package as Adare Manor Tournament Approaches with Sky Sports Holding Live Rights
RTÉ has secured the television highlights rights for the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in County Limerick, ensuring that Irish viewers will have free-to-air access to coverage of the most prestigious team event in golf when it comes to Ireland for the first time — though Sky Sports will retain the live coverage rights as part of a four-year extension with the DP World Tour running through 2029.
Background
The 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor represents one of the most significant sporting events ever to be staged in Ireland. The biennial contest between Europe and the United States, which alternates between venues on either side of the Atlantic, has never previously been held in the Republic of Ireland, and the decision to award the 2027 edition to the JP McManus-owned Adare Manor resort in County Limerick was greeted with enormous enthusiasm by the Irish golfing community.
Adare Manor underwent a comprehensive renovation between 2016 and 2018, emerging as one of the finest golf resorts in Europe and a venue capable of hosting the world's most prestigious tournaments. The course, designed by Tom Fazio, has already hosted the Irish Open and has demonstrated its capacity to manage the logistical demands of a major international event. The Ryder Cup will require a significantly larger operation, with tens of thousands of spectators expected over the course of the week.
The broadcasting rights landscape for the Ryder Cup in Ireland has been a subject of considerable public interest, given the scale of the event and the desire of Irish golf fans to watch it on free-to-air television. Sky Sports secured a four-year extension with the DP World Tour in 2025, covering the 2026 to 2029 period, which gave it the live rights for the 2027 Ryder Cup in the UK and Ireland. RTÉ's negotiations focused on securing the best possible package within that framework.
Key Developments
RTÉ has confirmed that it has secured the rights to air television highlights covering all four days of the 2027 Ryder Cup. The highlights package will allow Irish viewers without Sky Sports subscriptions to follow the tournament on free-to-air television, though they will not have access to live coverage of the matches as they unfold.
In addition to the Ryder Cup highlights deal, RTÉ has entered into a new multi-year agreement to continue providing live coverage of the Amgen Irish Open, ensuring that Ireland's flagship professional golf tournament remains accessible to the widest possible audience. The Irish Open deal is particularly significant given the tournament's current profile — the 2026 edition at Doonbeg, featuring Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Shane Lowry, has attracted significant international attention.
Sky Sports' four-year extension with the DP World Tour, which began in 2026 and runs through 2029, ensures that it remains the primary broadcaster for the Ryder Cup in the UK and Ireland for both the 2027 Adare Manor event and the 2029 tournament in the United States. The deal reflects the commercial value of the Ryder Cup as a broadcasting property and the willingness of Sky to invest significantly in golf rights.
Why It Matters
The broadcasting arrangement for the 2027 Ryder Cup reflects a broader tension in Irish sports broadcasting between the desire for free-to-air access to major events and the commercial realities of the rights market. The Ryder Cup is one of the most valuable broadcasting properties in golf, and the price of live rights is beyond what RTÉ can realistically afford in the current funding environment.
The highlights package secured by RTÉ is a meaningful compromise that will allow the national broadcaster to provide coverage of the event to Irish viewers who do not have Sky Sports subscriptions. However, the absence of live coverage means that the most dramatic moments of the Ryder Cup — the singles matches on the final day, the decisive putts, the celebrations — will be available to Irish viewers only on a delayed basis.
For context, the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome attracted a peak television audience of over 10 million viewers across Europe, with the final day's singles matches generating some of the highest viewing figures for any golf event in history. The 2027 edition, staged in Ireland for the first time, is expected to generate even greater interest among Irish viewers, making the broadcasting arrangement a matter of significant public interest.
Local Impact
In County Limerick, the Ryder Cup is already generating significant economic anticipation. Adare Manor and the surrounding area are expected to benefit from tens of thousands of visitors over the course of the tournament week, with hotels, restaurants, and accommodation providers across the county reporting strong advance bookings. The economic impact of the event is estimated to run into hundreds of millions of euro for the Limerick and Mid-West region.
For the Irish golfing community — from the elite professionals who will compete in the European team to the club golfers who will follow the event with passionate interest — the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see the world's best players compete on home soil. The RTÉ highlights package will ensure that the event reaches the widest possible Irish audience.
What's Next
The 2027 Ryder Cup is scheduled for late September 2027 at Adare Manor. European team captain selection is expected to be announced in early 2027, with Rory McIlroy widely regarded as the frontrunner for the captaincy. Ticket applications for the event are expected to open in early 2027, with demand expected to significantly exceed supply. RTÉ will begin its promotional coverage of the event in the months leading up to the tournament.
