One of the more divisive discussion points at a time when golf could hardly be anymore fractured concerns just how successful LIV Golf has been during its first few years in existence.
In one sense, LIV Golf deserve a lot of credit. For much of 2021, few golf fans would have had any idea what you were talking about if you were to mention LIV. And yet, heading into 2025, it appeared to be a matter of time before the PIF – the owners of the tour – would have a seat around the table in deciding the future of the game.
Of course, LIV have signed a number of superstar names. And the league has showcased why it is so important that the best players in the world travel across the globe for tournaments.
However, there remains so much to dislike about the league. Obviously, there are very understandable concerns about the PIF.
Paul McGinley assesses where LIV Golf finds itself early on in its fourth season
And there is perhaps an argument that had LIV Golf not been funded by the PIF, the PGA Tour would have much less reason to seek some sort of merger. But it is the knowledge of the wealth of those running LIV that perhaps makes the situation more urgent.
Interestingly, it would appear that some think that LIV Golf needs a deal a lot more than the PGA Tour.
Speaking on Sliced, Paul McGinley was asked about whether LIV had surpassed and fallen short of expectations thus far. And the 2016 European Ryder Cup captain noted that he is not convinced that what LIV is doing is sustainable – even for the PIF.
“It’s kind of where I thought it would be. I never really thought it had legs on it to be cutting edge and new and amazing. I don’t think it’s an exciting way of playing golf. It certainly doesn’t light my fire, and to go up against the history of the tours was always going to be a very, very difficult thing to do. So yeah, I’m not a fan of it. I never have been, I’ve been aligned with the traditional tours. And I think by all accounts, it’s very, very hard to show me a metric to say that it is successful, whether that be commercially, whether that be TV viewing figures, whether it be all my friends. I’m always doing market research myself. ‘Do you ever watch LIV?’ Honestly, I can count maybe on one hand in the last three years the people that said, ‘yeah, I watch it all the time’. I wouldn’t even get to five. And that’s people in the golfing world, so it’s very unproven for me,” he said.
“I know you have the attack dogs on social media who’ll tell you otherwise and they’ll come up with all kinds of stuff, but there’s no metric out there to say that it is really successful, that it’s doing great and it’s about to pop. By all accounts, they’ve burnt $5 billion, and that’s from very strong sources. Are they going to continue doing that? As I keep saying, Saudi Arabia is not a charity. They are not out there to give money away. They’re out there to create businesses, I get that, but at what stage do you invest $5 billion into a sporting franchise that don’t have any metrics to suggest that it’s going to be successful?
“I think what is going to be really interesting, and it could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, is what they think is a positive which is the TV deal with FOX. Now they have a mainstream deal with FOX this year in America and are going up this week in Miami against a relatively small event on the PGA Tour, and that will be really insightful in terms of their figures compared to the PGA Tour. Being on similar timezones with a much better field than what the Texas Open will have, will they be able to produce figures anywhere near, on a major network, anywhere near what the PGA Tour will do? And if they do, that will be a metric, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Certainly, the indications are that it’s not going to happen. They’re quite a way off. But they’ll argue until they’re blue in the face that that’s not the case. But I just don’t see it.”
Why Brandel Chamblee thinks LIV Golf is now dying
It is harder to track the impact LIV is having on audiences, because there are various ways to consume their tournaments – including on their app.
They will also argue that they are unlikely to attract strong audiences in the US while events are taking place in Adelaide or Singapore. However, McGinley is surely correct in noting that some of the statistics do not look good for LIV.
Brandel Chamblee claimed LIV was dying after viewing figures for The Players Championship increased from last year. Meanwhile, it has been suggested that FOX is only paying a nominal fee at most for the rights to show LIV events.
While LIV has the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, there is always a chance that they will stumble upon the formula which allows them to capitalise on the PGA Tour not hitting all the right notes.
But it seems that those who are fans of the PGA Tour are not particularly concerned about being overtaken while LIV is on its current path.
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