Certainly, Sawgrass HQ will be concerned. The Tour’s viewing figures endured a torrid 2024 and with the likes of DeChambeau on a rival channel, CBS and NBC might ramp up the pressure. The Tour has been negotiating with the Kingdom’s £700 billion treasure trove – which launched and finances the league that has poached a […]
Certainly, Sawgrass HQ will be concerned. The Tour’s viewing figures endured a torrid 2024 and with the likes of DeChambeau on a rival channel, CBS and NBC might ramp up the pressure.
The Tour has been negotiating with the Kingdom’s £700 billion treasure trove – which launched and finances the league that has poached a myriad of major winners including Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Cam Smith – for more than 18 months, but a resolution has frustratingly yet to be reached.Together with O’Neil, LIV will see the alliance with Fox as one of its most notable signings. In its first season, the coverage was confined to streaming on YouTube and LIV’s own website. Two years ago, CW joined forces with LIV to great fanfare from Norman, with the Australian declaring: “CW reaches 120 million households across the United States and will provide accessibility for our fans and maximum exposure for our athletes”.This has left LIV free to lure other big names, although as yet, there have been no star signings this off-season. Instead, the last few months have featured the revelation that CEO Greg Norman is to be moved upstairs, with respected businessman Scott O’Neil appointed to spearhead the next chapter in the upstart organisation that has irrevocably changed the professional male game.LIV Golf is on the brink of at last achieving a primary aim by signing with one of the main United States TV stations before the league’s resumption starts next month.Sports Business Journal reported last month that the two were involved in positive talks, but that the discussions were inevitably complex because of the payment of rights or otherwise and on which of Fox’s channels the action would feature.Details remain sketchy, but it is understood that LIV will deliver the coverage in full with its in-house production and that Fox will provide an income stream, whether that comes in the form of actual rights fees or a revenue-sharing agreement.
PGA Tour will be concerned amid torrid viewing figures
However, in relative terms, that exposure did not amount to much at all, with a high of almost 500,000 watching and a low of below 100,000. Little wonder, therefore, that an option of a third year was not taken up and that LIV went searching for a new home, with Fox, the Murdoch-controlled media giant, quickly emerging as favourites over TNT.The 2025 LIV Golf League begins in Riyadh on February 6 and the fact that this will be one of eight of the 14 events being hosted outside the US has made the negotiations with Fox that much more complicated.After spending the first three years of its controversial existence in the broadcasting shadows, LIV will believe this will be a huge step towards legitimisation, with industry insiders claiming the multi-year contract will only serve to emphasise to the PGA Tour the necessity of reaching a peace deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
