LIV Golf Tour inks TV deal with CW 08:30, 24/01/2023

During its inaugural season, LIV Golf was on television and cable television in more than 150 territories around the world, a consensus with the ambition to "subjugate" the major international systems in opposition. However, in the US - which hosts the majority of tournaments and has the largest audience - LIV can only be viewed via live stream on YouTube, Facebook or LIV Golf's media page. Although the users of those platforms are immense, being able to stream only has hindered LIV Golf's reach to the American audience. Most sports, especially golf, are still watched through traditional television channels. That's one of the reasons why sports rights are so expensive.

According to information from Golf Digest, nearly all of the major television subsidiaries in the US showed little or no interest in LIV Golf during the first few months of its launch. And the only media company keeping an eye on LIV Golf is Fox Corporation due to its close ties to the Saudi-backed system. Rupert Murdoch, Fox founder and media mogul, is Greg Norman's longtime confidant -the two attempted to create a "World Golf Tour" in the mid-1990s, with Murdoch's Fox Sports securing the television rights.

In January 2022, LIV Golf teamed up with former Fox Sports President David Hill to help with production, and the Fox News team was on hand to support LIV golf's third event. on Donald Trump's home turf. By the second half of the year, many reports indicated that LIV Golf was trying to negotiate with Fox Sports. However, negotiations broke down over royalties, as LIV Golf saw the media contract as a revenue generator, while Fox Sports claimed the benefit of being paid to display the product, similar to buy ads.

And recently, LIV Golf has found a potential partner - CW channel. The CW television network was acquired by Nexstar Media Group in 2022 with an American audience of up to 120 million people. According to Nielsen data, The CW is the 25th most-watched network in the US in 2022. That's a far cry from the PGA Tour's broadcast partners, NBC and CBS, which ranked first and second respectively. Because it's not a network with sports-focused programming like ESPN or Fox Sports, it's hard for LIV Golf to gain audience support from the CW's shows.

However, there are very few direct financial costs associated with CW's joint venture as LIV Golf will not receive media royalties for the deal with LIV Golf. Instead, the deal will be to share ads between the network and the league. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is said to receive about $700 million a year from media rights partners NBC, CBS and ESPN.

Will Staeger, Communications Director for LIV Golf, affirmed the importance of the CW's available resources as what attracted the system to the network.

The deal is not without its downsides for LIV. The tournament will no longer be streamed for free on Facebook or YouTube, and its Friday rounds will only be shown on the CW's own (paid user) app. In addition, unlike the first season where events were broadcast without commercial disruption, LIV Golf will begin looking for advertising partners in 2023.