LIV Golf has built a reputation by using large sums of money to draw some of the top players in the world, and now they are expected to use that financial might, which is backed by the Saudi Arabian government, to pay for its first major United States television deal.
LIV has made major waves in the world of golf over the last eight months. The new tour has been in a very public battle with the legendary PGA Tour for fans and top athletes in the industry. The new golf circuit, funded by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, has been able to sign elite and world-famous players like Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, and Phil Mickelson by paying them unheard-of amounts of money. However, one thing they haven’t been able to secure yet is a major television deal in the US. That will reportedly soon change.
On Tuesday night, Golf Week broke the news that LIV Golf is closing in on an agreement with Fox Sports to air their content on the FS1 network. However, what makes this pact different than other major agreements between a network and a top professional sports league is the fact that LIV will actually be purchasing the TV time on the Fox channel, and will receive no payments in return for the deal. Golf Week explains why such a thing is quite unusual and also not a great look for the new tour.
Also read: LIV Golf FAQ – The new circuit challenging the PGA Tour
“While media companies typically pay sports leagues a substantial rights fee to air their products, the deal would not see LIV receive payment, said a source familiar with the discussions. Instead, LIV — which is controversially financed by the Saudi Arabian regime’s Public Investment Fund — would buy time on the cable channel to air its events, a move that will be widely interpreted as a failure to attract serious commercial interest in what it is offering.”
LIV Golf deal with Fox
Why LIV Golf on Fox Sports is not as impactful as other major TV deals
Usually, when a pro sport lands a television deal with a well-known broadcasting brand, it is a major coup for those leagues. With major rights deals come huge sums of money as networks purchase the content of a league or even entertainment entities like WWE. Which made billions in the new TV deals they signed with the Fox and USA networks a few years ago.
However, with LIV continuing to use their absurd Saudi wealth to buy the TV time they couldn’t get outright, they earn no extra money from the agreement. Instead, they are once again throwing large sums of cash at a problem in the hopes that the league will continue to gain traction and eventually turn the product into something that mirrors other top sports leagues like the UFC, NFL, NBA, and English Premier League.
Furthermore, while the Fox flagship channel is a hub for top sports happenings like this year’s Super Bowl, its smaller networks have not had the same impact. While getting on a network is better than airing events on Facebook, as LIV currently does, landing a deal with FS1 is still airing content on a lower tier of sports networks nowadays.