Vincent Carchietta-BroBible
It’s been around a year since LIV Golf started to make moves in an attempt to take on the PGA Tour, and while the league successfully poached dozens of players from its bitter rival, it’s still experienced plenty of growing pains.
Many of the golfers who’ve signed with LIV have trotted out the “Grow The Game” talking point while attempting to justify their decision to swap allegiances, but if that is actually their primary motivation (as opposed to the massive bags of cash they received for jumping ship), the execution has left plenty to be desired.
Nick Faldo alluded to one of the most glaring issues with the organization he dubbed “meaningless” in an interview last month, as LIV’s incredibly tepid viewership numbers are indicative of one of the biggest questions surrounding the Saudi-backed venture: would anyone actually miss it if it disappeared overnight?
As things currently stand, it would appear the answer is a resounding “Nope—especially when you consider some new information that came to light on Monday.
According to ESPN, attorneys representing LIV Golf in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit with the PGA Tour revealed a fairly shocking piece of information while pushing against a proposed delay in a federal court filing where they admitted the league had failed to generate basically any money over the course of 2022, saying:
“Delay will equally harm LIV because the Tour continues its anticompetitive conduct while the litigation is pending. The Tour has damaged LIV’s brand, driven up its costs by hundreds of millions of dollars, and driven down revenues to virtually zero.”
The outlet reports LIV previously stated it spent around $784 million to fund its inaugural season, which makes that development even more shocking.
The lack of a television broadcast partner certainly didn’t help the cause (although it has rectified that issue after teaming up with The CW). LIV may be attempting to place the bulk of the blame for its failures on the PGA Tour, but it’s also a huge stretch to suggest its competitor is the primary reason it was apparently unable to generate a significant amount of money through advertising partnerships, merchandise, and ticket sales.
At this point, it seems like there’s really nowhere for LIV to go but up, but it’s also becoming increasingly hard to ignore its sheer lack of raison d’être.