The Open Championship is not just a historic golf tournament anymore but a huge business that makes a lot of money. Every July, the tournament earns millions of dollars from broadcasting deals and through local businesses and tourism. This is what makes the oldest major, which started in 1860, unique and lucrative.

The Open Championship brings in golf’s biggest earnings through broadcast rights, and it all started when the British Open ended its long partnership with ABC and ESPN and signed a new TV deal with NBC and Golf Channel starting in 2017.

• In the United States, NBC continued to broadcast The Open under its 12-year agreement until 2028, worth $50 million per year.
• In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sky Sports showed the tournament under a four-year deal from 2024 to 2028 that is worth an estimated $23.58 million per year.
• The tournament also attracted a large TV audience. NBC’s final-round broadcast averaged 4.1 million viewers, which was 21% higher than in 2024.
• At the same time, Sky Sports recorded its highest-ever audience for The Open, with 21.2 million hours of viewing, showing that interest in the championship continued to grow.

On top of that, the sponsorship was also pretty solid. In 2025, the championship had 18 sponsorship partners, and 17 of them returned from the previous year. It also drew 278,000 spectators, setting a new attendance record for any Open Championship held outside St. Andrews.

A study by Sheffield Hallam University found that The Open Championship added £89 million to Northern Ireland’s economy. Out of that, £43.7 million went directly to the Causeway Coast and Glens area, where Royal Portrush is located.

The same kind of success came in the year 2022. The 150th Open at St Andrews gave Scotland a huge financial boost.

• An independent study by The R&A, VisitScotland, and Fife Council found that the tournament created more than £300 million for the economy.
• The 150th Open at St Andrews attracted a record 290,000 fans, breaking the previous attendance record of 239,000 set at the same course in 2000.
• The visitors brought £61 million in new money into the Fife region because of fans traveling there for the tournament.

More than 62.3% of the spectators came from outside Scotland. They included 31% from other parts of the United Kingdom, 19.2% from the United States, 2.6% from Canada, and 2.3% from the Republic of Ireland. Around 48% of the fans attended The Open for the first time, while 76% of overseas visitors were visiting the championship for the first time.

Aine Kearney from Tourism NI described The Open as “a phenomenal success for Northern Ireland as a destination.” They also added there was a “significant increase in the number of hotel stocks in the local area, which in itself is creating jobs and providing a higher quality experience for people living in the area”.

Now, the Open also helps set the standard for how much money top golf tournaments should offer. Looking at past success, the prize money for the 2026 season increased to $17.5 million in 2026, which was $500,000 more than the $17 million offered in 2025. However, it still offered $3 million less than the 2026 PGA Championship, which had a $20.5 million prize purse.

Even though players mainly want to win The Open because of its history and prestige, the tournament still pays large cash prizes. The 2026 champion will receive $3.2 million, and the runner-up will earn $1.842 million. So, at the end, the entire tournament benefited from the success that comes from different areas.

1. The R&A earns money by selling TV rights and making sponsorship and business deals.
2. TV companies like NBC and Sky Sports earn by attracting millions of viewers.
3. Hotels, restaurants, pubs, shops, and other local businesses earn more money because thousands of fans travel to watch the tournament.
4. Golf courses and tourism
5. The local economy grows as visitors spend money on hotels and food during the event.
6. The success of  The Open promotes the host city and country to a global audience which helps them gain more and more events in future.

Now, through all these ways The Open is slowly placing itself in contention with the LIV Golf and one day it might also surpass it.

The LIV Golf effect changed the economics

The LIV Golf started back in 2022 and never faced any financial problems, as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has put more than $5 billion into the league. Now, because LIV Golf had so much money, other events also started competing with it, and one of them is the PGA Tour, which made big changes to compete with it.

1. In October 2022, the PGA Tour announced four more big tournaments with $20 million prize money each. These were the WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship, and Travelers Championship. They joined 13 other elevated events.
2. Then, in 2024, the PGA Tour created PGA Tour Enterprises, to handle their commercial operation to help them compete against LIV Golf.
3. The PGA Tour also got investors like Strategic Sports Group, who agreed to invest up to $12 billion in the PGA Tour.

This gave the Tour a large amount of money to grow its business, reward players, and stay competitive as LIV Golf continued to attract top golfers with huge financial backing.

Now, the Open is not directly competing with LIV Golf, but it shows how valuable major golf tournaments have become. The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush generated more than £280 million in economic benefit for Northern Ireland. The tournament brought large crowds, attracted visitors from around the world, and boosted the local economy.

The Open lasts for only four days, but it encourages many visitors to return in the future, creating long-term tourism benefits.

But eventually, The Open prize money might surpass LIV Golf as they are about to lose their biggest financial backing. As Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will stop giving it money after the 2026 season. Now, they are up for finding new sponsors to run the business. They have already told their players and staff about these changes. So it probably is a matter of time that R&A’s offering for the tournament purse might surpass a regular LIV Golf event.