What does it mean when a league’s biggest broadcast deal arrives within days of its grittiest major champion disappearing from the promotional material? LIV Golf just answered that question with its recent broadcast deal.

The Saudi-backed circuit announced a multi-year partnership with TNT Sports and discovery+ on January 8, 2026, securing linear television placement in the UK and Ireland alongside the Premier League and Champions League. The promotional graphic had purple TNT branding, “THE NEW HOME OF LIV GOLF” splashed across the frame, featuring Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, and Bryson DeChambeau.

Brooks Koepka was nowhere to be found as the five-time major champion, who exited LIV Golf on December 23, 2025, ending a 2.5-year tenure that included the league’s most significant validation: the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. That victory marked the first major won by a LIV golfer. Now Koepka is gone, and that puts its legitimacy at risk. It raises the question as to what comes next. Will more golfers like Kevin Na follow the pursuit of leaving? In times of these uncertain questions, LIV is betting that the platform matters more than the man.

For years, LIV Golf has faced criticism for a lack of proper broadcasting outside of the USA, with things getting frustrating, especially for fans in the UK. The TNT Sports deal addresses that void directly. All 14 events will broadcast live starting February 4, when the season opens under lights at Riyadh Golf Club.

Örjan Olsson, LIV’s SVP of International Media Rights, framed the partnership in territorial terms.

“Our new partnership with TNT Sports represents a historic moment for LIV Golf as we cement our footprint in one of the most important and influential sports territories in the world,” Olsson said.

LIV now isn’t chasing eyeballs; it’s chasing legitimacy through association. TNT Sports carries the Premier League, UEFA competitions, the FA Cup, Premiership rugby, UFC, and MotoGP. Placement alongside those properties signals institutional credibility that YouTube streams never could.

The timing aligns with another concession. LIV’s move to a 72-hole format in 2026, abandoning the experimental 54-hole structure, reads like a surrender dressed as evolution. Traditional broadcasters want Thursday-to-Sunday inventory. LIV delivered.

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Brooks Koepka’s absence signals LIV Golf’s marketing pivot

Koepka’s omission from the graphic wasn’t accidental. It subtly signaled that the league has already moved on. Moreover, his 2025 season offered little reason to feature him. He finished 31st in LIV’s individual standings with just two top-10 finishes and missed cuts in three of four majors. The player who once embodied LIV’s competitive credibility had become a liability on the stat sheet.

His exit statement cited family priorities. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil confirmed the mutual partition.

“Brooks is prioritizing the needs of his family and staying closer to home,” O’Neil said. “We appreciate the significant impact he has had on the game.”

The diplomatic tone obscured a structural reality. Koepka’s departure, combined with relegations and rumors of other golfers leaving, has created a vacuum that LIV appears desperate to fill. The league has reportedly pursued Si Woo Kim, Thomas Detry, and Elvis Smylie in private negotiations. The scramble suggests anxiety beneath the broadcast victory.

But the TNT partnership, paired with the existing FOX Sports deal in the US, completes a traditional broadcast architecture that would have seemed impossible in 2022. The 2026 season spans 14 events across 10 countries and five continents, with a historic first stop in South Africa. The field has expanded to 57 players across 13 teams.

The question lingers. Can platforms and format normalization replace the magnetism of a five-time major champion who proved LIV players could still win golf’s biggest prizes?

The promotional graphic suggests LIV believes the answer is yes. Broadcast legitimacy arrived. Star power departed. The 2026 season will determine which mattered more.