The two-year-long rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has taken another tangent. Though the golf bodies were supposed to join hands by the end of the 2023 season, the $3 billion PGA Tour-PIF merger is nowhere near its closure. Amidst the uncertain future of the breakaway circuit, the Saudi Arabia-backed league is having trouble knocking on its door.

Since its inception in 2021, LIV Golf has time and again failed to garner as much attention and interest from the golf community as the PGA Tour enjoys. At first, it seemed as if it would change with time. However, recent data indicates that by the end of the 2024 season, LIV Golf may lose the television ratings against the American League.

LIV Golf loses to the PGA Tour in terms of revenue

LIV Golf was initially established to display golf to a wider audience base globally and introduce an innovative format to the conventional game of golf. The league partnered up with The CW Network to reach its audience in the USA and uses various apps (LIV Golf+, CW App, and YouTube) to reach its fanbase worldwide.

Last year. the ad revenue generated for LIV golf through CW Network was around $3 million, whereas the PGA Tour enjoyed more than 100 folds in revenue with its broadcasters through TV, which was more than $500 million. However, the CW Network only broadcasts the Saturday and Sunday final rounds, unlike NBC and CBS, which televise all four rounds of the American Tour. The Friday round of the LIV event gets streamed on the applications rather than being televised.

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This shortage of a television partner’s support directly affects the revenue of the entire league. To break through the Friday drought, LIV’s chief media officer, Will Staeger, told Golf.com that they have tried to find a second partner to monetize all the hours of the game. “We’ve set up conversations with all major networks around the world,” said Staeger.

The significant difference in the league’s revenue can be attributed to how much audience it attracts and, subsequently, whether that increases or decreases the value of the league in the sports media. However, despite the arduous efforts, two events have passed in the 2024 season, and no deals are coming the way of LIV Golf for the Friday round broadcast. The low revenue becomes a threat when it is coupled with fewer viewers across the platforms compared to the PGA Tour.

The dramatic difference in viewership between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour

This drastic disinterest of the public in LIV Golf’s game can be observed when last week the two had their events collide: LIV Golf Mayakoba and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. For the Saturday round, Pro-Am had attracted 1.9151 million viewers on CBS, while LIV Golf was significantly lower at 168k on The CW.

Moreover, when the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am got canceled due to poor weather, the shift in LIV Golf’s viewership improved. For the final round playoffs, LIV Golf hit the highest number ever recorded for its events, with a 432k audience tuning in. However, that was still three times lower than the PGA Tour’s third-round re-run on Sunday, which was 1.21 million on CBS.

Read More: 3 Ways LIV Golf Has Imitated the PGA Tour for the Upcoming Vegas Fixture

Although LIV Golf does stream on YouTube and other platforms, there was a 38% increase in the CW App and a 173.3% audience increase in YouTube streams as well. However, even counting audiences from all platforms, the LIV Golf reach cannot reach the millions yet. The viewership impacts the rating, which results in attracting new partnerships, and LIV Golf is struggling in that area.

But it should be remembered that since last year, the breakaway league has improved immensely, and moving forward, they have signed deals with Spanish broadcaster MoviStar and PMY Group, which will work with Google to stream ‘Any Time, Any Shot’. With no partner for the Friday round broadcast and the merger getting delayed with every passing day, LIV Golf will fail to surpass the PGA Tour in TV ratings any time soon.

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