LIV Golf signs multi-year deal with The CW Network as Saudi-backed tournament hits first US TV deal

LIV Golf has signed a multi-year agreement with The CW Network to broadcast their tournaments starting in the 2023 season. All 14 events will be on The CW, with Round 1 coverage ( Friday) on its app and Rounds 2 and 3 (Saturday and Sunday) on both traditional and app television.

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said: “This is a big day for LIV Golf as this partnership is not just about media rights. “The CW will provide accessibility for our fans and maximum exposure for our athletes and partners as their reach includes more than 120 million households across the United States. Ky.

Norman continued: “We are proud to note how significant it is for a league that has only been around for a year to get a full broadcast contract in its first season. “The CW and its majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, recognize the great interest and potential of our league and with their support, many fans will experience dynamic competition. The quality and creativity that LIV Golf is using to revive the sport CW is a world-class media partner and we are honored to work together to continue to bring LIV Golf to life as they claim to be. position itself in professional sports.”

LIV Golf is available on different networks in many countries for most of its brief existence — it’s on Viaplay in Finaland, Eleven in Luxembourg and Mola TV in Singapore, for example — but it has always viewed a TV deal in the United States as an important component. important in its future development. It’s no secret that the holy grail of programming in this era is live sports, and the CW has had a live sport that includes some of that game’s greatest champions, including Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson.

“Our new partnership between The CW and LIV Golf will bring a whole new audience and add to the growing excitement around the world for the tournament,” said CW president Dennis Miller. “With the CW’s broadcasts and streaming, many fans across the country and around the globe can join the LIV Golf energy and watch its innovative competition reimagining the sport. for players, fans and golfers.For The CW, our partnership with LIV Golf marks an important milestone in our goal of redesigning our network with quality programming, This also marks the first time in the CW’s 17-year history that the network has been the exclusive broadcaster for live mainstream sports. .”

LIV will share revenue with CW and continue to produce its own content, according to ESPN, no different from what it did last year on YouTube. The good news for LIV is that it won’t pay The CW for a spot on TV; Golfweek reported Last fall, LIV nearly closed a deal with Fox Sports in which LIV would pay for airtime. The good news for The CW is that it features live sports for free. Sports rights are astronomical and no matter how one feels about LIV, it still represents live sports.

This year’s LIV Golf season runs from February 24 to 26 in Mayakoba at El Camaleon Golf Course, which previously hosted a PGA Tour event. The LIV will then travel around the world to Australia, Singapore, Tulsa, Spain and West Virginia, with a number of other events yet to be named.

What does this mean?

LIV’s goal since its inception in early 2022 has been to be present on traditional television, especially in the United States. The reason for this desire is twofold. LIV will find it extremely difficult to attract sponsors if it distributes its own content on YouTube because of its relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the fact that it is funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Saudi Arabia. For many big advertisers, that’s the beginning. Now, LIV is simply a smaller part of a larger network. Brands and companies won’t shy away from that as the LIV will be only a fraction of the larger ad purchase.

The second reason is awareness. Every LIV event last year was streamed on YouTube, and the numbers were unimpressive. Only two of the last rounds averaging more than 100,000 viewers. We could dig into why this is so, but we’ll save that for another time (or platform). The bottom line of LIV is that it’s a tough scene. Although LIV is decreasing potential reach, it may be increasing really because the traditional way of measuring TV numbers is often not as accurate as a platform like YouTube.

Or, perhaps the actual number won’t go up. That remains to be seen. LIV will definitely celebrate this as a remarkable day as it’s about to begin its second season, but in the long run, I’m not sure putting golf directly into the CW app is the best way to disrupt the industry. (or any other industry).