F1 Owners Majorly Hint at Capitalizing on PGA-LIV Merger to Disrupt the Golf Market

Whether one would like to admit it or not, F1 under Liberty Media has truly rejuvenated. The corporation has not only done an amazing job in making the brand of F1 much stronger but has also improved it financially, commercially, and more entertaining for the fans. However, with the recent PGA-LIV merger creating mixed opinions, the mass media company might be looking forward to possibly disrupting the golf market.

Ever since the announcement of the PGA-LIV merger, the golf community has unfortunately been in a disruptive state. With dividing opinions on the morality of the prestigious PGA Tour aligning with the LIV Golf, fans, and golf athletes like have not been shy of expressing themselves. However, amidst all the chaos happening in the golf market, Liberty Media seems to have taken a keen interest in PGA.

After success with F1, does Liberty Media have a future plan for the PGA Tour?

If you didn’t know, just a few days before, The PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf recently announced a merger amongst them to form a new collectively owned entity. The sudden and shocking news was not only abrupt but also left the entire golf community divided. But with the ongoing merger and the community losing their trust in the PGA Tour, it looks like Liberty Media, the owner of the F1 group, perhaps has the PGA Tour on their radar.

In a recent exclusive interview with CNBC, Greg Maffei, Liberty Media CEO, got candid about how the corporation expects to handle the big cash flow, going forward from the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix. This GP is not only essentially for F1 to set its foot in the US, but also a step towards making the sport more profitable for the investors and everyone involved.

Furthermore, it helps Liberty Media to acquire more premium IPs like F1, as stated by him, “What I talked about in here was, we are investors in premium IP. The Atlanta Braves, Formula One are all great examples. But we could find others. We’d continue to look.”

However, Greg Maffei revealed some rather interesting information, when asked whether the PGA would be something that they might be interested in. Trying to not show all his cards, he gave a subtle hint by stating, “I think the PGA is definitely premium IP.” Upon being asked for a more definitive answer, he simply further added, “Can’t comment on that, but I think the PGA is premium IP.”

READ MORE: Can Max Verstappen Domination Hurt Liberty Media’s $4,400,000,000 Investment?

Maffei’s comments are certainly an indication that Liberty Media is monitoring the situation at PGA and that they are not afraid of hiding that fact. Considering that the Las Vegas GP is set to help F1 grow further as a brand and one of the biggest assets for Liberty Media, it’ll be more interesting to see how the corporation handles the growth of F1 and possibly managing PGA in the future.

Even Liberty Media doesn’t know how to stop the Max Verstappen dominance

In sports, eras come and go, but once in a while, comes a truly dominant period of historic greatness. This happens to be the case in Max Verstappen’s current dominance. Not only has the Red Bull driver been in absolutely scintillating form, but he has also shattered record after record. But unfortunately, with such sheer dominance, there also comes a lack of excitement from the fans. In simple terms, with Verstappen winning so much, the race becomes less entertaining and exciting for the fans, as most predict him to win anyway.

This further creates a ripple effect that ultimately troubles the marketing department. With Liberty Media overseeing F1’s commercial rights, the race becomes that much more difficult to sell.

According to WTF1, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei made a dark joke by stating, “The reality is, we have a very attractive competitive product, other than the fact that Max is that fast. Short of breaking his leg, a la Tonya Harding, I’m not sure what we can do about that!” The reference to “La Tonya Harding” is related to the infamous 1994 sports scandal when Harding, an ice skater, conspired to assault a fellow skating rival Nancy Kerrigan, and take her out of the Olympics.

Well, seems like even Greg Maffei doesn’t know how to tackle Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s dominance. While domination has previously been there in the past, the competition wasn’t as one-sided as it is in 2023. It’ll be interesting to see how F1 tackles this issue.

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With the PGA-LIV Golf merger ongoing, F1 owners, Liberty Media are possibly looking forward to capitalizing on the merger and disrupting the golf market. It remains to be seen whether that will come to fruition.