The worry for the PGA Tour, which began with the LIV and Fox Sports partnership, isn’t turning into reality for now. When the deal news came out, the PGA Tour was struggling to find an upward graph on the viewership. With the signature events, it seems like the PGA Tour has finally started walking on the redemption path, but LIV hasn’t.

The high-hoped deal, after the first event of the 2025 schedule of LIV, showcased a substantial downside in the viewership. The event witnessed 12,000 viewers in the first round, while in the final round, the average was 40,200. The enormous drop in the audience despite playing ‘Under the Lights’ could be a major flaw that LIV aims to resolve in the next event which was Adelaide.

The biggest event of LIV’s schedule, i.e., Adelaide showcased a great viewership, with 114,000 viewers on average. Even the fan’s attendance at the course crossed the 100,000 mark. Despite the great numbers, there was a huge setback from the broadcasting partner, which is a concern even for the critics. Talking about the issue, Sean Zak shared his views in the latest podcast of Drop Zone.

Zak went back to his conversation with LIV, where the reason shared for night golf was Saudi’s nightlife preference. Well, according to him, it isn’t the case as the author at GOLF.COM thinks this has the pure intention to reach the American audience in the EST time zone. Further, James Colgan joined saying, “The ratings in the US don’t matter for LIV’s business because they are a global tour and they wanna make more money elsewhere.”

He shared that the possibility of making money in the UK and Australia as compared to the US market is a penny against dollars. Colgan further said, “If LIV ever wants to be a seriously profitable business, they need to be able to make money in the United States on television.” But with the current situation of LIV Golf’s live broadcast being on the curve for the Daytona 500 coverage on FS1 is a worry for him, Colgan expressed, “I don’t think Fox takes the LIV agreement super seriously and because of that, I don’t think LIV is going to have a huge amount of promotion on the network.”

This is a “huge problem for the business” according to James Colgan, as no one will know if they are not watching the event. Well, the result of low viewership can be seen in the losses that the league has incurred in the past years. As per the latest data shared, it is a huge shock as the loss has increased for the league.

LIV Golf incurred losses despite taking in top golfers

After the deal, it was believed that LIV Golf’s revenue path would turn towards the upside curve, but this wasn’t the reality. The recent financials released by LIV Golf’s UK arm have also shocked the world. In 2022, the losses recorded for the year were $244 million.

Shockingly, the number rose by 64% to $394 million in 2023. Not only this, but the total amount invested by the PIF is also staggeringly high, reaching $5 billion, as projected in the report. It also read, “The losses being incurred by LIV are piling up at a staggering rate, necessitating regular injections of new capital by the Saudi PIF.”

Even though the revenue saw an upside too, but was less than the losses. As compared to $4.9 million in 2022, $37.1 million was recorded in 2023. Out of the total, 45% was contributed by the Australian event, which was $16.6 million.

The staggering losses aren’t what the league is expecting the roadmap to follow. Even for the golf world, the numbers are creating a huge worry. What are your thoughts on the losses incurred by the league? Share with us in the comments below.