LIV Golf News: Greg Norman Snubs Coverage Nightmare Rumors With an ‘Enormously Wealthy’ Confession

Coverage issues have been rampant in the golfing world for a while now. As per Rory McIlroy, the PGA Tour coverage is down by 20%. Is it the same case for Greg Norman-led LIV Golf? Not really! More often than not, the numbers seem to be an uptick from its previous season. Unfortunately, not everyone believes it. Well, it appears that the shark himself has a reply to everyone out there who thinks less of LIV.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the Australian was asked about the persistent notion that people are not watching the live streaming of LIV events. He had a befitting reply ready. He went ahead to comment on the “enormously wealthy market” that he sees potential in while disclosing a piece of unexpected news.

“What’s the definition of tuning in?” asked Norman rhetorically. The veteran golfer then continued, “To an 18-year-old, to a 25-year-old tuning in maybe 12 seconds on the phone. That to me is a market that’s enormously wealthy, right? And enormously influential in the direction where you’re going.” Interestingly, this year, a total of 3.51 million viewers tuned in for the Mexico event as opposed to 1.36 million in 2023. So, in a way, what Norman said does make perfect sense.

Norman also disclosed how they have been in negotiations with other companies and talked about the deal with Google.“We are talking to corporations. I’m not gonna give you the names of those corporations of course, but we just did a great partnership with Google,” said Norman while alluding to how Google Cloud and PMY Group joined forces to use AI to transform sports and related events. The two giants announced a multi-year partnership where Google will act as PMY’s technology partner using AI for various sports and customers, including LIV Golf. From fan engagement to real-time data and statistics streaming to customizable experiences for fans and broadcast viewers, among others, the alliance is set to help elevate the experience of the viewers on and off the courses.

On the contrary of the uptick that LIV is witnessing, things have been hard on the other side of the spectrum. The TV ratings and viewership has been somewhat on a constant decline for the PGA Tour events. The Arnold Palmer Invitational saw only 2.29 million viewers, 30% lower than 2023. The final round of the Valspar Championship had 27% less viewership than in 2023. The 2024 Mexico Open also suffered a similar fate. The 2024 Masters’ final round also had a 20% dip in viewership on CBS from last year. The 88th Masters procured the worst TV rating in the last five years. For the final round only 9.58 million people tuned in to watch it on CBS compared to last year’s 12.09 million viewers. Shockingly, the Tour’s commissioner has not shared any game plan for improving the PGA Tour’s sinking ratings.

Talking about the future of LIV golf and whether a merger was necessary Norman provided some interesting insights. He said, “I’m just gonna answer as the CEO of LIV. My boss told me LIV is not gonna go anywhere.[…] So he’s asked me just to stay focused and deliver LIV as a standalone entity. He’s invested billions of dollars into this. And we are starting to see the creation of an ROI within this. So we’re gonna stay focused over here.” Does it seem like LIV Golf is ready to remain solo for the foreseeable future?

The newest addition to LIV, Jon Rahm, talked about unifying the sport, just like McIlroy. He proposed an F1-like model that would create a dream scenario of unifying the game and ultimately helping the plummeting ratings of the sport. “We need to follow the F1 model. I’ve told both tours. In fact, a lot of things LIV has done have been based on Formula 1…we are going to have to be playing worldwide. And you want to have the best players world,” said Rahm.

Norman is trying to be ahead of the poor ratings and such an innovative partnership can help increase the numbers of the Saudi-backed circuit. The figures have already been rising when compared to last year.

A comparison of numbers of the Norman-led circuit

Back in 2023, the second event of LIV Golf in Arizona had only managed to rake in a total of 1.12 million viewers as opposed to the 3.03 million in Vegas, this year. That’s not all, along with Mexico and Vegas, the tournaments in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong also saw better numbers when compared to last year, although the actual figure itself seems to be small.

For the contest in Jeddah, which saw Anthony Kim returning to the game, a total of 2.25 million viewers watched the same while LIV Golf’s third event in 2023 saw just 1.26 million. Similarly, Hong Kong drew 2.41 million viewers, while in 2023, the league’s fourth event witnessed 1.32 million live-streaming viewers.

Not just the TV audience, but for a few events, the live audience of the league also seems to be growing, at least in Adelaide. In 2023, the Australian event was attended by nearly 45,000 people, but this year, it is estimated that over 100,000 fans attended the event.

The numbers do look good for Greg Norman and his circuit, especially when the merger between the PGA Tour and PIF doesn’t seem to be getting finalized any sooner.