The 2025 season does not look very promising for the LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger. According to the latest report, the PGA Tour has rejected the PIF’s latest offer to invest $1.5 billion in the PGA Tour Enterprise. This little proposal made two conditions. Firstly, it wanted LIV Golf to continue to operate. Secondly, PIF sought that its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, would be the co-chairman of the PGA Tour Enterprises.

The demands were huge, and so the Tour rejected them. Looking at this, you cannot help if those are the sole reasons for the PIF’s $1.5 billion offer being rejected. And we are here to discuss a few possible and solid theories as to why the Tour was right to do so.

Conflict of interest

Last year, Jay Monahan made a very important announcement. The PGA Tour commissioner shared that the PGA Tour is expanding its executive team by hiring a CEO for PGA Tour Enterprises, which is a result of the merger talks. Under this program, nearly 200 PGA Tour players became equity holders in the new company. Interestingly, being one of the highest-paid commissioners in American professional sports, Jay Monahan refused the idea of taking this important role. Instead, he clarified that he would stick with the Tour’s commissioner role. Looking at this, you cannot help but think that if Saudi Arabia’s PIF governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, did get a high role, namely a co-chairman role, it would be a conflict of interest.

Additionally, the two entities don’t see eye-to-eye when it comes to one thing — the team format. That’s the first major and glaring difference between the two. The PGA Tour wants to establish a single premier circuit for men’s professional golf, while Saudi Arabia’s PIF desires to maintain two separate leagues. Besides, PIF is firm and insists that team golf be included in the sport’s future if an agreement is reached. Of course, it stands for what the Tour is trying to do on the course. Consequently, Jay Monahan and Co. proposed solutions, such as hosting team competitions at international venues during the fall. However, LIV Golf CEO, Scott O’Neil, said “It would be nice to do a deal, so long as we’re all focused on the same things.” Well, that’s the reply to the format issues in the deal.

The PGA Tour is doing much better financially than its rival

If you’re looking at the financial reports, the PGA Tour is doing well. The PGA Tour has experienced significant early-season momentum in sponsorships and growth in its tournament business as it approaches the end of Q1. The Tour’s primary tournament revenue, which includes sponsorships, hospitality, pro-ams, and ticket sales, has reached nearly nine figures, reflecting a 60% increase since 2019. For instance, ticket sales for the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the Valero Texas Open, and the RBC Heritage following the Masters increased by 15% year-over-year. Additionally, on competition days, the Tour attracted approximately 60,000 fans in Houston, an estimated 70,000 for the Valero Texas Open, and over 100,000 for the RBC Heritage.

Where does LIV Golf stand amid so much chaos? According to Money in Sport, LIV Golf is facing significant financial losses, requiring frequent capital infusions from the PIF. As of December 2024, total capital injected into LIV Golf UK exceeded $1 billion, with over $400 million in new share issues in 2024, indicating no improvement in LIV’s financial performance outside the U.S. Additionally, this financial report will not be available for another 12 months. Interestingly, over the last few years, LIV Golf has invested approximately $1.5 billion in player costs, which include signing bonuses, guaranteed contracts, and other payments. Besides this, there’s news that PIF’s investment in LIV Golf will exceed $5 billion by the end of this year.

May this be one of the reasons for the constant merger talks? Likely. But there’s another major reason why the PGA Tour stands taller in comparison to LIV Golf.

The PGA Tour is doing amazing in viewership

Let’s start with the latest events. The final round telecast of the PGA Tour’s PLAYERS Championship on NBC significantly outperformed LIV Golf’s Singapore event, drawing 3.6 million viewers compared to just 34,000 for LIV Golf on FS1, a staggering difference of 100 times. The PLAYERS Championship saw a 3% increase in viewership from the previous year. In contrast, LIV Golf’s Singapore event aired late Saturday night into early Sunday morning and has continued to struggle with viewership since its new media rights deal with FOX Sports. While the comparison is not entirely fair due to different airing times, the difference is striking.

But there are more wins in the Tour’s lap. From the Mexico Open to the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the PGA Tour coverage on NBC and Peacock over the past six weekends averaged a TAD of 2.2 million viewers across 41 hours. It marks a 10% increase compared to the same period last year and an 18% increase when excluding the weather-impacted coverage of The PLAYERS. Sunday’s final rounds were even better, averaging a TAD of 2.7 million viewers, up from 13%  from 2024.

Compare that to LIV Golf’s last few events. In Singapore, the league’s final round drew a staggering 34,000 viewers, a slight increase from its Hong Kong viewership (29,000). However, its best came in Adelaide with the final round being watched by 249,000 viewers. But that still falls flat.

Looking at these, you cannot doubt that the PGA Tour has the upper hand in this situation.