In 2022, LIV Golf spent a total of $784 million but the revenue it gathered after the season was less than $100 million. Moreover, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith earned a total of $500 million only through contracts. There were more costs aside from the event prize purse of $225 million. The list of expenditures includes caddie payments and campaign costs.
As per reports, this year, the accumulated cost to support the 14 events was $1 billion. LIV Golf is funded by PIF, which has a total of $600 billion in possessions. The governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, reports the whereabouts of the sport to the prince, Mohammad Bin Salman. Despite incurring so many expenses, the LIV events are suffering viewership-wise.
LIV Golf Doesn’t Generate Revenue From Broadcasters
It’s quite known that the CW network doesn’t pay enough to LIV Golf for broadcasting rights. Reportedly, the revenue paid was only $2–3 million. Whereas, the PGA Tour collects a total of $5 billion in contracted revenue from NBC, CBS, ESPN, Warner Bros., and other channels.
Also, the LIV viewership on CW is nine times less than the PGA’s NBC and CBS viewership. While the viewership of PGA Tour events is around $1.89 million, LIV’s count is at 200,000 viewers. Even the PGA Tour’s single golf channel rating is three times higher than LIV. As a remedy, the LIV league is thinking of buying airtime at Fox Sports.
⛳️ #FINANCIALS — LIV GOLF is rumored to have generated less than $100M in revenue during the 2023 season with an estimated $2-3M in TV revenue (the CW does not pay the league for broadcast rights), sources tell @GOLF_com pic.twitter.com/4KNVybOhjP
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) December 29, 2023
Although some LIV followers claim that this is only a rumor and the CW network doesn’t show the real number, in reality, LIV Golf couldn’t prove their point.
Also, the LIV teams were sold off to equity holders and some captains hold stakes in their teams. The LIV league is suffering drastically revenue-wise, and it will require time to establish itself. With Jon Rahm now part of LIV, he might be used to attract viewers, but to what extent? Something that Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson couldn’t. The situation of professional golf is in deep waters and only unity can save it in the long run.
