LIV Golf has a lot of money, and they’re looking to make inroads in the sports community. They’re already coming after Charles Barkley, and they could challenge the NFL too.
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LIV Golf has recently emerged as a competitor for the PGA Tour, and reportedly the fight between the two has grown immensely with larger and larger amounts of money on the table.
LIV Golf is a golf tour that’s being financed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It’s already poached several big names in the golfing industry. Champion Brooks Koepka left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, along with decorated players like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.
Charles Barkley is also in talks with LIV Golf for a media role. The long-time ‘Inside the NBA’ host could leave his post if the offer is right. LIV Golf has some serious money, and they could do some serious damage with it.
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LIV Golf could make inroads in the NFL and Charles Barkley
Dan Patrick discussed how Barkley had conversations with the higher ups in LIV Golf, and he may leave Shaq, Kenny, and Ernie. Chuck has made Inside the NBA one of the most entertaining talk shows in all of TV.
We’ve had everything from Gone Fishin, to Chuck’s guarantees, and of course, Shaqtin’ a Fool to keep us smiling and happy through the NBA season.
Losing Charles Barkley would be a massive blow to ‘Inside the NBA.’ As fans of the show, we’d lose out too. However, if Barkley gets a better offer, chances are he’ll leave. He currently makes $6 million a year with TNT.
“I’m going to meet with LIV,” Barkley reported to The Next Round last week. “They called me and asked me ‘would I meet with them?’ And I said yes.”
“Nothing that’s imminent, I actually don’t know everything they want from me, or what they technically want me to do, but you’ve got to always look at every opportunity that’s available. So the answer to your question is, 100 percent yes, I’m going to meet with LIV.”
Now, how would LIV Golf take aim at the NFL? For starters, they have $620 billion in assets. To create a competing league, any company would need a massive amount of money.
The NFL made $21 billion in 2021, and the NFL is on track to hit revenues of $25 billion by 2027. The NFL has secured massive media deals as well. With CBS, Fox, NBC, Disney and Amazon, their deals are worth $113 billion over nine years.
That’s why LIV Golf can compete so effectively. With their massive funding, LIV Golf has the potential to do something the NFL doesn’t do currently.
The rookie wage scale currently restricts the maximum amount of money new players in the league can make. LIV Golf could do away with that concept altogether. That would tackle the problem of bringing in problems
The NFL also doesn’t broadcast games from Tuesday to Saturday (on most weeks). Antitrust laws prevent the NFL from broadcasting games on Friday and Saturday.
Therefore, LIV Golf could bait the NFL to commit antitrust violations by broadcasting games on these days, pushing the NFL to match them. For now, LIV Golf is just a competitor to the PGA Tour, but with the way they stormed onto the field, the NFL could be in their sights in the future.
