For the last two years, LIV Golf has rivaled the PGA Tour. It started during the inaugural season, where LIV Golf spent over $800 million to lure some of golf’s biggest names like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, and more to the Saudi-backed league.
Since then LIV Golf has tried to run its own league with a different setup and format than the PGA Tour. The format has guaranteed fields, no cuts, only 54 holes (three rounds), lucrative purses, team play, and more.
While LIV Golf has definitely made some noise, it’s struggled with viewership numbers for the last two years. During its sophomore season, LIV Golf signed with the CW network to provide coverage for the US market. However, the results have been less than stellar.
There have only been three events and the average number of viewers hovers around just 473,000. The first event of the year, LIV Golf Mayakoba brought in an average 537,000 viewers. That was followed up by the LIV Golf Tucson, which saw 409,000 viewers, representing a 24 percent drop in viewers.
Check out the list below for LIV Golf 2023 Weekend Average Viewership:
- Mayakoba: 537,000 Views
- Tucson: 409,000 Views
- Orlando: TBD
LIV Golf Viewership Needs To Improve Relative To The PGA Tour
Despite having star players and huge $25 million purses, LIV Golf has not cracked the code on drawing viewers.
In its first two events of the 2023 season, LIV Golf only averaged 400,000 to 500,000 viewers. At Mayakoba, there were about 537,000 viewers that tuned in. It dropped by 24 percent when LIV Golf played in Tucson.
While it seems like really low numbers, it’s a significant increase from last year where LIV Golf averaged only 67,000 viewers on their events. However, compared to marquee PGA Tour events, LIV Golf viewerships are underperforming.
Last weekend the final round of the RBC Heritage brought in 4.2 million viewers.
LIV Golf Future In Question After Slow Start
Following a slow start in terms of TV ratings, there are signs that all might not be well with the LIV Golf league.
As the season has progressed, LIV Golf appears to have been cutting back on expenses. The golf league is no longer covering travel expenses for players and it has cut healthcare and retirement benefits for the broadcasters as well.
While there’s speculation that LIV Golf’s future is in jeopardy, the golf league has somehow strengthened the number of viewers tuning into the PGA Tour. With all the negativity surrounding the LIV Golf League, this season the PGA Tour has seen an increase in viewership over six events so far this season.
For now, it seems that golf fans are staying loyal to the PGA but Greg Norman and company will have to find a way to change that. Perhaps it will take a LIV Golf player to win a major championship to draw attention back to the league.
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