In one week, the LIV has taken two important steps to acquire a much more robust position with which to face the world golf agreement beyond the millions that Arabia invested two years ago on the PGA Tour and that make it a privileged partner.
The arrival of Scott O’Neil as CEO replacing Greg Norman implies a substantial change. From a golf businessman, also a visionary, whose determination was always motivated by breaking a system that he considered unfair to golfers since he experienced it, he has gone on to a sports manager raised in the American professional leagues. O’Neill, among other things, CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. He has managed situations as dangerous as lockouts and strikes. Know the importance of empathy and diplomacy, two tools that are key for the alliance right now.
The other point is the agreement for several seasons with Fox. For the first time the circuit will have a reference television in the United States. In addition, it is the chain close to Donald Trump, the president who will govern the power for the next four years. To date, LIV was seen in the American country on the CW Network, with pyrrhic results: barely 90,000 viewers on average.
It’s significant how O’Neil has entered golf. He even went to Florida to watch TGL live, the simulator league that has just started. It was a veiled message that conveyed the idea that their desire is to make the sport grow through unity, giving the value it deserves to each competition.
Golf, which at this moment is the biggest bubble in the sport, needs these types of profiles. Friendly personalities who make actors see that not everything is about making money, that you have to continue building a community and that you have to adapt to the industry. Norman fought against a mismatched situation from below, but he has moved it to the other edge of the table, which is also dangerous. There is work ahead, but now the agreement seems much more real.