It’s been more than a year since the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf announced a “framework agreement” to “reunify the world of men’s professional golf,” and there’s still no union to show for it. The two tours continue to operate separately.
But a notable move behind the scenes suggests the two sides could be moving toward an agreement of some kind.
LIV has hired powerful sports agency CAA to represent it for media rights and corporate sponsorship deals, sources tell Front Office Sports. That means CAA now reps both LIV and the PGA Tour.
Meanwhile, LIV is eager to nail down its broadcast partner for 2025, and has talked to TNT about possibly picking up the national TV media rights currently held by The CW Network, sources tell FOS. After TNT lost out on NBA media rights, it’s become a highly sought-after dating partner for other sports leagues. The discussions with Turner are still “preliminary” and “exploratory,” sources say.
LIV and the CW have a good relationship. The CW is still talking with LIV about renewing its deal, according to Puck News, which also named TNT as a possible bidder. But sources tell FOS that The CW balked at LIV’s initial asking price to renew its deal. Now LIV is shrewdly casting a wide net for potential media partners.
Other potential partners could include giant streamers Amazon Prime Video, which now has NBA and NFL rights, and Apple, which has MLS.
TNT and LIV declined to comment for this story. CAA did not respond to a request for comment.
We’re a long way from TNT signing a deal with the Saudi-backed golf circuit, which features stars such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka (above), and Bryson DeChambeau. But it’s easy to understand why LIV executives are wooing TNT.
Start with Charles Barkley. With Sir Charles loyally sticking by his colleagues at TNT, the network needs to keep him happy. Barkley famously loves golf. Don’t forget he flirted with the Saudi-backed LIV in 2022. Barkley ultimately decided to stay with TNT, but he parlayed his alliance with LIV into a new, 10-year, $210 million deal. Putting Barkley on LIV’s golf coverage would likely juice the tour’s ratings, which have been anemic despite the tour’s plethora of big names.
The CW’s telecast of Koepka’s playoff win over Jon Rahm at the LIV Golf Greenbrier pulled fewer viewers Sunday than Fox’s midday broadcast of a pro pickleball event, according to Sports TV Ratings (165,000 viewers vs. 295,000). The numbers do not account for streaming viewership, noted Golf Digest. But having two of the start-up tour’s biggest stars duking it out should have generated better numbers.
Then there’s TNT’s desire to pick up new sports rights. Even as TNT battles to retain its NBA matching rights in court, the network knows it’s fighting an uphill battle. If NBC Sports and Prime end up taking away the live game rights that used to belong to TNT, the network will save between $1.8 billion and $2.5 billion per year.
Despite parent Warner Bros. Discovery’s corporate debt load of $40 billion, that’s a lot of scratch TNT can use to buy other live sports rights.
With or without the NBA, TNT has been snapping up new rights, including College Football Playoff games, Mountain West games, and French Open matches. It also partnered with ESPN and Fox Sports on the Venu Sports pay TV bundle that aimed to launch in August, but it was temporarily halted last week after a judge granted an injunction sought by FuboTV.
Finally, consider TNT and Barkley’s golf expertise. Starting in 2018, former TNT boss David Levy successfully launched “The Match” as a made-for-TV golf event. Barkley, a golf fanatic, was a key part of TNT’s coverage. The popular golf competition has attracted some of the biggest names in sports, including Barkley himself, Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Patrick Mahomes.
With players like DeChambeau and Koepka winning major golf titles, LIV has a good argument to make when talking to potential partners. But if you believe Mickelson, the nascent tour is now looking more toward streaming than linear TV.
“Well, television and viewership for sports, especially golf, is changing. So the old-school media and the way that we’ve done it, which is to be on a network and so forth, is not the way of the future. It’s going to be more digital, more streaming,” said Mickelson earlier this month.
Still, timing is everything, Lefty. LIV would be hard-pressed to find a better candidate at this time than TNT. Or a network looking to make a splash post-NBA talks. Linear or streaming for LIV? Or both? We’ll see.
Michael McCarthy’s “Tuned In” column is at your fingertips every week with the latest insights and ongoings around sports media. If he hears it, you will, too.
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