LIV Golf is closing in on a deal to buy airtime for its tournament on US cable television, multiple sources told Golfweek. The potential deal – which is still being finalized – is with Fox Sports 1.
While media companies typically pay a substantial rights fee to sports leagues to air their products, the deal would not see a payment to LIV, a source familiar with the discussions said. Instead, LIV – which is controversially funded by the Saudi Arabian regime’s Public Investment Fund – would buy time on the cable channel to broadcast its events, a move widely interpreted as a failure to attract significant commercial interest in what is on offer. by him.
Just two weeks ago, LIV CEO Greg Norman said he was fielding strong interest from media companies keen to broadcast LIV competitions.
“We’re talking to four different networks, and live conversations where offers are being put on the table,” he told ESPN. “They will see what we are delivering.”
A well-placed industry executive says LIV made approaches to multiple broadcasters, including NBC, CBS, Disney, Apple and Amazon, and Fox Sports was only involved at the behest of Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp. Last month, Sports Business Journal reported that Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was calling broadcasters trying to generate interest in a LIV TV package. In 2021, Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, received $2 billion in funding from the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
“There were people at Fox who had nothing to do with this,” the source said. “They had to do it.”
LIV asked for a rights fee for the second year of any deal and a guaranteed time slot on network television but Fox rejected both proposals, according to a source familiar with the details of the talks. Fox is believed to have offered to re-evaluate the network placement at a later date. LIV will also be responsible for producing his tour broadcasts and selling commercial sponsorships during his time slots, two tasks that would normally fall to a broadcast partner.
“Any advertiser that gets involved in this is going to be under fire,” said a longtime sports television executive. “It’s a poor product but it’s also a contaminated product.”
LIV has been widely criticized as an attempt to launder sport by the Saudi regime to draw attention to its poor human rights record. A LIV tournament held this summer at Trump’s Bedminster in New Jersey drew protests from the families of the victims of September 11, who point to Saudi involvement in the terrorist attacks.
Sources say the LIV-Fox deal is nearing completion but has yet to be formally announced, and it is unclear whether it will take effect in 2023 or earlier. LIV has three events left in 2022. They will all be played next month, in Bangkok, Thailand; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and at Trump Doral in Miami.
