Rick Shiels partnering with LIV Golf as ambassador
Rick Shiels partnering with LIV Golf as ambassador With nearly 3 million subscribers, Shiels can bring LIV Golf a massive audience and exposure for its players.
YouTube star Rick Shiels, who has nearly three million subscribers on his main channel, announced on Friday that he has signed a partnership with LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed golf league, and will now serve as an ambassador for the league.
To be clear, Shiels, who was a teaching pro in England before his golf instruction and equipment review videos exploded on YouTube, will not be competing in LIV Golf events. Instead, he will be filming content at every LIV Golf venue ahead of the league's tournaments that will promote and show off the courses, players and atmosphere.
"I'm going to be making some unbelievable content at every single LIV Golf event," Sheils said. Included in that content will be his popular "Break 75" challenges and videos that feature players like Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson and others off the course and away from golf. There are also plans for 5-man scrambles that feature Sheils and a LIV team trying to go as low as possible, along with two-vs-two matches with Shiels acting as the host.
On December 6, the PGA Tour announced the creation of a Creator Council comprised of social media stars like Bob Does Sports, Bryan Bros Golf, Erik Anders Lang, Fore Play/Barstool Sports, No Laying Up, Paige Spiranac, Roger Steele and Tisha Alyn who would help the Tour, "develop shared strategies for content development and fan engagement." The announcement of Shiels, who was not named to that panel, becoming a LIV ambassador appears to be the upstart league's answer to growing engagement and fans on the biggest social media platform.
Several PGA Tour stars have appeared with content creators on YouTube, and a growing number of equipment manufacturers are turning to content creators who boast a large online audience to promote their services and gear. Rahm and Xander Schauffele have appeared recently on Bob Does Sports, Erik Anders Lang recently signed a deal with Ping Golf, and Fore Play/Barstool Sports created a video with Tiger Woods at a TaylorMade commercial shot in late 2023 that has now generated over 3.2 million views.
With Sheils' large subscriber base and LIV Golf's ability to get star players involved at exotic locations, it will be fascinating to see what the content creator produces and if the videos boost interest in LIV Golf events, which will soon be broadcast on Fox Sports.
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