LIV Golf CEO calls PGA Tour 'NASCAR to our (Formula 1),' but still hopes to grow together

USA Today

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LIV Golf CEO calls PGA Tour 'NASCAR to our (Formula 1),' but still hopes to grow together
Apparently, there are still a few things money – in this case, nearly a trillion dollars of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund – can't buy.
LIV Golf chief executive officer Scott O'Neil made that clear Monday, June 9, at a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club, when he didn't try to hide his upstart tour's ongoing desire to merge with the cachet-rich PGA Tour.
Even while leveling some criticism at the PGA Tour – casting it as a traditional-bound tour with a limited audience – O'Neil said LIV still wants to align itself with the world's top tour and its stars.
'We have a growing sport, we have an important sport,' he said in front of about 250 people at St. John's Resort in Plymouth, which will host its first LIV tournament Aug. 22-24. 'The most important people in the world play the sport.
'And so we have this amazing, amazing opportunity. Now, if some of the opportunity leads to some sort of connection and collaboration with the PGA (Tour), let's go do it.'
PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy was pessimistic in March, after a four-hour meeting between the two tours in late February, when he said a merger 'doesn't feel like it's any closer.'
But O'Neil noted that the PGA Tour is looking for a CEO to work alongside commissioner Jay Monahan, which he said could lead to a fresh start in merger talks.
'What a wonderful opportunity,' he said. 'But I can tell you like, because we're so different, and they're NASCAR to our (Formula 1), like this notion of a merger might not fit your notion of a merger or that the media writes about. But what might happen, you might look to happen, is some opportunities for us to grow the game together.'
LIV Golf taking team championship to Michigan
Golf fans in Michigan will get a chance to compare the two tours in person and decide for themselves if any kind of merger would make sense. Two months after the PGA Tour's Rocket Classic is played at Detroit Golf Club, LIV's season-ending Team Championship Michigan will come to the Cardinal at St. John's, which marks LIV's debut in the state.
'And so we think Michigan has got an incredible golf market,' he said, while referencing AI modeling that identifies top golf markets. 'It's got stars, it's got love. Any event that's been here has been very well received.
'Our players, some of whom came years to the Rocket Mortgage Classic, have not been permitted to come the last several years, are really excited to get back here.'
Golf fans in Michigan will get to prove O'Neil right or wrong. A three-day grounds pass is the cheapest ticket available and costs $122.06. Kids 12 and under get in free with a ticketed adult.
Several PGA Tour stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson who made appearances at the Rocket Classic, are scheduled to play in the 54-hole event for LIV (the Roman numeral for 54), when O'Neil said he hopes continues past this year.
'Yeah, we plan on being back here for a long time,' he said. 'We're here for one year. But we're in some discussions in the market.'
LIV Golf CEO brings a new voice
O'Neil, who replaced Greg Norman in January, has extensive experience managing global sports and entertainment brands. He pitched LIV tournaments as fun, raucous affairs with disc jockeys, live music acts and a shotgun start that ensures constant action.
He cast LIV, in its third season, as a startup and a disruptor to the traditional golf-tournament model. But he noted that even in the traditional tournament world, there's a place for the serene and stately Masters as well as the emotion-fueled, roller-coaster Ryder Cup.
'How can you love them both?' O'Neil said. 'Well, they're just different expressions of this wonderful game. And I would just invite you to think about LIV as really a different expression of that same game.'
LIV's ultimate goal is not entirely clear. But O'Neil seemed to hint it's all about the potential to reach a much larger global audience. That's why he compared the PGA Tour to NASCAR, which caters mostly to an American audience.
'And the U.S. is the preeminent media market, it's the preeminent sponsor market,' he said. 'But it's got 350 million people, and I'm talking to an audience of 7.8 billion. And so when I think about TV ratings, I really think about the 7.8 billion. And so we're doing quite well.'
Not according to Nielsen ratings for U.S. households. Golf.com reported through the first seven head-to-head Sundays, the PGA Tour averaged 3.1 million viewers on CBS and NBC, while LIV averaged 175,000 viewers on Fox, FS1 and FS2.
Of course, it takes time to build an audience and for an upstart to make an impact. Maybe LIV will.
Even if money – lots and lots of money – can't buy LIV everything it wants right now, that money certainly buys it a lot of time to keep trying.