Earlier this year I wrote a review of LIV Golf’s inaugural broadcast on The CW. It was … less than flattering. But that didn’t stop my curiosity from getting the best of me when the rogue tour planted its black and electric-green flag in my city this past weekend.
Yes. A small donation of $50 to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund granted me access to LIV Golf Washington D.C. I figured some good old-fashioned shoe leather reporting would be a decent way to cleanse my conscience about where I had just spent my hard-earned money.
Given the scope of this website, I wanted to seek out some members of the media that were covering the event. Specifically, what were they there to cover?
Media Coverage of LIV
There were plenty of legitimate storylines headed into the week. Brooks Koepka was coming off his PGA Championship win as the first active LIV player to win a major. The optics of a former (and potential future) president using the event as a campaign stop. The larger existential questions about LIV as a viable entity.
All of which lead to more media-centric questions like, “how newsworthy is a tour with just a handful of true talents and a couple dozen has-beens?” Or, “is it a prerequisite for any piece on LIV to explain sportswashing or, at a certain point, is it okay to just cover golf?”
Being there, it almost felt like the circus had just come to town. The media circus, at least. The undeniable truth about LIV Golf is that what it lacks in intrigue on the course, it makes up for in perverse fascination from golf obsessives and the naturally inquisitive. For the media, that means what was once a sleepy beat that could maybe drum up interest four times a year has turned into a clickbait bonanza. A pageviews party. LIV Golf isn’t just for sportswriters, it’s for the politics and culture columnists, cable news anchors, and podcast pontificators.
Unfortunately, as a non-credentialed patron of LIV Golf, my hopes of lurking around the media center and prodding some of the event’s credentialed journalists to see what they were covering didn’t pan out as planned. Alas, my view of the tournament was restricted to the sights and sounds a standard grounds pass affords you.
However, a look at the reporting that came out of the tournament can quickly be broken into three categories. You have your standard gamers from the golf publications like Golf Digest overviewing Harold Varner III’s win. The next set of articles are largest in volume and examine LIV as an entity — its history, viability, and future prospects. This is where your heavy hitters like Sports Illustrated and the Washington Post come in, and will often focus on the sportswashing angle. Then you have your political publications like Politico, there to essentially report about the ongoing presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
Despite my lack of credential, I was able to pick up a few things simply by walking around and following the golf. Notably, the lack of on course media presence inside the ropes. Obviously as one person, I can’t see what each and every grouping had in terms of media (or lack thereof), but I followed some of the “bigger” names on LIV, such as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Bubba Watson for much of the day.
At a typical PGA Tour stop, such marquee groupings will have a gaggle of print and digital reporters following along inside the ropes. It’s one of the unique aspects of golf reporting — you’re essentially on the field of play during the competition rather than in a press box. The gaggle was noticeably absent at LIV. Why? Well for most reporting on LIV, the story isn’t happening inside the ropes — the golf is secondary. The real story is happening off the course, in the courts, inside LIV offices, in Saudi Arabia, and in the mind of CEO Greg Norman.
How LIV covers LIV
With members of the media mostly inaccessible and out of sight, I decided to turn my attention to how LIV was broadcast. Admittedly, I’ve probably watched more LIV Golf on The CW than most — but more than most is still not much. On my cable package, The CW and CBS are next to each other on the dial — so it’s very easy for me to switch back and forth between the PGA Tour and LIV.
I’ve attended a fair few golf tournaments before, enough to know what to expect in terms of TV presence. I’ll start with what I saw that was comparable to previous PGA Tour events I have been to.
For one, as has become standard in golf broadcasting, every tee box was equipped with a Trackman (or equivalent technology) for shot tracing. This has become essential in golf, almost like the yellow first down line for football broadcasts, but something LIV did not have during some events in their inaugural season.
The number of TV towers also seemed to be in line with a normal PGA Tour event, so there were no notable “dead zones” in coverage where cameras weren’t readily available to capture the action.
Where I saw the starkest difference between the PGA and LIV broadcasts was in sheer manpower. A typical PGA Tour event will have on course reporters for several groups. CBS, for instance, will have at least two or three on course reporters following the leaders, sometimes with other reporters staked out on certain holes. PGA Tour Live will often have on course reporters following featured groups. PGA Tour Radio will have several on course reporters also following leaders and notable groups.
It’s safe to say LIV’s on course broadcasting presence is reduced compared to the PGA Tour. Su-Ann Heng serves as on course reporter, along with Troy Mullins and Dom Boulet. Mullins and Boulet double as features reporters and interviewers. In comparison, CBS will have six on course reporters this week at The Memorial Tournament: three assigned to groups, two staked out in towers, and interviewer Amanda Renner. The lack of on course reporting can be jarring, especially in the shotgun format where players are scattered all over the course. More boots on the ground would help clear up some of the confusion.
Despite the lack of manpower, the changes I’ve picked up since reviewing LIV’s CW debut in February have been surprisingly positive. In that piece, I outlined why structurally, it is difficult for LIV to make a compelling product given the shotgun start format. Beyond that, LIV suffers from some self-inflicted wounds, namely, sounding like a nightclub instead of a golf tournament. And while these issues persist, LIV has shown some level of creativity in their broadcasts of late. My personal favorite is the so-called “LIV-line” that superimposes how a putt will break on the green prior to the player hitting the putt. It is simple, clean, and helpful (unlike the giant score bug).
I’ve also noticed that LIV seems to be incorporating more data and statistics into their broadcasts, although nothing comparable to the treasure trove of ShotLink data used by the PGA Tour. While these two additions aren’t game changing, it at least shows they’re trying to improve.
Where LIV Stands
Marginal broadcast improvements have not translated into ratings, however. LIV has stopped releasing the embarrassingly low ratings they received early in the year, but we did get some minor data points courtesy of @SportsTVRatings for the LIV D.C. event. In the Washington D.C. market, LIV’s event averaged 3,404 viewers on Saturday and 5,742 on Sunday. For comparison, the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge averaged 17,720 viewers Saturday and 21,885 on Sunday in the D.C. market.
Viewership puts into perspective the financial realities for LIV. With nobody watching, the question doesn’t become when will LIV become financially viable, rather how long will Saudi Arabia continue to foot the bill so a few of the world’s preeminent golfers tee it up in Jeddah every year?
Despite the changes LIV has made in the year and a half it has operated, the media coverage continues to be more focused on the stories happening off the course, rather than who is winning on the course. That’s a problem for a product whose goal it is to disrupt the traditional model for professional golf.
LIV might go on so long as Saudi royalty continue to get enjoyment out of the fledgling product. But how long will the already limited media presence stay? And will the golf ever be the story?
CORRECTION: This piece was edited to clarify the role of Su-Ann Heng and provide context regarding on course presence for PGA Tour broadcasts.
