In 2023 LIV Golf expanded its schedule and added new countries to its list of stops. A few new players were added and teams began to bring in sponsors and hire staff. Hundreds of millions of dollars were passed around.
Now that the season is over, with a transfer period looming, what’s next for 2024? More of the same.
The LIV Golf League prides itself on its adaptability within professional golf’s stagnant ecosystem. The upstart circuit backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund can change course quickly, like a speedboat, while other tours tend to labor with their movements, like cargo ships.
Certain aspects of LIV’s product are fundamental to what they want to be: teams, an international schedule, 14 events, the shotgun start. LIV officials believe the current product is operating at just 20 to 30 percent of its potential.
The eight-event series in 2022 proved there was a market for LIV, and LIV proved it had a product to take to market. The inaugural 2023 league season showed how the team concept can be (at times) compelling, and even commercially attractive. With 22 events in its wake, LIV’s hand is on the throttle and pushing forward into the future. But how long will it survive professional golf and its current choppy seas?
From new players (and maybe even teams) to broadcast innovations, here’s what to expect when LIV Golf returns to action in 2024.
Where will LIV play in 2024?
Let’s start with the schedule, shall we? LIV always wanted to be a global league and 2024 is the first step in that direction with eight international events and six in the U.S. Officials say a schedule release will come sooner rather than later, but the same was said this time last year and the schedule wasn’t announced until Jan. 31.
The league’s goal is to expand golf’s footprint across North and Latin Americas, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe. LIV also likes the idea of “home events” for its teams, as seen through their stops in Australia (Ripper), London (Majesticks and Spain (Fireballs), for example. A stop in South Africa for Stinger GC’s all-South African team could make sense, as would another event in Asia in addition to Singapore.
Reports claim LIV won’t return to Trump properties in 2024, but LIV officials failed to confirm any specifics on the schedule. It’s also been rumored that LIV will host an event in Las Vegas the same week the Super Bowl comes to town, which would be LIV’s worst decision since it originally planned to have its team championship in Saudi Arabia (LIV moved the event back to Trump Doral in July).
Hosting more events abroad than domestically in the U.S. in 2024 puts LIV ahead of its own schedule, as officials didn’t expect to be able to do so until year four or five. LIV quietly launched a host venue bid program in April of this year and entered into conversations with, as they claim, more than 40 bidders.
The schedule used to avoid PGA Tour “heritage” events such as the Memorial and Arnold Palmer Invitational, but as LIV continues to develop, the schedule will be optimized so players are primed and ready to compete in majors, and there are only so many weeks in a year. In other words, don’t be surprised to see LIV events conflict with some of the Tour’s new signature events.
A more commercialized product
In some aspects LIV’s business model is based on that of other major team sports in the United States, such as the NFL, NBA and MLB, and officials hope that franchising its teams will create revenue streams the upstart circuit, funded by PIF, currently doesn’t possess.
The 12 franchise teams are 75 percent owned by LIV, with the other 25 percent owned by principal players, including captains such as Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, etc. In 2023, those franchises began to incur team costs, such as a player’s annual payment, incentives, and overhead costs including travel and hiring team staff.
Before he left ahead of LIV’s first event of the season, former COO Atul Khosla said a successful 2023 would see 12 established teams and brands, as well as a commercialized product. The team format can provide some intrigue come Sunday, but the concept has still yet to catch on with most golf fans.
As far as a commercialized product, Bubba Watson and Greg Norman both confirmed interest in the RangeGoats, and the league’s CEO and commissioner noted interest in other teams, as well.
“The framework agreement really is a bit of a catalyst because of the recognizing the commercialization of what we are doing here at LIV,” explained Norman at last week’s event at Trump Doral. “Private equity has never been invested in the game. We’re an asset class now. And that asset class is in the teams. … So we’re in that position now where the true valuation of where we were in the beta season to the valuation of where we are today is real and going up and up and up.”
Khosla was an experienced executive in the realm of professional sports and left at a crucial time in LIV’s development. Performance 54’s Gary Davidson served as acting COO and held the C Suite together until former Madison Square Garden executive Lawrence Burian was hired earlier this week. Burian has experience across the sports, entertainment, media and hospitality sectors, all areas that are crucial to LIV’s product, making him an intriguing hire.
A handful of international events had presenting partners in 2023 and a number of the teams have brought on sponsors, none more so than the bottom of the leaderboard dwelling Majesticks. The event-by-event backers were nice, but LIV wants a global, 14-event sponsorship rather than isolated one-week deals (although that is something they can, and are still willing to, do).
New players (and maybe teams)
During a congressional hearing to discuss the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi PIF, Tour board member Jimmy Dunne said if LIV continued to lure just five PGA Tour players per year to its ranks then “in five years, they can gut us.”
Phil Mickelson, who said he “knows” more players are coming, doubled down and quoted Dunne last week in Miami to call his shot about LIV’s future.
“I’m excited about who’s coming for next year and over time, we’ll just keep getting better and better and getting better and better players and that’s the game plan and I love the commitment. I love that I’m a part of it,” Mickelson told Golfweek after his match. “I know that, just like Jimmy Dunne said in Congress, like it’s exactly what’s gonna happen.”
Similar claims were made around Trump National Doral last year about an influx of new talent joining for 2023, and that amounted to the likes of Dean Burmester, Danny Lee, Sebastian Munoz, Thomas Pieters, Mito Pereira and Brendan Steele, who, with all due respect, don’t move the needle in LIV’s direction. Mickelson believes the framework agreement opens the door for better talent to make the jump to LIV.
“The reality is I’ve been fielding calls, as we all have, from players that are free agents to PGA Tour players to DP World Tour players that want to come over and the spots probably going to be filled by the time the qualifying tournament is here,” Mickelson said earlier in the week. “I think the merger talks allow for it. I think it kind of opens the door for it, yeah.”
LIV officials envision four to six spots being open across its current 12 teams. With its threesomes shotgun start format, the league can accommodate up to 15 teams, which would open the door for as many as three new teams and 12 new players. The expectation isn’t to reach 15 teams by 2024, but don’t be surprised if one or two new squads compete next season.
Players who finished Nos. 1-24 in the season-long points standings are locked in for 2024. Nos. 25-44 are in what LIV calls the “open zone” meaning they can be traded or signed to other teams. The relegated players, those ranked No. 45 and below, fall in the “drop zone.”
Innovations for fans
To attract more interest in 2024, look for LIV to lean into various ways for fans to connect with the product. League officials spoke of a fantasy league, gaming and betting, LIV loyalty programs, all things that will be aided by the addition of Burian to the corporate ranks.
While the broadcast still needs some considerable work, the drone shot tracker was a fun innovation and new take on the traditional shot tracer fans see at events. In order to make the product easier to find, LIV is also working on integrating streaming into its app.
The CW television deal isn’t great in some aspects, but it’s a necessity in others. Getting in as many U.S. homes across as many markets as possible was important. An integrated stream and other ways of enjoying the product certainly can’t hurt in LIV’s fight to garner attention.
Promotion and relegation
The inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event – initially reported by Golfweek in February – will be held Dec. 8-10 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and will see three players punch their ticket for the league in 2024.
Four rounds will be played over the three days, with 36 holes on the final day. The purse is $1.5 million and players must pay a “nominal” entry fee (when LIV opened entries for its first event in London in 2022, “Tiger Woods” entered 216 times).
The four “relegated” players – Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka and Sihwan Kim – have the ability to earn one of the three spots offered via the promotions event. The fourth open position goes to the winner of the Asian Tour’s International Series, which will be Andy Ogletree.
