The LIV Golf League hit its viewership record on April 6, with 484,000 people tuning in to watch the league’s big names such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Phil Mickelson try to win in Miami at Trump Doral Golf Course, with the eventual winner, Marc Leishman, pocketing $4 million out of the $25 million prize pool. On the same day, the PGA Tour hosted the Valero Texas Open, a warm-up for the Masters the week after.

Many of the tour’s big names did not play in the tournament, resulting in an unknown and perhaps less exciting field for the average golf fan. Notable names in the field by Sunday were Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, and Brian Harman, with the latter winning in Texas.

Whilst the big three in contention in Miami combined for 10 major championships between them, the lesser-known field in Texas pulled in 1.75 million viewers, resulting in one of LIV’s flagship events not even reaching a third of the viewership of a smaller PGA Tour event, despite LIV’s most popular players being in the limelight.

The question of whether the LIV Golf League is a working model inevitably arises when assessing the viewing figures that the breakaway tour attracts when the league is at its most popular, never mind its quieter weekends. To gain the initial viewership, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) offered the biggest names in golf nine-figure, upfront contracts, reaching $200 million.

Golf fans took an initial dislike to LIV Golf, due to it breaking the sport apart, and the potential of sportswashing by Saudi Arabia. The PIF entirely funded the league’s conception, with both fans and players like Rory McIlroy being unsure about the ethics of the league.

McIlroy called the league ‘a money grab’ and stated that he is ‘very much against it’. These words from the PGA Tour’s biggest asset cannot help the low viewing figures that the league has managed within its first few years.

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The league has tried to combat its poor ratings with the signing of Australian Cameron Smith for around $100 million, who, contrary to other signings, was a player at the top of golf by the end of 2022, beating McIlroy in the Open Championship at Royal St Andrews Old Course, arguably golf’s most historic tournament.

Similarly, the signing of superstar Rahm for a reported $450 million made him the highest-paid sportsman in the world. Rahm had just come off a starring role in Europe’s 2023 Ryder Cup victory in Rome, emphasising what a big scalp this was for the league, with LIV now being home to the Masters champion.

The signing of the Spaniard provided additional benefit to the tour, with Movistar acquiring the rights to stream the 2024 and 2025 seasons through its live streaming platform, Movistar Plus.

A year before his switch, Rahm stated that LIV Golf is ‘just not something that I believe is the best for me and my future in golf’, proving how money talks even to golf’s most successful players. To counteract this, PGA Tour commissioner at the time Jay Monahan introduced $20 million purses for the PGA Tour’s signature events.

For the LIV Golf League to be sustainable, it is important to assess whether the LIV stars have been worth their money, by looking at how they have performed in golf’s four majors. This is where the LIV players eligible for these tournaments join up with the PGA Tour’s top players, drawing the most eyes onto the sport.

Apart from DeChambeau and, at times Brooks Koepka, the LIV presence on major championships has been underwhelming, with just 2 wins in 10, and considering the pedigree of LIV’s player pool (14 major winners with 27 major championships between them), just Koepka and DeChambeau winning doesn’t seem like a great return on their sizeable investment.

LIV must have a high standard of golf and competition to be a successful product, or the regular PGA Tour fan will not watch it. With the only real comparison between the two tours being at the major championships, LIV tends to come up short. Whilst $450 million man Rahm won LIV’s individual standings in his first year on the tour, his major form has dipped, missing the cut at last year’s PGA Championship, with his best major finish being tied for 7th, disappointing for a player of Rahm’s calibre.

Joaquin Niemann has won four times on LIV already this year but has missed three cuts in majors with a top finish of tied 8th. Smith’s major form since joining LIV has deteriorated, missing every cut of this year’s majors (written before the 2025 Open Championship).

For a player who joined LIV almost immediately after winning the Open, this turn in form may suggest that either the level of competition on the LIV tour is not preparing players well enough for the majors, or that the lucrative deals handed out have made some lose their competitiveness. Either way, LIV’s players underperforming is a bad look for the league.

So, where do these results leave the league financially? It is estimated that the PIF’s cumulative investment in LIV Golf will reach over $5 billion by the end of the 2025 season, a figure which has increased by just under $2 billion since last season (January 2024).

LIV’s revenue is not high enough to sustain the model without the backing of Saudi Arabia – their estimated revenue from a 14-tournament season amounts to $100 million. Only Adelaide and Miami are thought to have generated over $10 million in revenue.

The league does not fare much better when looking at its recent sponsorship deals, with their most lucrative deal being with Riyadh Air, which GlobalData estimates to earn an annual fee of $3 million over two years.

Therefore, it is critical that one of LIV’s big names wins a major championship soon to pull in more fans and create more noise around the league. However, with the appointment of new LIV Golf CEO, Scott O’Neil, the league has taken positive steps within the broadcast industry with nine new deals from 2025.

LIV Golf’s media deals from the 2025 season onwards

Since LIV pulled away from its two-year broadcast deal with CW Network in the US, it has taken on 10 broadcast deals. The competition’s flagship deal with Fox will broadcast more than half the schedule on the main Fox Channel or Fox Sports 1, increasing exposure and revenue for the league, which previously was on a revenue-sharing model without a rights fee with CW, and streaming for free on YouTube and the LIV app.

The league has seen worldwide broadcasting growth; however, its main partnerships with Fox and DAZN are set to expire in 2026, whilst the remaining eight expire this season, suggesting that these broadcasters might not be fully committed to the longevity of the league.

An interesting feature of LIV has been its effort to target younger golf fans through YouTube, utilizing DeChambeau and Mickelson, who have over 2.3 million subscribers combined. Perhaps LIV’s most notable signing this year has been YouTuber Rick Shields, who has almost 3 million subscribers and frequently collaborates with LIV players, wearing LIV merchandise whilst he plays.

LIV introduced ‘The Duels’, where their players pair up with content creators and play against each other, posted on YouTube. The Duels in Miami reached 1 million views within 24 hours and is nearly at 2.5 million views. If LIV wants to stay relevant, this additional content can only help to attract the younger golf generation to follow the LIV league instead of the PGA Tour.

As things stand presently, LIV could soon struggle to convince broadcasters, sponsors, and the Saudi Arabian wealth fund that the product is worth investing in.

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