Sports history tells us that these break-off competitor leagues always end up either merging or failing in totality
Typically, the long lasting lesson is that it drives some changes to the sport for the better
Long run, that will likely be true for golf
The writing was on the wall that LIV on its own wasn't going to make it ... the corporate dollars were never going to be there and the visibility wasn't there on the media side ... in so many ways it was out of sight out of mind on a week to week basis
The words from the PGA Tour attacking the Saudi's will get played ad nauseum (and rightly so) and for some it will be impossible to walk back what was said versus the reality of the merger that is giving the Saudi's a giant presence at the table (albeit not a controlling presence)
I don't see how Jay Monahan survives as the commish post merger ... but I'm sure he's got a parachute coming for that
I don't see how Rory survives as the top of the players council ... too much damage done with the LIV players coming back in to represent
It will be interesting to see how the LIV players come back in ... I suspect that some of them will be able to come back fairly easily as they never went out of their way to burn bridges (I'm thinking of a guy like HV3) ... but there are others that caused some significant damage and we'll see what happens to them
Will also be interesting to see how the contracts for LIV get remedied ... for some of the faces of LIV I still fully expect their names will be toxic when it comes to advertising and sponsorship for at least the foreseeable future
Sports history tells us that these break-off competitor leagues always end up either merging or failing in totality
Typically, the long lasting lesson is that it drives some changes to the sport for the better
Long run, that will likely be true for golf
The writing was on the wall that LIV on its own wasn't going to make it ... the corporate dollars were never going to be there and the visibility wasn't there on the media side ... in so many ways it was out of sight out of mind on a week to week basis
The words from the PGA Tour attacking the Saudi's will get played ad nauseum (and rightly so) and for some it will be impossible to walk back what was said versus the reality of the merger that is giving the Saudi's a giant presence at the table (albeit not a controlling presence)
I don't see how Jay Monahan survives as the commish post merger ... but I'm sure he's got a parachute coming for that
I don't see how Rory survives as the top of the players council ... too much damage done with the LIV players coming back in to represent
It will be interesting to see how the LIV players come back in ... I suspect that some of them will be able to come back fairly easily as they never went out of their way to burn bridges (I'm thinking of a guy like HV3) ... but there are others that caused some significant damage and we'll see what happens to them
Will also be interesting to see how the contracts for LIV get remedied ... for some of the faces of LIV I still fully expect their names will be toxic when it comes to advertising and sponsorship for at least the foreseeable future
One of the reasons that I let it play out. This will end the career of many big names in golf media, as it should. Lesson learned is to not pretend to be outraged about things that you don't actually care about.
The writing was on the wall that LIV on its own wasn't going to make it ... the corporate dollars were never going to be there and the visibility wasn't there on the media side ... in so many ways it was out of sight out of mind on a week to week basis
LIV had an event I think a week ago close by, at Trump's course in NOVA. I'm not a Trump fan but don't have an issue playing at his course or using the tennis facilities there.
No desire to go watch LIV despite their names and Brooks winning the week before. A few buddies went but the format isn't interesting. It didn't matter enough.
LIV was flawed in its format and its future. Having to buy stars developed by your rival and a stupid 54 hole tournament
But like the AFL guys they had enough money to last
Monahan looks like a winner to me. He's in charge of 3 tours now.
My guess is that Monahan helped negotiate his own severance package and/or got shares. Don't see how he survives this one in his current role past the deal getting signed do to the coming player backlash.
I wonder how much shit was talked (and weed smoked) for the NFL/AFL and NBA/ABA mergers..."Look at these schlubs, what a joke", followed by "We get HOW MUCH from a merger?"...there is much talk of egg-on-face, but they will have some nice crisp bills to wipe it off with...
Comments
Typically, the long lasting lesson is that it drives some changes to the sport for the better
Long run, that will likely be true for golf
The writing was on the wall that LIV on its own wasn't going to make it ... the corporate dollars were never going to be there and the visibility wasn't there on the media side ... in so many ways it was out of sight out of mind on a week to week basis
The words from the PGA Tour attacking the Saudi's will get played ad nauseum (and rightly so) and for some it will be impossible to walk back what was said versus the reality of the merger that is giving the Saudi's a giant presence at the table (albeit not a controlling presence)
I don't see how Jay Monahan survives as the commish post merger ... but I'm sure he's got a parachute coming for that
I don't see how Rory survives as the top of the players council ... too much damage done with the LIV players coming back in to represent
It will be interesting to see how the LIV players come back in ... I suspect that some of them will be able to come back fairly easily as they never went out of their way to burn bridges (I'm thinking of a guy like HV3) ... but there are others that caused some significant damage and we'll see what happens to them
Will also be interesting to see how the contracts for LIV get remedied ... for some of the faces of LIV I still fully expect their names will be toxic when it comes to advertising and sponsorship for at least the foreseeable future
No desire to go watch LIV despite their names and Brooks winning the week before. A few buddies went but the format isn't interesting. It didn't matter enough.
But like the AFL guys they had enough money to last
Monahan looks like a winner to me. He's in charge of 3 tours now.
The rank and file lost control of the tour before LIV.