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LIV vs PGA game thread
RaceBannon
Member, Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 109,615 
LIV has lost 5 billion so far. They can afford it but it shows that the team concept is not catching on. Chatter is that some sort of deal is close. The PGA may not have 900 billion dollars like the Saudis but they are the Cadillac of golf and it isn't close.
The deal will keep the LIV team golf in some fashion but my guess is a lot of the guys there will be happy to keep the fat check and get back on tour where they are in danger of being forgotten
Trump is involved so look for American politicians to get involved about the Saudis and their TDS. That has been an issue so far even before the election
Comments
America isn't quite ready to hand over the crown
I like The Field on either side here.
LIV should have a team called the Sultans of Swing
Thanks for jamming that easy listening rock into my head for the rest of the day.
Jose Maria is right you know
Couples has been an extremely outspoken LIV Golf critic over the past few years.
On his Sirius XM radio show after Jon Rahm jumped to LIV for a reported $400 million in December 2023, Couples said: “$100 million doesn’t get it. $200 million doesn’t get it. $300 million doesn’t get it. But for $400 million? It’s a great product and it’s a great show … my ass.”
In March 2023 at a PGA Tour Champions event, Couples said that he tried to tune in to a LIV event on TV but couldn’t stand it.
“I turned it on three times. It was so bad. I couldn’t even watch anyone that I liked,” he said.
I love Fred, but this just sounds like sour grapes. I’ve spent a grand total of like an hour watching LIV in a bar, but that’s it. I couldn’t even tell you what channel it’s on. I don’t give a shit about the product, but I completely understand why guys jumped for the money. It’s a career’s worth of money upfront.
I've pretty much ignored this whole thing. I get why guys left for those huge paydays. Like you said the pressure of ever winning is quite a bit lower for those guys.
I did try to watch some LIV on TV though and turn d the channel quickly. Gawd I fucking hate music on a golf course.
Rahm had said he was all in on the PGA Tour when LIV came out. I think Freddie gave him a little dig on that with the sliding scale getting to 400 million making LIV a great thing for Rahm. Few if any people would turn that down including me. But you are giving up a chunk of legacy. What is the value on that
I think we all agree the format and presentation is minor league at best. They are bleeding cash but they can so a deal needs to be made
I had a feeling. Trump does not forget
Moving the WGC from Doral to Mexico was a travesty.
What does LIV have that the PGA Tour needs? Among the LIV players, the only true needle-mover is U.S. Open champion and Internet prince Bryson DeChambeau. He was The Show on the PGA Tour in his brief bulked-up era before he switched sides and, oh yeah, he made a hole-in-one hitting shots over his house, a social-media Mount Rushmore moment.
Three other LIV notables are Jon Rahm, a two-time major champion; Cameron Smith, former owner of golf’s most famous mullet and British Open winner; and Brooks Koepka, a four-time major champ. They are outstanding golfers who are intriguing to watch and fans will go watch them if they’re playing in an event. Does their appearance in an event sell any extra tickets? Do they actually move the needle for John Q. Golf Fan? I don’t think so.
All golf has a needle-mover problem, in fact. Beyond Tiger Woods, who rarely plays and Tuesday announced that he had Achilles surgery, who else moves the needle? Scottie Scheffler, yes, and Rory McIlroy, for sure. Jordan Spieth, maybe, but he’s had only two wins since 2017 and is coming back from wrist surgery. Xander Schauffele won a pair of majors last year but can still walk through a Cracker Barrel virtually unrecognized.
PGA is signaling they may not care if there is a deal or not
If there was one strong message Monahan delivered as it relates to the PGA Tour product, it was this:
“If you look at the PGA Tour today and the strength of our organization, the momentum that we have as an organization and what we stand for, I mean ultimately if you’re a player anywhere in the world, this is the platform that you want to get to,” he said. “These tournaments are 72-hole stroke play tournaments at historic, iconic venues, with moments like we had last Sunday with Russell Henley and his family (at the Arnold Palmer Invitational). That’s who we are as an organization, and that’s who we’ll always be as an organization.”
“Those talks [with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund] have been significantly bolstered by President Trump’s willingness to serve as a facilitator,” Monahan said.
“President Trump is a lifelong golf fan. He believes strongly in the game’s power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous with his time and influence to help bring a deal together.
“He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified. His involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real.”
For those reading between the lines, that scripted remark was missing a pivotal third member of that group that met in the White House last month — the governor of the Public Investment Fund.
Even the most casual observer will have noticed that the tone coming from the Tour, which is the only side of this equation that has spoken publicly, has pivoted between the first meeting in the Oval Office, which didn’t include PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and the second. The narrative has drifted from “moving at pace,” “listening to fans,” and “reunification” to “I don’t think the PGA Tour needs a deal.”
That was Rory McIlroy’s take last week at Bay Hill when asked about the ongoing negotiations between the Tour and PIF that began in June 2023 with the announcement of the framework agreement. On this front it’s clear, the Northern Irishman is a bellwether of how the negotiations are going.
In Tuesday’s address, Monahan was impressively forthright, if not understandably vague, when he addressed the negotiations.
“We’re doing everything that we can to bring the two sides together,” Monahan said. “That said, we will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform or the very real momentum we have with our fans and our partners.”
He has a contract guys
How long will the Saudis continue to fund LIV if nobody cares about it and it loses massive amounts of money every year? Seems like the PGA exodus has stemmed with some of the changes that were made.
I'm not old enough to remember the USFL / NFL stuff, but it seems like this is headed that direction.