With talks of a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf slowing to a halt in recent months, the Saudi-backed golf league has to figure out where their action will be shown for the 2025 season. And according to John Ourand of Puck News, LIV may not be ready to make any drastic changes.
LIV’s deal with The CW Network, which was signed in January of 2023, was a two-year deal with an opt-out option for the network after one year depending on ratings. And while ratings haven’t been overly positive for LIV, The CW decided to honor that commitment for the 2024 season, and seemingly wants to stay in the golf business moving forward.
In his twice-weekly newsletter, The Varsity, Ourand detailed that LIV is in talks with The CW about renewing their deal while also potentially entertaining “exploratory” talks with Warner Bros. Discovery.
“I’m told that LIV is still talking to The CW, the broadcast network controlled by Nexstar, about renewing their deal,” wrote Ourand. “LIV has also held exploratory discussions with Warner Bros. Discovery, I’m told. But those talks have not not become serious. The truth is that LIV’s tournaments have had trouble attracting viewers to its CW telecasts. But the tour would be hard-pressed to find a better rights partner, given that The CW’s coverage reaches every corner of the country.”
This directly contradicts recent comments by Phil Mickelson, who said on Monday that he believes traditional media is “not the way of the future” for LIV Golf.
While Mickelson’s comments very well may be true down the road, LIV simply hasn’t built the base audience on traditional broadcast through The CW that is required to eventually sustain a non-traditional platform. Until that happens, LIV may struggle to get its desired broadcast deal.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.