The upcoming LIV-PGA Tour match has a catchy name — and maybe a future, too

As details the next match — pitting the PGA Tour pairing of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against a LIV Golf team of Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka — it flows, something bigger is taking shape. This event may not be a one time event, but a sign of things to come.

The Showdown, as it has been called, is set for Tuesday, December 17, at Shadow stream in Las Vegas, (perhaps not so coincidentally) on the same day as the conclusion of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, also in Vegas. Golf will be broadcast on TNT — the longtime home of many made-for-TV matches — and will be a play-by-play version of the match.

According to a source familiar with the event, it will feel different from the various iterations of The Match that fans have seen in recent years and is being seen as the basis for future matches between tournaments. If this is a 2 v 2 matchup, the parties involved see the potential to bring in additional players from LIV and the PGA Tour for a bigger battle on the road, with up to six or eight players on each side. As the logistics of an investment deal between the PGA Tour and LIV’s owner, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), drag out in boardrooms, those involved see this as an area where players can temporarily push the envelope.

“Look, I think all of us know that we want to get this game back in good shape,” DeChambeau said at the LIV event in Chicago last month. “We want to bring this game back to a place where I would say everyone has the opportunity to see the best game more than four times a year. I think it’s a great opportunity to show how we develop it over time.”

When asked if this is an idea that has been floating around among players for a while, DeChambeau offered:

“Oh yeah, remember we always wanted to have a PGA Tour and some sort of LIV battle a few years ago?” he said. “We always thought it would be really cool and what not. But I think it will evolve over time and hopefully give people what they want.”

When news of the matchup first broke, McIlroy was quick to say he wasn’t “sending a message” to PGA Tour management, but offered a similar sentiment about DeChambeau.

“It’s a way to show golf fans around the world that this is what can happen or these are the possibilities for the future,” he said. “I have been saying this for a long time. I think golf and golf fans can see us together more than four times a year.”

If that’s the goal, The Showdown will likely achieve it. Organizers envision a future where the event or something similar will be played once every 12 months, if not more, at least while negotiations between the PGA Tour, PIF and DP World Tour continue and tournament rules maintain exclusivity over where players play. certain. golf.

Just last weekend, McIlroy admitted that there should be some clarity on a Saudi PIF investment (or lack thereof) in PGA Tour Enterprises by the end of 2024, but that we could be looking at just a few years. “little crossover” between shifts rather than full integration.

As always, these are fluid times. We are 16 months removed from a Framework Agreement signed between the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF, but more than nine months removed from the deadline for a Final Agreement. And while initially frosty relations between the warring parties have thawed somewhat — tournament commissioner Jay Monahan played a very public round of golf with PIF leader Yasir Al-Rumayyan last weekend — all is not rosy for everyone. LIV golfers are still not allowed to compete on the PGA Tour and receive fines and suspensions from the DP World Tour for any event they play while a DPWT member. These fines do not disappear even when a player resigns his membership – Lee Westwood has been banned from competing in the Senior Open because of unpaid fines. Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm had to file complaints from these sanctions to compete in DP World Tour events this fall, just to maintain a path to play in the Ryder Cup next season.

One reason match details have been slow to trickle out is that gathering competitors from different tournaments, with different schedules and different events around the globe is difficult. The event was originally scheduled to take place at the Stanwich Club in the summer, but was moved to Vegas in the winter when scheduling issues developed. According to Sports Business Journalas of last month, organizers were still seeking $8-10 million for a title sponsor.

Separately, whenever a PGA Tour event takes place, anywhere in the world, PGA Tour members cannot compete elsewhere without obtaining a conflict event release form. Luckily, or very intentionally, mid-December is one of the few times of the year when the PGA Tour isn’t hosting a tournament. During the week in question, McIlroy and Scheffler will only need to obtain a media rights notice so that the golfer’s name, image and likeness can be used by the broadcast and marketing of the match. The PGA Tour would absolutely plan to approve this type of request, even if it is not associated with the event in an official capacity. This is the same orchestration that Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods went through to stage the original made-for-TV match in 2018. In that case, Turner paid the Tour $1 million for the media rights of the players involved.