What Greg Norman’s ominous words about TV LIV contracts really mean

As head of LIV Golf, it’s Greg Norman’s job to understand the business of the league.

And because Greg Norman understands the LIV business, he knows a formidable obstacle remains in the league’s path.

Television.

The problem isn’t so much that it’s LIV uninterested on golf television. On the contrary – The league has poured millions in production resources and employed an army of technicians and manufacturers to work on the project of delivering a durable, high-quality product. On the contrary, the opposite is the case: golf television is not interested in LIV. And in an interview with Sports Illustrated this week assessing the state of affairs of the fledgling league, Norman was remarkably candid in admitting LIV’s failures to deliver a high-quality television contract.

“What we’re falling short of is because of the headwinds of not getting a network (TV) deal,” Norman said ominously. “This creates uncertainty in the market. (A lot of companies say) let’s see what happens. This goes to sponsorship. We have a number of large corporations who are talking to us and would be very keen to go.”

Welcome back to Hot microphone, The GOLF vertical covering all golf media. Today we’re talking about the latest from Greg Norman about LIV’s TV rights – but if you’d like to get news like this straight to your inbox before it hits the web, we’d love it if you subscribed to Hot Mic Newslettit’s here.

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First, let’s recap how we got to this point: LIV has been around for three years. In those three years, two seasons were televised on an almost zero-revenue deal on the CW Network, while one season aired for free on an even lower-revenue deal on YouTube. LIV’s deal with the CW promises a share of the revenue, but LIV’s broadcasts have routinely failed to reach even modest golf television audiences, meaning the league has failed to receive even modest sums from the CW.

Broadcast television is the lifeblood of the sports business – the source from which all money-making sports entities drink. If those looking to “break into” the sports business want to survive – be they LIV, TGL, or even the USFL – they need to find a strategy for 1. landing on TV and 2. attracting significant, repeatable TV audiences to see them.

The reason for this is simple: The networks pay the leagues, and the advertisers pay the networks. Without the money earned from advertising, there is no business case for a network to pay a sports league for its broadcast rights. Put even more simply: viewer interest is the most valuable commodity in sports television, and right now, LIV has none.

In some ways, however, the problem also works in reverse: without the help of a high-profile television network, LIV may not be able to increase viewer interest. At least that’s what Norman seems to be implying in his latest comments AND. The point isn’t that LIV doesn’t have interested sponsors, Norman seems to be saying, it’s that LIV’s interested sponsors don’t want to help fund a product that no one cares to watch. But if LIV will CHANGES viewer interest—perhaps wrangling over a new TV contract with one of the sports world’s biggest networks—that could be enough to entice a host of new business partners to spend money with LIV.

And what is LIV trying to do in this extraordinary season? Surprise, surprise – enter into a new TV contract after the league’s deal with the CW expired at the end of the ’24 season.

“Again, the question is: What’s going to happen with the (new TV) deal?” Norman said. “Whether it happens or not, it will calm the market. When we know what we are going to do and the market will know how to navigate the situation. But the headwinds continue from a planning and venue perspective as well.”

Of course, it’s hard to take Norman completely at his word. This is the same league commissioner who bragged about having many “big” TV partners interested in ’21, and who has repeatedly fanned the flames of speculation about the league’s operations in ways that usually fail to materialize.

But it’s not hard to believe how a new TV deal could improve LIV’s business picture. An agreement with companies like FOX or Warner Bros. Discovery (two networks without pre-existing PGA Tour contracts) could bring legitimacy and promotion to LIV’s broadcasts in a way that an extension of the league’s current deal with The CW could not. This could prompt a flood of regular FOX or WBD advertisers to get into more serious business with LIV, or encourage some of LIV’s current “stakeholders” to become full sponsors.

It’s too early to say that any of this is certain to happen, but LIV’s chances look better in ’24 than in ’21. The league has retained high-powered talent firm CAA, a longtime PGA Tour partner, to represent it in negotiations for a television partnership — and has reunion talks with the PGA Tour to dangle in front of network partners as its sign staying in power.

A lot rides on LIV’s negotiating skills over the coming months and years, and Commissioner Norman knows it. His contract expires at the end of next season, and a television deal would go a long way toward cementing his legacy as the league’s leading rusher.

In other words, now is the time for Norman to be optimistic, and rest assured, he is.

“I’m only talking about LIV; we’ve been true to ourselves and our business model,” said Norman. “I tried to take the high road. We knew what we had and what we are doing is right. Time and patience are our greatest allies… 36 tournaments (in three years) is nothing. The PGA Tour has been around 56. And we’ve done it in three years. That’s why I’m optimistic about the future and where we’ll be in 10 years.”