Golfweek reports that LIV Golf is negotiating a deal with the US cable television network Fox Sports 1 to acquire broadcast time for its events.reportedWednesday, citing multiple sources.
Despite an initial investment of more than $1 billion to capture some of the sport’s greatest players off the PGA Tour, the upstart professional golf circuit backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has functioned without a TV agreement, instead airing its tournaments for free on YouTube and Facebook.
While the great majority of big sports organizations sell their broadcast rights in blocks to media corporations in return for large up-front payments, the alleged arrangement would see LIV sell its broadcast rights individually.Golfpay for its own airtime with the intention of recouping expenditures via commercial sponsorship sales.
If the LIV Golf contract with Fox Sports 1 is approved, it will also be forced to comply with US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules announced in March, which compel broadcasters to declare when foreign governments or their agents lease time on their airwaves.
When contacted by the Guardian, a LIV Golf representative called Golfweek’s report “incomplete and inaccurate,” but declined to comment on the potential implications of FCC regulations, which require disclosure at the time of broadcast if a foreign governmental entity paid a radio or television station, directly or indirectly, to air material.
“LIV Golf has surpassed expectations and continues on track across several fronts, including broadcast rights,” a spokeswoman stated. “As previously indicated, LIV Golf is only getting started and is in active conversations with numerous businesses regarding broadcasting the LIV Golf League. We emphasize that no inferences should be drawn concerning prospective media rights while we are currently in discussions with many sources.”
Since the announcement of the breakaway golf tour six months ago, critics have accused the Saudi government of using its reported $2 billion investment to sanitize the kingdom’s dismal human rights record, alleged links to the September 11 attacks, severe repression of women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, and the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to a “well-placed industry official,” LIV Golf will be responsible for producing its own broadcasts as well as selling its own commercials.
According to the source, LIV Golf attempted to establish a relationship with a number of other possible broadcast partners but was rejected by NBC, CBS, Disney, Apple, and Amazon. According to the executive, Fox Sports only became engaged at the request of Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp.
The official challenged LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman’s recent statement to ESPN that he was in talks with four different networks regarding conventional broadcast rights agreements.
The proposed Fox Sports contract is an inversion of the normal paradigm, which is unusual in today’s sports broadcast environment, but it is not without precedence. In 2015, the influential boxing manager Al Haymon, backed by more than $425m in institutional capital, launched the Premier Boxing Champions series bypaying a reported $20mto buy airtime on NBC and NBC Sports Network for 20 programmes.
However, the NBC family co-invested in the PBC contract in the form of pooled production expenses, on-air talent, and promotional assets.
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