The beginning of the LIV Golf competition in 2022 should have been a tremendously exciting moment in the sport, but it turned out that way when the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund initiated the LIV Golf competition. Players and their fans also have a brand new format to watch now and there is loads of money going into it so that it will be as spectacular as it can.
It has been associated with some teething problems however. The PGA Tour has been struggling to lobby against LIV by imposing penalties to those players who participate on it without authorization. An effort has been made to merge the two competitions but efforts seem to support very little thus far.
Good To a Spectator?
As entertainment, a great deal can be said to be likeable about the entry of LIV Golf to the global golf stage. The presence of a highly competitive competition between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour will now be positive to the two competitions. As an illustration, PGA Tour has been trying to enhance and boost its commercial picture ever since the advent of LIV Golf.
LIV Golf is also bringing golf to more individuals, since it also offers an alternate format available through the game. The competition in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to run in team format and features shortened events aided by a huge amount of the prize money. It is appealing to players too. Nine-figure contracts have already attracted the interest of some of the leading names.
Betting is already cropping up around LIV Golf, although that has not yet extended to the USA. This might be the second transition in increasing the competition, as such services as BetMGM will begin providing odds. Mostly provided on the Big Four sports in North America, although the sportsbook also covers the Masters, the sportsbook featured has a first bet offer of 1500$.
Will they be Unified?
Although the two big golf competitions have certain advantages, the consequence of the splitting of the sport has also certain drawbacks. As an example, some networks and betting websites might be biased and only provide one or another. It may also imply that the favorite players are open to the viewing of people in only one of the competitions, or the best talent gets striped off of one of the competitions and moved on to the other. This is the reason why it will be better to see both of them so that they meet somewhere at a deal to exist.
In a recent article in the Guardian, the public investment fund has pitched an offer of 1.5 billion dollars to the PGA tour in concessions. This was considered unacceptable though and nothing has been done ever since to have any form of unification between the two events. Apparently, the PGA Tour does not feel the need to cooperate beyond their level as the new commercial partnerships and fan base of the organization suffices. The LIV Golf, on the other hand, is not going to slow down as well and is continually making its niche in the international sporting world.
The way things stand now, no unification anytime soon will translate into no unification in the future. The two contests will most likely be competing against each other to which of the two will be the winner and the company that pumps in the greatest amount of money is bound to win.