John Kosner Spoke with Ben Strauss of the Washington Post About the New LIV Golf TV Deal with The CW Network

Original Article: The Washington Post, by Ben Strauss, January 19th, 2023

LIV Golf finally will arrive on American TV.

The year-old upstart golf series announced Thursday that it had secured its first television contract with the CW Network, which will air all 14 of its events in 2023.

The deal is an important step for the viability of the series but also an indication of how far it still has to go. LIV had talks with other networks and streaming services, including Amazon and Apple, but had to settle for a deal with the CW, which does not air other sports properties and is not a traditional destination for sports fans.

“It’s better for them than where they were,” said John Kosner, a former ESPN executive turned industry consultant. “I’d rather be live broadcast on the CW and streamed on their app than just putting my events on YouTube without any kind of promotion. So by definition it has to improve their audience.”

Kosner added: “But at the same time, it’s not likely to move the needle for them. The CW audience is not necessarily a fit for professional golf.”

No financial details were released of what LIV described as a “multiyear partnership.” A person who is familiar with the deal but not authorized to discuss it publicly said LIV will continue to do its own production. There had been some speculation that LIV would buy airtime on a network. The person said that was not the case but declined to go into detail about LIV’s compensation. CW will be in control of selling ads for LIV programming.

In its first season last year, LIV failed to find a television partner, leaving its eight tournaments to be streamed on its website, YouTube and the DAZN streaming service. YouTube viewership was low, even though several popular golfers — including major winners Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau — had left the PGA Tour for the new series, which is funded by Saudi Arabia and has been accused of trying to paper over that country’s human-rights violations.

[From October: Inside the ropes at LIV Golf’s Saudi Arabianhomecoming]

LIV tournaments comprise three rounds, and the CW will offer television coverage for the second and third rounds on Saturdays and Sundays. First rounds on Fridays will stream on the CW app. “The CW will provide accessibility for our fans and maximum exposure for our athletes and partners as their reach includes more than 120 million households across the United States,” Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s chief executive and commissioner, said in a statement.

LIV’s agreement with the CW is the first sports deal for the network in its 16-year existence. Last year, Nexstar Media Group assumed a 75 percent ownership stake in the network — the lowest rated among the five major U.S. over-the-air television networks — from its previous owners, Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discovery, and promised to turn a profit by 2025, in part by reducing expenses.

Despite scripted programming that skews young, the median age for the CW’s prime-time viewer in 2021 was 57.4 years old. Televised golf has long had the oldest viewership among sports in the United States — in 2016, the average golf television consumer was 64 years old — so the CW’s agreement with LIV could be an attempt to provide programming for a demographic that already was watching the network without the costs involved with producing scripted entertainment.

“For The CW, our partnership with LIV Golf marks a significant milestone in our goal to re-engineer the network with quality, diversified programming for our viewers, advertisers, and CW affiliates,” Dennis Miller, president of the CW, said in LIV’s statement.

[From October: For its next stop, LIV Golf looks to take on the world]

The first tournament on LIV’s 2023 schedule begins Feb. 24 in Mexico. LIV events differ from PGA Tour tournaments in that they feature three rounds instead of four, much smaller fields, no cuts and shotgun starts, which means all of the golfers begin at the same time instead of the traditional staggered start. LIV also includes a team competition to go along with individual play, and the winners of both receive sizable monetary prizes that dwarf those awarded at PGA Tour events.

While the series is backed with seemingly endless Saudi oil money, LIV’s future as a viable golf concern may depend on whether its events become recognized by the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). While some of LIV’s golfers still can enter golf’s major events because of their status as past champions, the vast majority need to earn OWGR points to maintain their eligibility. LIV applied for OWGR recognition in July, but it generally takes one to two years for the organization to issue a ruling on new members. Without OWGR points, LIV golfers will see their world rankings plummet and their chances of competing in golf’s majors — the most visible tournaments on the sport’s calendar — fall with them.

The PGA Tour has banned all of the golfers who defected to LIV, though as of now they still can compete in majors if they qualify (the PGA Tour does not operate the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open). Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice reportedly began investigating the PGA Tour for potential antitrust violations, and 11 LIV golfers sued the Tour, accusing it of using a monopoly to squash competition. About two months after the LIV players filed their lawsuit, the PGA Tour countersued LIV, accusing it of interfering with its contracts with players.