A panoramic view of the 18th green, the LIV Golf logo and Club 54 during the third round of the LIV Golf Invitational Series Bedminster on July 31, 2022 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Rich Greisler | Illustrated Sportsline | Getty Images
life golf declare A multi-year media rights deal was struck with Fox Sports on Thursday to broadcast Professional Golf Tour events to U.S. viewers starting in February.
The Tour’s 14-match season will begin foxFS1 and other Fox networks, and will also be broadcast live on the Fox Sports and LIV Golf+ apps. The LIV Golf League has 13 teams, each with four golfers, including two-time major champions Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
The news comes a day after the Saudi-funded sports organization named Scott O’Neil, former CEO of Merlin Entertainments and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, serves as the new CEO. He succeeds Greg Norman, the tour’s first commissioner and CEO, who will continue to be informally involved with LIV.
“We are excited to partner with Fox Sports, one of the most preeminent broadcast networks in the world,” O’Neal said in the release. “LIV Golf is getting bigger and bolder as our league joins the nation’s top Joining the ranks of sports leagues and conferences, this relationship marks the next phase of growth.”
LIV Golf was originally established in 2021 as a competitor to the PGA Tour and is backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. It quickly poached famous golfers, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
In June 2023, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf reached a merger agreement, but after more than 18 months of negotiations, the alliance has yet to reach an agreement.
LIV Golf was previously at Nexstar Media Group-Operates the CW network. Upstart Golf Alliance struggling Attracting a large audience to The CW.
Just under 90,000 fans tuned in to watch the league’s individual tournament in September, a fraction of the number of viewers when the league began. The move to Fox is expected to help expand its reach.
This season, LIV will hold championships in nine different countries, starting on February 6 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and ending with the team championship in suburban Detroit at the end of August.
—CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.
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