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LIV Golf ‘is in talks with Fox Sports over media deal’ six years after the network fired Saudi-backed PGA rival CEO Greg Norman as broadcaster and two decades after his failed World Golf Tour launch with network chairman Rupert Murdoch
- LIV Golf has yet to sign its first TV contract, but is reportedly in talks with Fox
- Conflicting reports say Saudi-backed PGA rival struggled to get TV deals
- CEO Greg Norman Claims There Has Been ‘Huge’ Interest in LIV Media Rights
- Norman was fired by Fox after the network’s wave coverage was criticized in 2015
- He and Fox boss Rupert Murdoch teamed up on the failed World Golf Tour in
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According to the Saudi-backed rival of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf is in talks with “pretty much every major media company” about a new television deal, but it is Fox Sports that is reportedly ahead of the competition.
Front Office Sports reports that internal sources have Fox as the current favorite, although Will Staeger, chief media officer of LIV, stopped commenting specifically. Instead, Staeger told FOS that the fledgling wave circuit is auctioning off its rights to top media outlets.
‘We want exposure’, Staeger tells FOS. ‘We want a broad viewership. We want to be on a platform where viewers are used to watching sports.”
LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman also spoke about the negotiations in a Wednesday interview with ESPN 1000 Chicago, telling the radio station that “the interest now on our plates is enormous.”
The statements of LIV Golf and Norman come as The Wall Street Journal has a conflicting report, claiming that both Apple and Amazon refused to pursue streaming deals with the controversial tour. In addition, LIV Golf has failed to secure deals with ESPN, CBS, NBC and Fox, the Journal reports.
On the one hand, Fox Sports seems like a natural fit for LIV Golf, given Norman’s reported relationship with compatriot Rupert Murdoch, who owns the network. FOS also reports that Murdoch is in a relationship with LIV adviser David Hill, a highly regarded sports television producer and another Australian.
In fact, the three teamed up on the failed World Golf Tour in the mid-1990s — a circuit that bears striking resemblance to the PGA’s current rival, LIV Golf.
However, Norman had a bad break with Fox Sports in 2015, when he felt he was being blamed for the disappointing coverage of that year’s US Open.
“It felt like I was being rolled under the bus,” he told FOS in 2021 after being fired from the network in 2015.
According to the Saudi-backed rival of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf is in talks with “pretty much every major media company” about a new television deal, but it is Fox Sports that is reportedly ahead of the competition. Fox Sports appears to be a natural fit for LIV Golf, given Norman’s relationship with compatriot Rupert Murdoch (right), who owns the network
Joe Buck, Brad Faxon and Greg Norman, Fox Sports TV Analysts, are seen on set during rehearsal ahead of the start of the 115th US Open Championship at Chambers Bay on June 17, 2015 in University Place, Washington. Norman was later fired by Fox Sports