Greg Norman may have departed, but the inspiration he took from Kerry Packer is still alive and well at LIV Golf, as season set to start with world first tournament played fully under the lights
6 February 2025, SHANK Media, by Matt Hooper:
Almost everything about LIV Golf's emergence in the world of sport has been identical to World Series Cricket in the 1970's. Of course, absolutely pivotal to the launch and development of LIV Golf has been Greg Norman, Australia's most famous golfer, it was also an Australian who was the driving force behind the creation of World Series Cricket. Kerry Packer was the controller of Nine Network, one of Australia's leading broadcasters, and following an unsuccessful bid to show Australian Cricket he secretly approached most of the world's best Cricketers to set up World Series Cricket. Norman and LIV Golf made secret approaches to many of the world's top golfers ahead of the launch of the league in 2022.
Of course the media and establishment backlash against both World Series Cricket and LIV Golf was ferocious, but eventually in the case of World Series Cricket it softened, and there are several reasons why, most can come under the banner of 'Innovation'. World Series Cricket, like LIV Golf, debuted innovations in broadcasting immediately upon their launch in 1977. Stump microphones and cameras, and eight cameras to cover the game were revolutionary in 1977, and they helped World Series Cricket stand out from the rest of the sport. TV broadcasters have used these innovations ever since, proving that the legacy of World Series Cricket is still alive and well. One of the men responsible for Nine Network's innovations and coverage of World Series Cricket, was David Hill, and incredibly Hill was part of the LIV Golf team when they launched in 2022. Hill said "Kerry Packer wanted to see televised cricket translating the excitement and tension of a cricket match onto viewers’ screens." Hill was then hired by Packer's 'arch-enemy' Rupert Murdoch in 1988 to help launch SKY Television in the UK, and then Eurosport, before launching Sky Sports in 1990.
Hill revolutionised our viewing experience almost single-handedly when he introduced the on-screen score-bug including the score and match clock for the launch of Sky's Premier League coverage in August 1992. In 1993 he helped to launch FOX Sports in the United States, and was responsible for the launch of FOX NFL Sunday when the company acquired NFL rights for the 1994 season. His key innovations in this period included the FOX Bug (the scoring bug which he introduced at Sky Sports), and the virtual 1st and 10 first down line. In January 2022 LIV Golf hired him as a consultant to their production team, announcing that the hire is intended “to deliver innovative and world-class coverage, revolutionizing the golf viewing experience.”
Hill said this upon being hired by LIV Golf: “For current and would-be golf fans around the world, we need to revamp and revitalize the viewing experience to maximize the sport’s entertainment value. Throughout my career, I have channelled my creativity and passion for the sports industry into creating an exceptional viewing platform and I look forward to supporting LIV Golf Investments into doing the same. There is an enormous amount of potential in golf broadcast and they have the team in place to do it.”
LIV Golf has gone on to debut the extensive use of drones in their coverage, along with their constant in-vision leaderboard or pylon, which updates in real-time, among many innovations which have set them apart from the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour.
World Series Cricket also started using helmets for Batters after a ball caused an Australian a nasty fractured jaw, and this led to safety advances in Cricket in the future. During the one-day International Cup in World Series Cricket, the teams debuted coloured clothing, with Australia wearing yellow, the West Indies wearing hot pink, and the Rest of the World light blue. Coloured clothing has since become the norm for one day and Twenty20 Cricket, leaving Test and County Cricket as the only forms of the game where 'Whites' are still worn.
But perhaps World Series Cricket's most notable, and impactful innovation was Cricket under the floodlights, with the launch of day-night Cricket.
"The day that floodlit cricket came to Melbourne was the day I knew World Series cricket had arrived," said Rest of the World Captain, Tony Greig.
Floodlit Cricket has transformed the fortunes of the sport, and has enabled the likes of the Indian Premier League to launch and become one of the most important sports properties in the world.
This week, the 2025 LIV Golf League season begins, under the lights, in Riyadh. Yes, we have seen golf under floodlights before, including the conclusion to the Turkish Airlines Open, and several made for TV events such as the Battle at Bighorn. The Ladies European Tour played the Dubai Moonlight Classic, which was a day-night event played until 2021. But there has never been a professional tour event played fully under floodlights, until LIV Golf Riyadh.
This latest innovation by LIV Golf can help give them even more difference to the PGA TOUR, and can, in time, help attract spectators to the event in Riyadh, making it more comfortable to watch out of the heat of the mid-day sun, and after work. Popularising golf as a spectator sport in Saudi Arabia will take time, just as it did in Dubai, and has in China, Korea, Singapore and India, but playing the tournament during the evening
I can certainly see potential for LIV Golf to stage further events under floodlights in the future, including in Singapore and Korea, and perhaps Thailand, India and even Las Vegas. If LIV Golf could stage 3-4 floodlit events per season it would make the league even more different to the establishment, and especially in a future landscape where LIV Golf compliments the rest of world golf.
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