top of page
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • X

What the FOX! LIV Golf secures broadcast deal with one of the big four networks in the USA

Writer's picture: Matt HooperMatt Hooper

31 years ago Greg Norman had a vision. A vision for a World Tour, with limited field events, played across the planet, featuring the best golfers in the world, and it was to be broadcast on FOX.


“The World Tour idea came to us from Greg Norman,” said David Evans, FOX's former president and chief executive officer. speaking publicly for the first time on the World Tour in December 1994. “It was and still is an extremely interesting idea. I know it would be good for golf, the best players playing against the best. It’s like Greg Norman said. We both hope to see it happen through the right channels."


“Why wouldn’t (the PGA Tour) do something about it? It’s a bloody good idea.”


Now, more than three decades on, that "bloody good idea" has turned into LIV Golf, and after three years of streaming on YouTube, LIV Golf+ and two years on The CW, the original 'World Tour' has finally made it to FOX.





FOX Sports and LIV Golf today announced a multi-year media rights agreement that will deliver live coverage of LIV Golf League competition to viewers throughout the U.S. beginning this February with the start of LIV Golf’s third official League season.

Throughout the season, all three days of LIV Golf tournament competition will air live across the FOX family of networks, with more than half of the League’s schedule airing on FOX or FS1. Select rounds will air on FS2, FOX Business Network and the FOX Sports App, with nearly all of the LIV Golf season’s 210 hours of competition carried live across FOX Sports platforms. All LIV Golf coverage will also be streamed on the FOX Sports App and to LIV Golf+ app subscribers.

“We are thrilled to partner with FOX Sports, one of the preeminent broadcast networks in the world,” said LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil. “LIV Golf is getting bigger and bolder, and this relationship signals the next phase of growth as our League joins the company of the nation’s premier sports leagues and conferences. I want to thank the FOX Sports team who share our vision for the future of golf, a new model that is redefining how the sport is experienced. LIV Golf is drawing a younger, more active and tech-savvy fan base, and as our players and teams prepare for LIV Golf’s biggest season yet, this agreement will take our broadcast to new heights.”




“FOX Sports is excited to broadcast the LIV Golf League, showcasing athletes at the top of their game competing at an elite level for viewers across the nation,” said Jordan Bazant, Executive Vice President, FOX Sports. “The addition of LIV Golf is a natural fit for FOX Sports’ prominent slate of big events, world-class names and premium sports coverage.”


"Having FOX Sports on board is a huge win for LIV Golf,” said Brooks Koepka, captain of Smash GC. “They know how to bring sports to life, and I’m pumped to see how they showcase what makes our game so unique. It’s awesome to have a partner that shares our vision, and I think the fans are going to love what’s coming."

“This partnership is a huge step forward for LIV Golf and our fans as it will help bring our tournaments to a broader audience,” said Jon Rahm, Legion XIII captain. “FOX Sports has a reputation for delivering world-class sports coverage and I’m confident they will elevate the experience for everyone watching. I believe FOX Sports shares our commitment to pushing boundaries and innovating, and I can’t wait to see how this collaboration connects more fans to our sport.”


LIV Golf broadcasts will continue to be produced with its in-house team, maintaining its distinctive live leaderboard, enhanced drone coverage, statistics-driven graphics, and fast-paced coverage featuring nearly twice as many golf shots per hour than traditional golf coverage. The LIV on-air announce team will see its acclaimed on-air talent squad return, with Arlo White leading play-by-play alongside analysts David Feherty and Jerry Foltz in the booth, with Dom Boulet and Su-Ann Heng providing coverage on the course.

LIV Golf's Club 54 pre- and post-round shows will once again be hosted by Christian Crosby with analysis from Rachel Drummond, Jerry Foltz, Su-Ann Heng, and Dom Boulet. The pre- and post-round programs will be featured live on FOX Sports’ platforms or otherwise on the LIV Golf+ app. LIV Golf’s groundbreaking Any Shot, Any Time technology will be available exclusively to LIV Golf+ subscribers, giving fans the ability to select exactly which golfers, teams or groups they want to watch at any given time, continuing to drive new engagement and innovation for the sport. Subscribers to LIV Golf+ will also have access to exclusive video on demand content and all rounds of LIV Golf competition 24 hours after completion.


FOX is a natural home for LIV Golf in the USA


With ESPN, NBC, Golf Channel and CBS all having long term broadcast deals with the PGA TOUR it would be easy to suggest that FOX was the only option for LIV Golf, but there can be no doubt that FOX is a perfect fit to be the broadcast home of the league in the United States of America. FOX launched in October 1986, and has been at the forefront of broadcast innovation, particularly in sports, for the last 38 years. In 1992, FOX's then sister-network, Sky Sports (in the UK) launched the very first 'Score bug' seen on television, keeping the viewer constantly up to date with the score and time in every live Premier League match, FOX followed suit in 1994 when they launched their NFL coverage. Over the following years the other broadcasters in America did the same, despite early opposition.


When Golf finally arrived on FOX in 2015 in the shape of the US Open, as part of a multi-year deal with the USGA, the network made several innovations which have revolutionized the way we watch golf today. Prior to the 2015 US Open broadcasters had used the shot tracer in limited ways, mainly during replays of a shot, but at Chambers Bay, that changed, with FOX using it as part of its live coverage throughout the tournament.





And, just as they did 20 years earlier with the Score bug, FOX debuted another broadcast innovation which has become part of live golf across the board now, and which LIV Golf has taken a step further - the in-vision, updating leaderboard.




FOX also used drones during their coverage of the 2015 US Open, something which LIV Golf has also taken to the next level since they launched in 2022. Coincidentally in the 5 US Open Championships broadcast by FOX, 3 of them were won by current LIV Golf stars - Dustin Johnson (2016), and Brooks Koepka (2017, 2018).


FOX was also the highest-rated free-to-air network in the 18–49 demographic from 2004 to 2012 and 2020 to 2021, seemingly making it the perfect destination for LIV Golf, which aims to take golf to the younger demographic.


Today's announcement follows confirmation that LIV Golf has renewed its deal with Channel 7 in Australia.



Could FOX deal in the USA trigger major UK deal with Sky, or perhaps other broadcasters?


Interestingly over Christmas I happened to come across highlights of the Saudi International on Sky Sports Golf. This is the first time since the tournament joined the Asian Tour that it has been shown in part or full on Sky, and the home of golf in the UK has largely ignored the Asian Tour since LIV Golf launched. There can be no doubt Bryson DeChambeau's performance at the US Open, and Sky's coverage of that, must have got executives at the broadcaster thinking that they should be showing LIV Golf.


After all, they show the Majors, Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, LPGA, LET, and amateur golf. LIV Golf and the Asian Tour are two particularly large pieces of the puzzle in professional golf, and showing the 14 LIV Golf events, even on Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports+. But maybe their deals with the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour, and commitment to them, will prove to be too much of a sticking point for Sky. So if not them, who else could show LIV Golf in the UK?


DAZN, TNT SPORTS, EUROSPORT, PREMIER SPORTS


Aside from Sky there are four major pay-tv sports broadcasters in the UK, each with varying audience share, reach and finance, but after three years of largely unfiltered free coverage does LIV Golf really want to go behind a paywall which distinctly less visible than Sky? And does golf really fit with the other sports which each of these networks show? DAZN has a close relationship with Saudi Arabia, through Boxing, Riyadh Season and the Saudi Pro League, and is the global sports broadcaster, so it would be the front runner of these four.


ITV


ITV has not shown golf since the 1980's, but with an ever dwindling portfolio of live sports it might see LIV Golf as a way to bring new audiences to the network, and to its streaming platform, ITV X.


BBC


This would be the mother of all deals for LIV Golf, and a pretty good one for the BBC. LIV Golf would get the greatest possible exposure in the UK, on the number one broadcaster, into the homes of more than 24 million license-fee paying homes. BBC would get 14 weeks of live golf without the need to pay for production costs for 42 days of golf. It seems unlikely, but given the state of BBC Sport it surely cannot be discounted.

4 views0 comments

Kommentare


SHANK banner post Olympics.jpg
  • Facebook
  • X

© 2025 by SHANK Media. Powered and secured by Wix

bottom of page