LIV Golf officials to teams: "You aren't doing enough to generate revenue!"

LIV Golf League officials are reportedly unhappy with their teams' efforts to generate revenue, according to a report. 

Ben Smith's picture
Wed, 29 Mar 2023
LIV Golf officials to teams: "You aren't doing enough to generate revenue!"

If the LIV Golf League is to truly take off and establish themselves in the ecosystem, they'll need to generate revenue through their teams. 

It's clear LIV officials will be thinking of bored billionaires who want to perhaps own Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces, Sergio Garcia's Fireballs or Phil Mickelson's Hy Flyers. 

This is all part of the 'franchise' model the likes of Greg Norman and Mickelson believes has unlimited potential. 

Former chief operating officer Atul Khosla explained in detailed these plans for LIV last October, before he left the upstart

Related: LIV had 'millions' unaccounted for in 2022

He told a group assembled media at LIV's $50m team championship at Trump National Doral it was hoped they would have 12 established teams. 

Those plans appear to have changed as it's now believed LIV are thinking of upping that number to 15 teams and increasing their number of events. 

These plans were outlined in a bombshell report that explained what will happen to players if they break their contracts

Khosla previously said: 

"We have to start commercializing the product. Get on TV. [We] need to find corporate partners. Those are milestones we need to hit going into next year."

LIV have already ticked off one on that list with their TV deal with The CW, although court documents revealed those at the Saudi-backed league believed the network was 'secondary'. 

However they are reportedly struggling with one milestone. 

According to reporting by SI's Alex Miceli, LIV officials have been complaining to their teams they aren't doing enough to generate money. 

The report outlines:

"Teams are starting to ramp up staff and starting to sell sponsorships, but the process of staffing– which requires LIV involvement–is slower than some would like to see and is one of the growing pains that the new tour is experiencing.
"LIV officials have been complaining to teams that they are not doing enough to generate revenue.
"One team, Fireballs, captained by Sergio Garcia, has a sponsor, Akron, a Mexico-based oil company company."

The aforementioned Johnson previously explained he parted ways with adidas Golf to free up room for sponsorships on their clothing, but they are yet to find a sponsor. 

There were whispers that adidas Golf were thinking of buying a LIV team for $1bn but all has gone quiet on that front. 

What do you think? Will LIV Golf be a success? Why not Tweet us your thoughts. 

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