LIV Golf

I'd think the lawyers would have a field day suing the PGAT to death if they suddenly started lifting bans for non contracted LIV players - don't you?

Not just for loss of earnings while they've been unjustly banned, but damage to their reputation, etc. It's all well documented thanks to the snarling nature of the likes of Chamblee, Lynch etc.
LIV players suing for loss of earnings?

That would really sum up the world we live in today
 
Mate, the PGAT were under investigation from the Department of Justice for operating a monopoly within mens pro golf. They have used the 12 month suspension to try and prevent players leaving for good money. They've lost sponsors, TV viewing numbers are down by hundreds of thousands, they have slandered players, agents, even countries. They used THE most horrific terrorist attack in our lifetime as a means of pushing back against LIV, and you honestly believe that they can come out and say "none of that mattered really - guys, you're welcome back" without any repercussions...

You are missing the point

The players leave LIV because their contract is up then there is no doubt imo there will be a way that they will be allowed to play on the PGAT again

Sponsers will be happy getting players back into their events again - so why will they complain ?

It would potentially be a very good win for the PGAT to show that their is a pathway back for anyone who leaves LIV
 
If they don't renew, going back to the PGAT surely means they were right in the first place to take the money? Very little consequence. Surely LIV would then go to Xander, Tommy, Min Woo etc., with a bucketload of cash, a 3 year contract, and say at the end you can go 'back'. But I don't see it, too many players are still calling for some sort of punishment for it to be that simple.

But why would the PGAT even want any of them back? When they left many people made the argument they wouldn't be missed / were on a downward trajectory anyway, and in some cases it was good riddance. Even Rahm got the 'not going to be missed as much as he thought he would be' treatment. Would seem a weird reversal if their return was celebrated.

Independent contractors will have a chance to re-negotiate their contracts, if no agreement reached the independent contractors will have to find a new tour. LIV will actively pursue replacements, and that cycle might be the new norm. I'm still okay with the current landscape - the Majors are more special now and have an extra dimension to them. The ranking of players remains a problem but the irrelevance is demonstrated by Rory basically deciding he no longer has a desire to chase down Scottie at no. 1 - regularly skipping the signatures is not a good look. This year I've watched more LIV than last year, less PGAT than last year, probably the same DPWT but overall less tournament golf, with interest in all circumstances related to the quality of the leaderboard.
 
If they don't renew, going back to the PGAT surely means they were right in the first place to take the money? Very little consequence. Surely LIV would then go to Xander, Tommy, Min Woo etc., with a bucketload of cash, a 3 year contract, and say at the end you can go 'back'. But I don't see it, too many players are still calling for some sort of punishment for it to be that simple.

But why would the PGAT even want any of them back? When they left many people made the argument they wouldn't be missed / were on a downward trajectory anyway, and in some cases it was good riddance. Even Rahm got the 'not going to be missed as much as he thought he would be' treatment. Would seem a weird reversal if their return was celebrated.

Independent contractors will have a chance to re-negotiate their contracts, if no agreement reached the independent contractors will have to find a new tour. LIV will actively pursue replacements, and that cycle might be the new norm. I'm still okay with the current landscape - the Majors are more special now and have an extra dimension to them. The ranking of players remains a problem but the irrelevance is demonstrated by Rory basically deciding he no longer has a desire to chase down Scottie at no. 1 - regularly skipping the signatures is not a good look. This year I've watched more LIV than last year, less PGAT than last year, probably the same DPWT but overall less tournament golf, with interest in all circumstances related to the quality of the leaderboard.

I think what we are now seeing, is that the golfing world is a big space, and there’s room for more than one tour, and format for professional golf.

Much like many other sports, it’s not healthy to have golf constrained by one particular tour.
 
If they don't renew, going back to the PGAT surely means they were right in the first place to take the money? Very little consequence. Surely LIV would then go to Xander, Tommy, Min Woo etc., with a bucketload of cash, a 3 year contract, and say at the end you can go 'back'. But I don't see it, too many players are still calling for some sort of punishment for it to be that simple.

But why would the PGAT even want any of them back? When they left many people made the argument they wouldn't be missed / were on a downward trajectory anyway, and in some cases it was good riddance. Even Rahm got the 'not going to be missed as much as he thought he would be' treatment. Would seem a weird reversal if their return was celebrated.

Independent contractors will have a chance to re-negotiate their contracts, if no agreement reached the independent contractors will have to find a new tour. LIV will actively pursue replacements, and that cycle might be the new norm. I'm still okay with the current landscape - the Majors are more special now and have an extra dimension to them. The ranking of players remains a problem but the irrelevance is demonstrated by Rory basically deciding he no longer has a desire to chase down Scottie at no. 1 - regularly skipping the signatures is not a good look. This year I've watched more LIV than last year, less PGAT than last year, probably the same DPWT but overall less tournament golf, with interest in all circumstances related to the quality of the leaderboard.

I think the next 12 to 18 months will tell us a lot about the future of Tour golf

Any sort of deal with PIF and PGAT seems dead

LIV to get up and running needed to spend a significant amount to entice players over - a lot of those will be coming to the end of those contracts

I don’t think LIV will be giving them out any more because they need to find a way to monetise and bring in revenues at a significant level because losing £1bn a year is not going to go on forever

So when those contracts come to the end - LIV and the players will have a choice - allow players to pick and choose events and to play in because they are no longer under any sort of contract

How do LIV fill gaps of players potentially leaving - they don’t appear to be offering big money and the promotion tournaments don’t appear to attract any significant names

The PGAT will have a choice in regards what sort of remuneration is needed to allow the players to play in their events

I don’t see a situation where the players can jump between the two tours -

With the current “social media optics” - the likes of Koepka leaving LIV wouldn’t be a good look

There is a lot of space within the golfing world to have a significant number of big events around the world where the top players play in but I don’t see that coming together working

LIV need top names to keep the interest , how do they attract those top names

Said a few times that Tour Golf is a mess -less people are watching it these days and that’s going to harm the sport

The gap in the numbers missing from PGAT isn’t being filled by LIV

The Masters viewing figures took a bit a boost

But the US PGA was down on the year before ( after it had increased )

Ultimately money will be the key deciding element as it always is
 
Certainly potential for an interesting end of 2025, start of 2026. Suspect the wording is carefully chosen 'no big upfront payments'. If they keep to mandating playing all events then this would likely need a contract of some sort.
(Noting that player power seems to have won through on PGAT with no more fines for missing signature events)

Should some big changes happen and the liv deck of cards collapse I wouldn't be that bothered. Conversely if a couple of historical big names did go I could see things still carrying on.
Different viewers are after different things - some would rather watch a non major winner shoot 9 under, than a previous major winner shoot +1.

Always thought one of their biggest challenges would be how to refresh the teams when some players are part of it. Depends on their goals a bit I guess.

IMO Kim should be shown the door, a gamble that didn't work out.
 
Yes the next big test for LIV’s backers will be renewal of existing big contracts. There’s no visible path to profit so this depends on the owners’ continuing interest being high enough to sustain the losses. The problem of a rich man’s (or rich country’s) play thing is loss of interest. Burning a huge wedge of cash to entice over new players is exciting - you have a shiny new toy and it comes with the hope that it might move the needle in some way. Burning another big wodge of cash just to maintain what you have is not nearly so much fun - with no prospect of any needle movement - and the owner rapidly loses interest in their toy at that point because they can use the same cash for something shiny new or fun in another way. There are dozens (hundreds?) of examples of this pattern with bankrolling owners of perpetually loss making projects in a wide variety of sports.
 
Those that did ‘move the needle’ (hideous phrase) like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, and Koepka were all deemed ‘past it’…

And now LIV gets the young, reigning US Amateur champion and that’s criticised for not ‘moving the needle’🤪🤣

Was Koepka and DJ deemed past it ?

I know Koepka himself said he was worried about how well he could compete in the future after his bad knee injury

Are you confusing them with others ?

And a reigning US Amateur is not going to get people turning the channel over to watch it

Just like I doubt many will be jumping to watch the best amateur in the world when he plays on the PGAT

 
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