I think it's becoming clear -- with the new Elevated / Designated Events being much closer to the Majors in Fedex points awarded than to regular Tour events, despite their lack of a cut -- that the goal of all of this (with Tiger Woods on the downside of his career), is to ensure that the top players that even casual golf fans are familiar with, appear as often as possible on highlighted TV events. It absolutely, positively worked last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational; the leaderboard on Sunday was jam-packed with professional golf luminaries. And at the end of the day, the PGA Tour is a "TV show" and a product, that needs more viewers if the goal is to increase the money generated for television rights fees. You don't get more money just because you want more money. The one-and-only way to get more money, is if Mercedes and Rolex and other advertisers are willing to pay more, to air their commercials. It's simple economics, and it's the way Capitalism works.
(That said, this split seems to have worked to a certain degree so far. I think it might cause problems once LIV golfers want to come back to the PGA tour though.)
All of this PGA vs. LIV drama continues to remind me of the CART vs. the breakaway IRL series. (Even funnier since FEDEX was also the title sponsor of the CART championship during the split.)
I don't want to watch a tournament because of who shows up as much as how well they play. Take Tiger's performance at Genisis.....Compare that to Bay Hill where the scoring wasn't great but it was one of the best tournaments I've seen in quite awhile because they were all hungry for the win. If a player doesn't want to play in a particular tournament but is mandated to show up I don't think we'll get exciting competition from them. And the slot they're taking up could otherwise be used to introduce another Kurt Kityama, Rory McIlroy or John Daly. If $20M purse doesn't excite a 'star', let them join LIV and let the new PGA blood salivate over it.
All of this policy on the run truly highlights the political hierarchy/infighting on the PGA Tour. LIV has shaken out the magical money tree that has been growing unabated in the back yard for years. The open market will always correct itself out, outside of a monopoly...
I think it's becoming clear -- with the new Elevated / Designated Events being much closer to the Majors in Fedex points awarded than to regular Tour events, despite their lack of a cut -- that the goal of all of this (with Tiger Woods on the downside of his career), is to ensure that the top players that even casual golf fans are familiar with, appear as often as possible on highlighted TV events. It absolutely, positively worked last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational; the leaderboard on Sunday was jam-packed with professional golf luminaries. And at the end of the day, the PGA Tour is a "TV show" and a product, that needs more viewers if the goal is to increase the money generated for television rights fees. You don't get more money just because you want more money. The one-and-only way to get more money, is if Mercedes and Rolex and other advertisers are willing to pay more, to air their commercials. It's simple economics, and it's the way Capitalism works.
(That said, this split seems to have worked to a certain degree so far. I think it might cause problems once LIV golfers want to come back to the PGA tour though.)
All of this PGA vs. LIV drama continues to remind me of the CART vs. the breakaway IRL series. (Even funnier since FEDEX was also the title sponsor of the CART championship during the split.)
I don't want to watch a tournament because of who shows up as much as how well they play. Take Tiger's performance at Genisis.....Compare that to Bay Hill where the scoring wasn't great but it was one of the best tournaments I've seen in quite awhile because they were all hungry for the win. If a player doesn't want to play in a particular tournament but is mandated to show up I don't think we'll get exciting competition from them. And the slot they're taking up could otherwise be used to introduce another Kurt Kityama, Rory McIlroy or John Daly.
If $20M purse doesn't excite a 'star', let them join LIV and let the new PGA blood salivate over it.
All of this policy on the run truly highlights the political hierarchy/infighting on the PGA Tour. LIV has shaken out the magical money tree that has been growing unabated in the back yard for years. The open market will always correct itself out, outside of a monopoly...