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Second season syndrome is a well-established concept within Premier League football. Clubs promoted from the Championship often thrive on their underdog mentality and upset the odds in their first season in the top flight, only to fail to replicate the following year.
Sheffield United’s innovative style saw them finish just five points behind European football in the 2019/20 season, but after the worst start in the English top flight’s history in the following campaign, they were relegated at the bottom of the ranking.
While LIVGolf may not be studying the collapse of Chris Wilder’s team, they will be grappling with a similar idea when their second season begins in Mexico on Friday.
For better or worse, the Saudi-funded separatist league has become an integral part of the golf ecosystem. The initial controversy and opposition from many in the game has given way to a general apathy: we will do our job, you will do yours.
Last season thrived on that controversy: CEO Greg Norman’s brash marketing, Donald Trump’s appearances and talk of golf’s great civil war. This year, in the absence of such marked hostility, the product must now stand on its own two feet and it is golf that must speak.
One of LIV’s greatest strengths is the vast sums of money it has been able to offer to entice golfers to join. Backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) – Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – they spent $2 billion last year alone.
Six-time major champion Phil Mickelsonformer world number 1 Dustin Johnson and current Open champion Cameron Smith have been largely rewarded for their commitment to LIV Golf in 2022. This year, the off-season recruitment campaign is somewhat at a standstill.
In November, Norman said LIV was targeting seven of the world’s top 20 golfers for their 2023 season. Rumors were rife that American Ryder Cup stars Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay would be recruited. Neither materialized.
Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson celebrate winning last season’s Tag Team Championship
(Getty Images)
Their biggest shot – if you can call it that – is world number 34. Thomas Pieters. The 31-year-old Belgian is a six-time DP World Tour winner, but he feels more of a loss for the European Ryder Cup team than a gain for the LIV brand.
South Americans Mito Pereira and Sebastian Munoz as well as South African Dean Burmester have also been recruited, with PGA Tour veterans Brendan Steele and Danny Lee finalize their new signings. All are perfectly solid touring professionals, none perhaps who LIV would have hoped for ahead of their crucial sophomore year.
With the lack of big-name signings needed to generate hype and enthusiasm, will enough people want to tune in? There are well-documented sports-washing ulterior motives behind the Saudi-backed project, but the organization’s top officials have also made clear their ambition to turn it into a lucrative venture.
This profit, LIV hopes, will come from the teams. Johnson’s long-standing apparel partnership with Adidas recently ended and early signs out of Mexico indicate the league will lean heavily on the team aspect with matching uniforms and branded bags. The hope will be to turn these teams into “franchises” that will attract team-wide sponsors, fans and possibly third-party investment.
On the course, the team concept presents a certain interest. Last year’s final event, which saw the 4 Aces claim triumph on the final hole, demonstrated this. The Ryder Cup demonstrated the viability of a team golf product in a one-off event, but a year-round team-led format requires a complete reimagining and repackaging of the sport. The concept was new last year and not to everyone’s taste, but for LIV to be financially successful, the concept has to work.
Smith’s signing gave LIV a boost, but they failed to attract other stars ahead of the new season.
(Getty Images)
The offseason also saw the league sign a network deal in the United States with the CW network. The deal will give them mainstream exposure — the channel is in 100 million U.S. homes — but could hurt their global appeal.
Last season’s events were streamed live on YouTube and, while this doesn’t target golf’s traditionally older viewers, it made their product easily accessible around the world. Other television deals were promised, but other networks were reluctant to acquire the rights.
All of this represents more questions than answers; As lawsuits see LIV golfers continue to slide down the world rankings and moral objections over the source of funding persist, it’s difficult to know what has changed.
The PGA Tour has been boosted by high octane events and the return of Tiger Woods to start the year. As LIV’s second season kicks off, they now need to assert their relevance in the crowded golf market. If they fail, it’s hard to know where they stand.
