Fox Sports ‘has edge over media rivals for LIV Golf’s first TV deal’

LIV Golf is in discussions with ‘virtually every major media company’ on a new television deal, according to the PGA Tour’s Saudi-backed rival – but it is Fox Sports that reportedly has an edge over the competition.

Front Office Sports is reporting that inside sources have Fox as the current favorite, although LIV’s chief media officer Will Staeger stopped short of commenting that specifically. Instead, Staeger told FOS that the upstart golf circuit is auctioning its rights to top media outlets.

‘We want exposure,’ Staeger told FOS. ‘We want broad viewership. We want to be on a platform where viewers are accustomed to watching sports.’

LIV Golf chief executive officer Greg Norman confirmed the discussions to ESPN 1000 Chicago on Wednesday, telling the radio station that ‘the interest coming across our plate right now is enormous.’

On one hand, Fox Sports seems like a natural fit for LIV Golf, considering Norman’s reported relationship with fellow Australian Rupert Murdoch, who owns the network. FOS also reports that Murdoch has a relationship with LIV consultant David Hill, a highly regarded sports television producer and another Australian.

In fact, the three collaborated on the failed World Golf Tour in the mid-1990s — a circuit that bears striking similarities to the PGA’s current rival, LIV Golf. 

However, Norman did have a bad breakup with Fox Sports in 2015, when he felt he was blamed for disappointing coverage of that year’s US Open. 

‘I felt like I got rolled under the bus,’ he told FOS in 2021.

LIV Golf is in discussions with ‘virtually every major media company’ on a new television deal, according to the PGA Tour’s Saudi-backed rival – but it is Fox Sports that reportedly has an edge over the competition. Fox Sports seems like a natural fit for LIV Golf, considering Norman’s relationship with fellow Australian Rupert Murdoch (right), who owns the network

Joe Buck, Brad Faxon and Greg Norman, Fox Sports TV Analysts, are seen on set during rehearsal prior to the start of the 115th US Open Championship at Chambers Bay on June 17, 2015 in University Place, Washington. Norman was later fired by Fox Sports