One of the fascinating parts of pro golf’s murky landscape is that in-person attendance has not necessarily corresponded with TV ratings or overall engagement.
TV ratings, which control so much of pro golf’s future, have been talked about at length as the PGA Tour has rebounded from an abysmal 2024. Meanwhile, LIV continues to struggle in relative anonymity.
The audience difference is nearly 20-fold some weeks. Of course, the Tour having a $700-million-per-year contract with CBS and NBC is a significant difference maker compared to LIV being on Fox Sports.
Last week, LIV had 334,000 viewers while the FedEx St. Jude Championship had 3.6 million. That substantial gap has been present every week the two tours face each other—even when the Tour has a mediocre event or little drama on the leaderboard.
Now in its fourth season, LIV has never broken 500,000 viewers in the U.S.
And yet, the clear disparity in ratings and other engagement metrics does not correlate with in-person attendance.
LIV is having a promising attendance year
There is no doubt LIV has been able to draw great attendance numbers in 2025.
While not every event on their schedule has been packed to the brim with fans, there is clearly an in-person market for what they are doing.
Last Saturday’s round at LIV Chicago garnered the best single-day attendance numbers in league history, a roughly 25-percent increase compared to last year’s event at the same course. Those numbers were expected to be broken this week—possibly twice—as the circuit travels to pro golf-starved Indianapolis. Next week, LIV Michigan in Plymouth, just outside Detroit, has similarly high hopes for setting attendance records.
Anecdotally, attending fans at Chicago and Indianapolis have said the grounds were saturated with fans. Long entrance lines and big galleries were posted on social media. Concerts have been a big draw as bands like Good Charlotte, Imagine Dragons and Jason Derulo have been performing after play is over.
Chicago and Indianapolis are two cities the PGA Tour has largely ignored over the years, so it is smart for LIV to take advantage of these areas.
I wrote about this last year when LIV came to my hometown of Nashville, a place that hasn’t seen Tour golf since the Truman administration. More than 40,000 fans attended.
The are other success stories. The LIV Dallas event in June saw more than 50,000, setting a U.S. record which was then broken this past couple of weeks. And, of course, the LIV Adelaide event has been the poster child for massive crowds as more than 102,000 watched earlier this year, trumping the 94,000 mark set last year.
Not every event has threatened a sell out. LIV Miami and LIV Mexico City didn’t reach 20,000 fans.
Still, it would be naive to say there isn’t a meaningful market for golf fans to watch top pros compete in places that are desperate to watch the game’s best. Especially as we march through the dog days of August when the sports calendar is sparse and many kids haven’t gone back to school yet, LIV is capitalizing on well-placed tournaments.
Those surging attendance numbers meet or surpass most stops on Tour. With the exception of events like the WM Phoenix Open, Players Championship, Travelers Championship—and a few others depending on that year’s field—LIV’s current attendance numbers are on par with the Tour.
There are more than triple the number of Tour events than LIV events, and LIV has the luxury of knowing all of its players are going to show up to each of its 14 tournaments.
The fan experience is also helped by a shorter time window of play. You go for the shotgun start and know everything will be done in less than five hours. Every player you want to see will be on the course in that time.
For that reason, LIV has taken advantage of hitting energized markets and cashing in with good attendance.
But attendance is a relatively small factor in success
On the list of priorities for financial success, attendance ranks well below having a lucrative TV contract, viewership ratings and supportive corporate sponsorship.
LIV has made some progress in these areas. The league’s CEO, Scott O’Neil, said LIV’s overall contract value of league sponsorships has increased by a factor of 10 this year. Adding Salesforce and HSBC into the sponsor fold is a boost.
However, everything always comes back to the product.
Without the Tour’s corporate infrastructure and established TV deal, LIV has to draw interest through the viewer experience in order to compete.
Ratings and anecdotal evidence suggest LIV is not drawing much consistent interest.
The fans in Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit are charged up to attend a pro golf tournament, but they don’t seem as willing to watch LIV Singapore.
Contrary to popular belief, I do say some nice things about LIV. They have made some positive strides.
It’s just that none of this will matter if people don’t watch on TV. LIV is kind of boring. What makes it a better watch than the Tour?
The Savanah Bananas make a nice living by traveling from town to town and selling out baseball stadiums—but those minor league players did not sign $300-million contracts.
For LIV to make money and be functional, fans will have to watch.
And it will have to be more than the one week per year they buy a ticket to be there in person.
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