LIV Golf Now Closed?

[iacas]

si.com

https://www.si.com/golf/news/pga-tour-tipping-point-jon-rahm-1-billion-compromise-patrick-cantlay

 

[DrizZzY]

I honestly think Rahm leaving the PGA tour will be the lynchpin for the PGA tour allowing LIV players back. It may not be for 2024, because statuses are already set, but membership is already upset and losing one of their biggest players is soul crushing. 

[Flipped]

Hypocritical, sanctimonious, naive Monaghan and his blind followers diminished the PGA Tour for many fans by not immediately merging with LIV  once the first wave of PGA Tour stars left. That continues with Rahm’s departure. 

[DeadMan]

3 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

Outside of the majors, and a few other events like Ryder Cup I have almost zero interest in men's professional golf. If there is some sort of LIV/PIF/PGAT merger in the future, I don't see myself regaining any interest.

I don't see what the long game is here, from the perspective of fan interest. Feels like men's pro golf is intent on destroying itself.

I am pretty much here. I liked Rahm. He seemed thoughtful and smart. Coming across as well as he did in a second language is seriously impressive. He was one of the few guys on tour that I legitimately liked and rooted for. I was rooting very hard for him against Brooks in the Masters last April. Rahm is the first guy to go to LIV that I'm disappointed about losing on tour.

And yeah, my interest in men's pro golf might be just the Masters and the Open in 2024. And I guess watching the US Open at Pinehurst will be interesting, too. Not sure I'll be tuning in for any tour even this year.

I will say it's not really men's pro golf destroying itself. It's the Saudis' distorting the market by paying ridiculous money for these guys. Lionel Messi has apparently earned around $1.4 billion in his career. Cristiano Ronaldo has earned $1.5 billion in his career. Jon Rahm is not worth $600 million. Nobody besides LIV believes that. That's why this is happening. The PGA Tour certainly didn't help itself by not doing anything to prepare for post-Tiger life (and by not taking care of the stars that drive interest), but men's professional golf is fine if the Saudis' aren't there.

Oh well. So it goes.

Edited December 8, 2023 by DeadMan

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

Jon Rahm is not worth $600 billion.

Dan, you're off by 1000x.

Also, I think LeBron has made $300M in his career, or less. Rahm is not worth that.

Golf is such a niche sport.

I'm glad I don't have much time anymore to watch golf, because… this shit is what I'd see when I turn on the television? No thanks.

[DeadMan]

Just now, iacas said:

Dan, you're off by 1000x.

He's not worth $600 billion either... 🤪

[saevel25]

4 minutes ago, iacas said:

Also, I think LeBron has made $300M in his career, or less. Rahm is not worth that.

Just looked this up, he's made 434.9 million over his career. He made 44 million last year.  Unless Rahm signed a 20 year deal or something, this is just stupid money that LIV is throwing around. I am not sure what else in the contract, how much is guaranteed, or maybe a lot of that is pro-rated winnings. Still, just stupid. 

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

I'm glad I don't have much time anymore to watch golf, because… this shit is what I'd see when I turn on the television? No thanks.

Same here. I try to watch the Majors, and that's pretty much it. 

[DeadMan]

11 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I am not sure what else in the contract, how much is guaranteed, or maybe a lot of that is pro-rated winnings. Still, just stupid. 

I'd bet a large part of the deal is equity in a team. That was the rumor when it first stared. Not all $600 million is cash. Which, LIV golf franchises are currently worth $0, so I hope for Rahm's sake that the majority of the deal is cash.

[Zeph]

All the money has been putting me off a lot of sports the past decade, along with general interest dwindling. I watched some football (the one where you kick the ball more than carry it) in my life, but now I don't even watch the world cup. FIFA sitting on the Middle East kings' laps and the insane money in the business is off-putting.

$600M is a lot of money and I can't say I wouldn't do the same, but it's disappointing all the same. LIV remains completely uninteresting to me.

LIV players play on that tour because of money, and it shows.

[mcanadiens]

The real mind-blowing thing is they way the Saudis are absolutely setting money on fire here. It's one thing when markets exist to pay athletes these amounts. This is different. 

I know the whole deal was never really about making money, but I'd be a bit upset if I were a citizen of Saudi Arabia. Three-years worth of John Rahm could have helped accomplish a lot of the nonsense that PIF puts on its webpage. 

 

[iacas]

8 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Just looked this up, he's made 434.9 million over his career. He made 44 million last year.  Unless Rahm signed a 20 year deal or something, this is just stupid money that LIV is throwing around. I am not sure what else in the contract, how much is guaranteed, or maybe a lot of that is pro-rated winnings. Still, just stupid.

Okay, so the $600M (or $567 or $500 or whatever) is more than Lebron will make, but not the $300M.

50 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

I know the whole deal was never really about making money, but I'd be a bit upset if I were a citizen of Saudi Arabia.

It is eventually. It's an investment fund.

[Vinsk]

LIV will do to golf what Elon has done for Twitter.

[iacas]

 

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Okay, so the $600M (or $567 or $500 or whatever) is more than Lebron will make, but not the $300M.

Yea, I posted the Lebron money because I thought he would have made more over his career. 

For more context. 

Patrick Mahomes has a 450 million contract. 

Forbes has a top-10 highest paid athlete (which includes off the field earnings, but they split it). 

Ronaldo: 45 million / year
Messi: 65 million / year
Mbappe': 100 million / year
Lebron: 44.5 million / year
Dustin Johnson: 102 million / year
Phil Mickelson: 104 million / year

If Rahm's deal is 567 million, it is probably for 5 years. Which would put him at 113 million / year. Which makes sense if the market value for him is more than DJ and Phil. Which makes absolutely no sense in terms of sports popularity and actual sport athlete value. 

Football "Soccer" is the most popular sport in the world, so that makes more sense. 

 

[iacas]

16 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

If Rahm's deal is 567 million, it is probably for 5 years.

Supposedly three.

[jsgolfer]

It will be mildly interesting to see how the ratings numbers will be after spending a bucket of cash for Rahm.  LIV ratings weren't all that great last year and will Rahm really move the needle that much upwards. 

I'm not sure I'd even watch an LIV event if it had the top 48 players in the world rankings every couple of weeks. Watching the same guys, play for buckets of cash, in a goofy golf format, that has no cut, is just not that interesting.

[GolfLug]

2 hours ago, mcanadiens said:

The real mind-blowing thing is they way the Saudis are absolutely setting money on fire here. It's one thing when markets exist to pay athletes these amounts. This is different. 

I know the whole deal was never really about making money, but I'd be a bit upset if I were a citizen of Saudi Arabia. Three-years worth of John Rahm could have helped accomplish a lot of the nonsense that PIF puts on its webpage. 

 

This is money well spent. From my perspective, when an individual of Rahm's image thinks it is fine to collude with the Saudis, it is hard to overstate the severity of the blow to our collective psyche. 

It doesn't matter how lame the actual golf is. They continue being in the news. They continue winning players we deem to have conscience. This is how normalizing of what was once unacceptable works IMHO.

Edited December 8, 2023 by GolfLug

[snapfade]

I'm just waiting on the LIV flagsticks to be replaced with stripper poles, then I'll watch.