According to Rory McIlroy, PGA Tour-LIV Golf unification may hold the key to addressing declining television viewership in 2024.
Rory McIlroy thinks that the extreme division in the professional game has made golf fans “really tired,” and that this has led to declining TV ratings on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf in 2024.
In an interview with former PGA Tour player Morgan Hoffmann prior to this week’s Texas Open, McIlroy, 34, revealed that PGA Tour viewership is 20% lower in 2024.
Although LIV Golf’s 2024 viewing statistics are not yet public, McIlroy has heard that they “aren’t great.”
According to McIlroy, the fact that the greatest players in the world aren’t all together competing every week is turning off golf fans.
The World No.2 said:
“While I understand that this is not the end all be all, the PGA Tour’s TV ratings are down 20% overall this year. That brings us to the fifth. That is significant.
In terms of viewers, I would say that LIV’s numbers aren’t too bad either.
“I just think that people are getting really tired of the fighting and everything that’s gone on over the past couple of years, and it’s turning people off men’s professional golf, which is bad for everybody.”
McIlroy acknowledges that he is curious to see the viewership numbers for the major tournaments this year, particularly the US PGA, US Open, and The Open.
McIlroy said:
“It will be fascinating to observe how the four major titles fare, or even just the three, as, aside from Augusta, I believe that each kind of exists in its own world. Seeing how the major championship numbers perform in comparison to the other major events will be fascinating because there is a case to be made that if the numbers are better and all of the world’s best players are participating, then “Okay, we need to get this thing back together.”
“On the other hand, even if the numbers aren’t as good, there’s still a case to be made that everyone needs to get back together because people are losing interest in the game, even if they’re not watching the four major championships.”
McIlroy came to a conclusion:
“You know, this year, 20% is a pretty startling figure.”
Leave a Reply