What new crypto deal means for the future of LIV Golf
A few weeks ago, it looked like LIV Golf had an expiration date. The announcement about the potential "merger" with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour all but promised that Greg Norman's polarizing golf circuit would cease to exist in a short time.
Then came the news this week that the rogue league is still making business moves. Sports Illustrated reported on Wednesday that one of the teams in the LIV Golf contingent, Majestics GC, has secured a global endorsement deal with crypto exchange company OKX.
The move would, of course, suggest that LIV Golf isn't planning on going anywhere. Is Norman's Saudi Arabia-funded breakaway league here to stay despite potentially being eaten up by the PGA Tour?
For starters, everyone needs to pump the breaks and remember that a full plan to put LIV Golf and the PGA Tour under the same umbrella isn't set in stone. There would still potentially be a committee put in place to decide how that business would look, and there are a number of roadblocks, including pushback from the government, that threaten to upend a merger altogether.
At this rate, it would still be at least a year before LIV Golf got swallowed up by the PGA Tour anyways.
Of course, if you ask Majesticks GC team member Ian Poulter, the deal means that LIV is here to stay and sticking to its "us against the world" mentality.
"It further demonstrates that we are doing the right things and providing something different for partners to engage with OKX," Poulter told SI via email. "LIV and Majesticks share a common drive to disrupt their industry, challenge the status quo and engage new audiences."
OKX chief marketing officer Haider Rafique echoed something similar, saying that OKX -- who had a previous relationship with Poulter, mind you -- "gravitated towards LIV in the golf space because it is a disruptor that isn't afraid to take a look at things differently, ask 'why?' and innovate."
The long and short of it is that everything is still up in the air and that LIV Golf is just conducting itself as it always has. Golf fans from all around are just going to have to keep being patient and wait to see how the saga unfolds -- and what interesting business moves LIV Golf continues to make in the wake of so much upheaval in the sport.
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