Sep 18, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; From left, Dustin Johnson, Talor Gooch, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez celebrate their team win Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

Is LIV Golf bullying Fox Sports into airing its tournaments?

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 9/28/22

Apparently, Greg Norman is so desperate to get his LIV Golf series televised that he is strong-arming a major broadcaster in order to do it.

Golfweek reported Tuesday night that the Saudi Arabia-funded breakaway golf league is in the process of buying time on Fox Sports in order to get onto a prime station. An inside source told Golfweek that Fox wasn't interested in airing LIV Golf tournaments and that "they were forced to do it.”

The news comes on the heels of reports that multiple other networks passed on adding the league to their programming.

LIV Golf is nearing a deal with Fox Sports to air its tournaments, per @eamonlynch.

LIV was unable to reach deals with NBC, CBS, Disney, Apple or Amazon. pic.twitter.com/vU0T1o2Aiq
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) September 28, 2022

The deal to get LIV Golf on the network is also atypical for a sports league. Per Golfweek, the deal -- which will put LIV Golf on FS1 and not the main Fox broadcast -- would be to buy air time as opposed to receiving a fee from Fox. It was also reported that LIV Golf asked for a rights fee on a two-year deal and that Fox rejected the offer, and that the current potential deal is only in the works because Lachlan Murdoch -- the executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp -- got involved.

As Golfweek summarized, LIV Golf paying to be on the station instead of receiving a fee itself "will be widely interpreted as a failure to attract serious commercial interest in what it is offering."

Yes, Greg Norman, do tell us about all those networks competing to televise LIV golf. You have to pay Fox 1 to air it, and be only thankful a Murdoch is there to accept the Saudis' bribe. No sponsors are hooking onto those telecasts. LIV golf is where it belongs: on Death Row.
— Lynn G. Henning (@Lynn_Henning) September 28, 2022

With this reported deal not yet finalized, it isn't clear whether this LIV-Fox partnership will kick in prior to the inaugural season-ending or if it will start up in 2023. One thing is for sure though -- strong-arming a network into airing your product isn't a good look.

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