In a development that seemed almost impossible just a few weeks ago, LIV Golf has somehow managed to post even worse ratings than they did during their 2023 debut event in Mexico in February.
The fledgling Saudi-backed league hosted its second event at Tuascon, Arizona, this weekend, and though no one seemed to notice, it was televised on the CW Network.
According to Kevin Van Valkenburg of the No Laying Up podcast, the Tuscon event on Saturday scored a 0.14 rating in the coveted 18-49 demo. An almost impossibly low number that came in under the nearly impossibly low 0.2 number the league posted in late February.
Have an update on LIV Golf ratings for the Tucson event. According to a source, it scored a 0.14 overnight rating in 33 markets from Saturday. https://t.co/cyFNrDBDIj
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) March 19, 2023
According to the New York Post, LIV was “outdone by ‘World’s Funniest Animals’ later that day.”
As the New York Post reports:
Furthermore, when stacked against the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic in late February — which spawned a weaker total field of golfers than usual — there was absolutely no comparison with the Saudi-backed league. The Honda Classic scored 1.61 and 2.38 million total viewers on NBC that Saturday and Sunday.
Separate broadcasts of the event on Golf Channel drew between 342,000 to 631,000.
LIV Golf? Just 286,000 viewers on Saturday and 291,000 on Sunday on its CW broadcasts.
LIV is in a bad spot: They make “zero money.” They only have 14 annual events; if the next 12 rate anywhere near the first two, this could be a very short-lived experience.
Make no mistake; if anyone can afford to burn money, it’s the Saudis. However, if there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, they probably won’t do that for very long.