After some negotiations, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have yet to reach an agreement on unification. Speaking about the issue, NBC Sports Chief Sam Flood opposed Liv, saying that the league became irrelevant because no one paid attention to it.
Founded in 2021, LIV is supported by Saudi Arabia’s public investment funds. Since its inception, the league has been heavily criticized for disrupting golf games. There have been some discussions on unifying with the PGA Tour, but negotiations have not been progressing much.
In Golf.com’s exclusive, Flood revealed his feelings about the Saudi league. He said:
“The liv’s stuff is almost a complete sideshow. The reality is that their opportunity was when the tournament took place in Doral. [LIV Miami]and they had all the names on the leaderboard and no one paid attention. That told me [LIV] Products are irrelevant in this country. ”
Liv Golf Miami took place at Blue Monsters at Trump National Doral Golf Course between April 4th and 6th, 2025. It reportedly averaged 603,000 viewers.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour Valero Texas Open was held per Golf.com during the same period from April 3rd to 6th, with an average audience of around 2.2 million and 4 million viewers in the final round of the tournament.
PGA Tour reportedly refuses unified offers from Liv Golf
In April, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf reportedly arrived at another deadlock when the PGA Tour refused to invest $1.5 billion from LIV. According to Golfweek, the Saudi league has sent a letter to the PGA Tour outlining several conditions for unity.
In the letter, Liv requested that the globally recognized professional golf league, Chairman and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, join PGA Tour Enterprises as co-chair.
Despite an appealing $1.5 billion offer to Liv’s demand, the PGA Tour reportedly rejected it because the terms were “unacceptable.”
In particular, within LIV Golf Miami, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil has admitted that he wants to sign a contract if it benefits the game of golf. He said (via Sports Illustrated):
“If this trade helps grow the game of golf, I’ll jump in two feet. Should we do a trade? No. As long as we’re focused on the same thing, it’s good to do a trade.
Meanwhile, a month before PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monaghan, Liv Golf Miami, sparked hopes about unity at a press conference at the Player Championship. He revealed that there is “room for “integrating key aspects of LIV golf into the PGA Tour platform,” and said that both sides are still doing everything possible to reunite the game.
Edited by Samya Majumdar
