of course it's going away (if they care about TV ratings)

Just because I often point out that your an idiot and live in fantasy doesn't mean I care.

lol

you do you shifty

as long as all participating parties intend for it to be the slapstick that it appears, i'll will be entertained
otherwise is subject to future interpretation

I don't think so. They couldn't get on TV because their new best friends said anyone doing business with them supports the terrorists and hates 9/11 families. Because of the Tour's relationship with the Golf Channel and other media outlets there was almost no mainstream coverage. Jay's recent change of heart alters LIV's distribution equation entirely.

Jay and the KSA shill basically said the silent thing out loud during Tue's CNBC segment that LIV, as a thing, won't survive whatever comes next. go back and listen carefully to that interview

now you might see 4 or 5 "team" formatted tournaments held in the ROW after the heavy USA golf schedule gives way in August to the behemoth that is the NFL. but keep in mind that elite top-tier golfers are looking to reduce their tournament load (not increase it) which obv will play a factor. after all, remember the draw for the LIVtards was getting paid a ton of money to basically show up and putz around at a glorified exhibition a dozen or so times a year

I wouldn't put much stock in anything Jay says at this point, but I have no idea what they will end up doing.

I do think team formats similar to F1 make sense, and appealing to younger demographics definitely makes a lot of sense. LIV's execution was beyond horrific of course. But I see them doing something with teams and changing things up to broaden the appeal in some form or fashion.

The one thing I hope changes is that they actually start giving a crap about fans. The intense focus on the players and sponsors but then ignoring the other leg of the stool has been maddening. Golf is less fun to watch than it used to be. I enjoyed the fall finish and seeing who would make it in the top 125. Gone. I liked tour school finals. Gone. Aussie events in the wintertime. Gone. No one likes the FedEx Cup, yet they've stuck with it for years. Opposite field events filled with has beens from 30 years ago. No thanks. Patrick Cantelay taking 3 minutes to choose a club. Just awesome.

I don't see how 5-hour rounds loaded with commercials and boring announcers are supposed to work when people have less free time and more distractions. It's partly why I've watched way less golf outside of the majors the last few years. The way the tour was headed they were going to need to turn out the lights as soon as the last boomer kicks the bucket. This whole PGA Tour / LIV battle has been hilarious because both sides hate each other so much and they are both so incompetent. Like watching two chicks who don't know how to fight go at it, but with a lot of passion, fury, and hair-pulling. But now they're somehow friends??

Have you been right about anything? Remember when you fantasized about the majors banning LIV players.

absolutely. i would've been fine w majors banning LIVtards

i can point to several LIVtards missing out on majors this year they otherwise wouldn't have missed out on. and barring the news that came out this week, more and more LIVtards would've missed out on majors next year and beyond

it was only last week you were actually wasting keystrokes trying to pick which "team" was going to acquire Ogletree on waivers. i'm not sure if all this is a bit on your part but hot damn if you were really sucked into LIV that hard to actually be contemplating Olgetree's landing spot. that is one reason i said i feel sorry for LIV lovers like yourself bc this golf product you have embraced is likely not to be a thing as early as 2024

What are you talking about? I made a post about Ogletree getting hurt, playing bad, having nowhere to play and grinding on the Asian tour to get back to LIV then playing his way into the top 24 to get his full status next season.

I watch and follow LIV and PGA, watched 4 hours of the RBC today. Your entire post is pure fantasy especially if you think there won't be LIV events in 2024.

Difficult to predict what professional golf looks like 2024 onward, as it sounds like the powers-that-be are still trying to figure it out. I thought it might be fun to work out a possible model for the merged tours.

I see the following developments with near certainty:
-all prohibitions of LIV players participating in PGA Tour and DP World Tour are done away with;
-Players who did not sign up for LIV will be able to participate in any events for which they qualify;
-the contract system used for LIV will end;
-events using the 54 hole/team format will continue in some form;
-the big purse elevated PGA Tour events will continue in some form.

IRT PGA Tour players who did not sign LIV contracts, Monahan said he will "spend every waking hour" figuring out how those players can be compensated. I'm guessing that players who miss FedEx Cup qualifying (e.g. 125-150) would get special dispensation for 2024 tour qualifying over and above what they would normally get. I also expect LIV contracted players will not be able to earn OWGR points until 2024 season, which indirectly benefits those players on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. I'm guessing 2023 FedEx up purses will also go up to compensate these players. Although most would think this is not fair compensation, I don't see Monahan issuing checks sans performance, outside of increased travel stipends possibly.

I expect the "designated events" structure will be revamped. Instead of the current 10 designated events, I'm guessing this gets pared down to 5:
-Genesis;
-Arnold Palmer;
-Players;
-Wells Fargo;
-Memorial.

The existing designated events will take a haircut, but non-designated events will see an increase in purses, so from typical touring pros' perspective prize money will be better than ever.

Replacing the dropped designated events will be 4 new mega $ events that will form the core of the reformed LIV. These will be $25M+ events, staged internationally, spaced out across the calendar. I'm thinking something similar to NCAA championship, with a final match play event for those who finished highest in the 4 events, along with team prizes.

So, the elevated event schedule might look like this (using 2023 dates):
*-Feb 12: Genesis;
*-Feb 26: LIV mega event #1 (Australia/Latin America?)
-Mar 12: Arnold Palmer;
-Mar 26: Players;
-Apr 9: Masters;
-Apr 23: LIV mega event #2 (Spain?);
-May 7: Wells Fargo;
-May 21: PGA Chp;
-Jun 4: Memorial;
-Jun 18: US Open;
-Jul 9: LIV mega event #3 (UK/Ireland?);
-Jul 23: Open Chp;
-Aug 6: LIV mega event #4 / Round 1 of FedEx Cup playoff (top 30 players participating in LIV event #4 automatically qualify for Round 2);
-Aug 13: FedEx Cup Round 2;
-Aug 20: Tour Chp;
-Aug 27: LIV match play/team play final.

* - these dates can be interchanged if necessary.

The remaining PGA Tour schedule might look like this:
-Jan 8: ToC;
-Jan 15: Sony;
-Jan 22: AmEx;
-Jan 28: Farmers (Saturday finish);
-Feb 5: AT&T;
-Feb 12: Puerto Rico (alternate event);
-Feb 19: WM;
-Feb 26: Puntacana (alternate event);
-Mar 5: what was Honda;
-Mar 12: Bermuda (alternate event);
-Mar 19: Valspar;
-Apr 2: Valero;
-Apr 16: Heritage;
-Apr 23: Zurich (alternate team play event);
-Apr 30: Wyndham;
-May 14: Byron Nelson;
-May 28: Schwab;
-Jun 11: Canadian Open;
-Jun 25: Travelers;
-Jul 2: Rocket Mortgage;
-Jul 9: Barbasol (alternate event);
-Jul 16: John Deere / Scottish Open;
-Jul 23: Barracuda (alternate event);
-Jul 30: 3M.

Not sure about post FedEx Cup events, other than Mexico Open would be moved from April to October/November (when Mayakoba was played previously).

Players qualify for the 5 designated tour events based on either previous season standings, or exceptional performance in current season. For 2023 only, selected LIV players are grandfathered in based on other criteria. I'm guessing about 90 players will qualify for the 5 designated tour events from previous season, and an additional 10 players will qualify based on exceptional performance in current season.

Players qualify for the LIV mega events based on previous season standings. For 2023 only, selected LIV players are grandfathered in based on other criteria. I'm guessing about 75 players will qualify for LIV mega events. Qualifying for LIV mega events automatically qualifies that player for the 5 designated tour events.

LIV mega events will be 54 holes, no-cut. All other events will be 72 holes with a cut.

Players qualifying for designated tour and LIV mega events would be required to play in 10 of 12 events from the top list. (not counting majors) Those players would also be required to play in 4 events in the bottom list. So a player like Rory would play 10 + 4 + 4 = 18 events at minimum. These players would also receive an appearance fee ($250k?) for playing any lower tier events over and above the minimum 4 appearances.

Players qualifying for designated tour events but not LIV mega events would be required to play in 7 of 12 events from the top list. (not counting majors) These players would also be required to play in 7 events in the bottom list. These players would also receive an appearance fee ($150k?) for playing any lower tier events over and above the minimum 7 appearances.

Players qualifying for elevated tour or LIV mega events would also receive a smaller appearance fee for all other "cut" events in which they participate.

So, the schedule for a random player who qualified for the 5 elevated + LIV meg events might look like this:
A-Major (4)
B-Elevated (11)
C-Lower tier (8)
Total: 23 events

C-Jan 8: ToC;
C-Jan 28: Farmers;
B-Feb 12: Genesis;
C-Feb 19: WM;
B-Feb 26: LIV mega event #1;
B-Mar 12: Arnold Palmer;
C-Mar 19: Valspar;
B-Mar 26: Players;
A-Apr 9: Masters;
B-Apr 23: LIV mega event #2;
C-Apr 30: Wyndham;
B-May 7: Wells Fargo;
A-May 21: PGA Chp;
C-May 28: Schwab;
B-Jun 4: Memorial;
A-Jun 18: US Open;
C-Jun 25: Travelers;
B-Jul 9: LIV mega event #3;
C-Jul 16: Scottish Open;
A-Jul 23: Open Chp;
B-Aug 6: LIV mega event #4;
B-Aug 13: FedEx Cup Round 2;
B-Aug 20: Tour Chp;

Players not qualified for the elevated events would receive an appearance fee for playing any "cut" events. This would replace the travel stipends lower tier players currently receive.

Appearance fees would not factor in FedEx Cup or any other rankings. Appearance fees could also be used as a bargaining chip in case players want to form a union.

IRT the revenue model, PIF would likely get the lions' share of the LIV mega event TV revenue. They would also get a decent cut of the remaining events' TV revenue, which would compensate them for their massive investment. The tour would still be bifurcated, but top tier players would be paid to appear in the lower events, something the PGA Tour has never done before. This should encourage the top tier players to play in more lower tier events, increase TV ratings for those lower tier events. This structure should make the existing sponsors, event organizers, and players happy.

How PGA Tour remains not-for-profit is well beyond my pay grade, but I'm guessing PIF would be treated similar to a sponsor, while PIF and PGA Tour would be co-parties on the TV contracts so PIF collect revenues directly. How this would work in the LLC model Monahan has been discussing I have no clue.

tl;dr

lol 54 hole MEGA events

From a TV perspective it makes sense to stage 54 hole events as they are more compressed, and a higher % of the event is shown on the weekend. And I don't think you would get much of an argument from the players.

What is LOL would be shotgun starts. for 75 player fields it could conceivably work on-course, but certainly not for TV.

+1

excellent points made here by Chamblee on the historic underpinnings of corporate sponsorship and philanthropy in the PGAT. he's a valuable voice right now for the sport of golf

ehhh I'm not convinced it moves the needle much but I'm prob not the target market either

This is cute (I agree with you tho)

So much the bolded. I don't know why someone like Scott couldn't be on there talking about what is happening rather than the nonsense Dottie and the crew spew week after week. It's so incredibly awful to listen to and just one bland milquetoast announcer after the other

I've said this about the NFL too. Talk about why things are being done rather than just spewing the same tired old lines. The same could be done for golf I would think and it would improve the viewing experience

You're not implying that Ian Baker Finch is boring are you?

Anyone else getting the vibe that the more that comes out about this merger the less thoughtful it all sounds? Like I'm not sure there is really anything agreed to at this point other than trying to shed the weight of the lawsuits.

Really weird

I'll bet Jay's payoff is settled.

Yeah, it seems like everything is up in the air and I bet even the people directly involved don't know how it will all shake out yet.

or how it all sheikhs out.