Just 69,000 viewers tuned in to the Golf Channel to watch the final round of last week’s Procore Championship on the PGA Tour. 69,000!
To put that in context, the same afternoon, 93,681 piled into the AT&T Stadium in Dallas to watch the Cowboys soundly beaten by the New Orleans Saints, 77,827 headed for Lambeau Field to cheer on the Green Bay Packers in their win over the Indianapolis Colts and 70,145 headed for the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte to watch the Carolina Panthers thumped by the L.A. Chargers.
And NFL tickets aren’t cheap either. The average cost across the league for 2024 has soared to $377 per ticket, which, compared with 2010 when the average price was $76.47, only goes to highlight the popularity of gridiron action in the United States.
And while those 69,000 viewers – of which 20,000 were probably golf clubs where the Golf Channel is the de facto network – were watching Patton Kizzire cruise to victory at Silverado Country Club in Californian wine country, an average 27.9 million were watching CBS as the Kansas City Chiefs took down the Cincinnati Bengals in a match that went right to the wire.
There’s an element of comparing apples to oranges with the NFL and the PGA Tour, especially when we’re talking about the FedEx Fall Series events, but even then the Golf Channel figures were less than a quarter of what they were for the final round of the same tournament last year.
It’s a familiar trend, and though the year-to-year comparisons haven’t been quite as stark as this week, if alarm bells aren’t ringing loudly at PGA Tour HQ, they should be.
This comes on the back of news that the latest round of negotiations between the PGA Tour and the PIF came to a sticking point as many of the PGA Tour players aren’t necessarily keen on the idea of LIV players returning to compete on the PGA Tour.
And I don’t blame them really. For a select few, winning titles and cementing a legacy is the primary goal, but carving out a good living is the priority for most, and having the likes of Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Tyrrell Hatton and Cameron Smith back in direct opposition is going to cost them money.
Of the 30 players who qualified for the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship at East Lake, at least four or five would’ve found themselves on the outside looking in had the LIV big guns been there, and we’re probably talking close to a dozen of the top 50 who are now set to compete in the big money signature events in 2025.
From a business point of view, it’s a no brainer to have the tours merge, and were the PGA Tour run as a proper business, they already would have. But the PGA Tour isn’t run as a proper business, and in the wake of the controversial Framework Agreement last year, by adding another Player Director to the PGA Tour board, the balance of power now rests firmly in the hands of the players and they are naturally going to look out for themselves.
The window of opportunity for professional golfers is short and getting shorter. While players once peaked in their mid-30s, technological advances and increased athleticism means that longevity is a rare thing nowadays. At 35, Rory McIlroy is the oldest player in the top 10 of the OWGR, and the only one over 32, so for everybody barring the youngest pros on the PGA Tour, the clock is ticking.
It’s a case of get in and get as much money as you can before natural selection sees you pushed out. It doesn’t matter to them that the general public are turning their backs and that the when the current broadcasting deals expire, the PGA Tour will be over a barrel as numbers like 69,000 are cited.
Or that tournament sponsors will continue to vote with their feet as the financial outlay being asked grows and the return on investment continues to dwindle.
But that’s what happens when the inmates get to run the asylum. Who cares if there’s food for tomorrow when you can feast today?