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The leaders of the PGA and the LIV should study, in detail, the rift in American open wheel racing in the mid-1990's to ensure that they do not repeat the same
by dpratt 4y ago
The leaders of the PGA and the LIV should study, in detail, the rift in American open wheel racing in the mid-1990's to ensure that they do not repeat the same mistakes. The split in IndyCar racing took it from nearly competing with Formula 1 for prestige and audience to nearly going out of business, racing to empty stands. The sports, obviously, are extremely different from each other, but on a business level are somewhat similar. They're both based on weekend-long events that travel from one location to the next, feature a tournament/race between individual players who are all competing with each other to capture a portion of a prize pool, and have superficially similar models w.r.t. marketing, attendance and logistics.
- theluketaylor 4y agoThe difference being LIV golf has nearly unlimited money to just light on fire due to the Saudi backing. The point isn't professional golf. The point is to soften Saudi image around the world, so LIV doesn't have to worry about revenue. If LIV needed some kind of sustainable business model I'd agree they would need to be worried, but with a seemingly unlimited bankroll they don't have to worry about much. There isn't a TV contract and they gave away most of the tickets to the event.
- listenallyall 4y agoIndyCar's situation was a little different, it had already been surpassed in popularity by NASCAR when it split. Different people had different ideas about how to fight back, and of course, different financial interests, but IndyCar was already fighting just to survive by the time it split.