The PGA Tour and LIV Golf have been attempting to work out a sort of alliance under Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that would re-unify the two rival golf leagues. But according to Rory McIlroy, the sport is quickly losing fans due to the rivalry between the two leagues and any sort of alliance is still pretty far off.
During a recent interview, Rory McIlroy had a pretty brutal assessment of the current state of professional golf, pointing out that ratings are poor for both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf due to what he believes is fatigue from the fans regarding the competition between the two leagues and the lack of unity.
“I think I know this isn’t a be-all, end-all, but if you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they’re down 20% across the board,” McIlroy said Wednesday at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio according to ESPN. “That’s a fifth. That’s big. I would say the numbers on LIV aren’t great either in terms of the people tuning in.
“I just think with the fighting and everything that’s went on over the past couple years, people are just getting really fatigued of it and it’s turning people off men’s professional golf, and that’s not a good thing for anyone.”
The two sides are actively trying to work out a sort of unification, but it doesn’t sound like that unification will be coming anytime soon.
“We’re probably still quite a long ways from it, but I would hope that in the future that we can get there, unify the game and get the best players back together again,” McIlroy said.
So things aren’t great for professional golf right now, and it sounds like it could be a while before they improve.
[ESPN]
