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LIV Golf Draws Much Attention, Little Viewership

Also in Traina Thoughts: Amazon makes another ‘Thursday Night Football’ move; Aaron Donald is scary; MLB broadcaster vs. writer and more.

Jimmy Traina

LIV Golf Draws Much Attention, Little Viewership
LIV Golf Draws Much Attention, Little Viewership /

1. Everybody who is into golf talks about the new LIV tour, and based on numbers I’ve seen, golf fans like to read stories about LIV news. However, when it comes to actually watching LIV Golf, that’s a different story.

According to reports, tickets to last weekend’s event in Bedminster, N.J., were going for $1 on the secondary market.

Via The Washington Post:

“Fewer than 1,000 people were concurrently watching the Facebook Live feed for much of the first two rounds this weekend, while LIV Golf’s YouTube channel was at or above 60,000 viewers for much of Saturday’s second round. On the course, there were far fewer people. Event officials didn’t announce attendance, though most estimates suggested only a few thousand spectators. Tickets sold for $75 per day but could be had on the secondary market for $1 apiece (plus $5.05 in fees via StubHub).”

And according to this Twitter user who tracked the YouTube concurrents every 15 minutes for the event on Sunday, viewership topped out at 115,000.

These numbers are down significantly from LIV’s previous tournament, which took place the first weekend in July.

Considering all the money LIV has shelled out to poach golfers from the PGA Tour, you’d think it would be getting a little more bang for its buck.

I don’t necessarily know who the LIV audience is, but even in this age of streaming, if you don’t have a TV deal, you don’t have a meaningful audience.

A TV deal will likely happen down the road for LIV. But for now, the tour is more about headlines than anything else.

2. I ... don’t understand this ... at all.

3. We always love it when media people get salty with one another, so this was enjoyable. Pirates play-by-play man Greg Brown took some time during Sunday's game to take some shots at the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.

4. Aaron Donald = just as scary during drills as during a game.

5. If you missed it on Saturday, this was a pretty cool visual from SummerSlam.

6. This week’s episode of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features two interviews.

First up is John Ourand from Sports Business Journal. Ourand talks about the Charles Barkley–LIV Golf story, the latest news on which streaming service will land NFL Sunday Ticket, what will happen to bars and restaurants when Sunday Ticket goes to streaming and how DirecTV will be affected by losing Sunday Ticket.

Following Ourand, Dave Meltzer from the Wrestling Observer joins the podcast to share his insight on Vince McMahon retiring from WWE. Why did McMahon retire now? Is there any chance McMahon will be back? What changes can fans expect with Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, in charge of the creative? Where does Vince’s son, Shane, stand right now? When will fans see changes to the TV product?

The podcast wraps up with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment with Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York. This week, Jimmy and Sal discuss the Radio Hall of Fame, the discontinuation of the Choco Taco ice cream treat, the most amount of money they’d pay for a concert and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: For us old people, Aug. 1 is a special day. On this day in 1981, MTV made its debut. If you are over, let’s say, 30-35, you likely had your life impacted by MTV.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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