The new Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour had trouble finding a broadcast partner to cover its events before ultimately landing with the CW. And it sounds like that partnership isn’t going to great either as stations across the country cut away from LIV Golf coverage in the middle of Sunday’s final round with four holes to go, instead broadcasting television re-runs and infomercials.
Sunday’s LIV event in Tulsa went a little longer than expected, going to playoffs after a rain delay. In most cases, the broadcast partner would continue to cover the event through its conclusion, but not the CW. As soon as 6:30 hit, CW stations across the country began to switch away from LIV Golf for their regularly-scheduled program, which generally included re-runs of television shows and infomercials.
“How well is LIV Golf doing on the CW? Stations across the country cut away at 6:30 PM ET to regularly scheduled programming from Sunday’s final round with four holes to go. In Miami, the local CW station started airing a syndicated episode of The Goldbergs,” Awful Announcing wrote in a Tweet on Tuesday.
How well is LIV Golf doing on the CW? Stations across the country cut away at 6:30 PM ET to regularly scheduled programming from Sunday's final round with four holes to go. In Miami, the local CW station started airing a syndicated episode of The Goldbergs. pic.twitter.com/SGSZvNQwS8
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 15, 2023
In Buffalo, the CW affiliate aired a skincare infomercial instead of LIV Golf. Maybe we can finally find Phil Mickelson a sponsor! pic.twitter.com/EYTlwXENDr
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 15, 2023
As Golf Digest points out, these cutaways occurred because the CW is only obligated to show LIV Golf events during their coverage windows.
LIV Golf events are then shown in windows of coverage on CW affiliates across the country, but the affiliates (apparently) are not obligated to show any golf outside of those times. So when a two-hour weather delay during the final round caused a late finish that dragged past the expected 6 p.m. EDT sign-off, many affiliates across the country made the decision to return to their already scheduled programming.
It’s pretty brutal news for LIV Golf, given that the CW seemingly valued all this other content over the finish of their tournament, and the sports world had plenty to say about it on Twitter.
as I’ve often said, The CW is a biased PGA Tour shill, it’s the only possible explanation https://t.co/5uJFTAhwbU
— ANTIFAldo (@ANTIFAldo) May 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/Shaptennispod/status/1658272101466357761?s=20
Hey the Goldbergs are a solid show. Especially the repeats. 😂😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/Ia5nqiTGQl
— The Coach (@Thecoachrules) May 15, 2023
Genuinely curious what type of person would take a PR job with LIV. Just seems like an awful existence although I guess you would travel a little bit? https://t.co/R5mqrZTPgj
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) May 15, 2023
This really brings me back to 2003 when KATV out of Little Rock just outright chose to pass on airing MLS Cup in favor of local programming. https://t.co/cWd0RxEOUG
— MLS Referee Stats (@MLSRefStats) May 15, 2023
And nobody complained https://t.co/qIF03D99Vq
— InsideUSC (@InsideUSC) May 15, 2023
We’ll have to see if this situation is remedied by the next tournament because it’s safe to say this was pretty embarrassing for LIV.
