With the inaugural season in the books (and plenty of controversy in its wake), LIV Golf is reportedly looking at a surprising executive shakeup.
According to a report from James Corrigan at the Telegraph, LIV’s Saudi overlords might be looking to put someone else in the executive chair. That would mean replacing Greg Norman, whose tenure in charge certainly helped LIV get off the ground thanks to Norman’s name recognition, but perhaps also prevented it from things like a deal with other tours or television partners thanks to Norman’s various quirks and failings.
According to Corrigan, LIV is reportedly targeting the current CEO of Taco Bell, Mark King. That sounds like an odd fit at first, but King was formerly the CEO of golf equipment manufacturer TaylorMade and has plenty of relationships within the golf world to go along with actual, top-level business experience.
King’s time at equipment-maker TaylorMade saw sales grow from $300 million to nearly $2bn and then as president of Adidas in North America, King, 60, tripled sales in four years.
The 60-year-old is currently CEO of Taco Bell, the fast-food Goliath with a reported annual revenue topping $13bn, but it would be no surprise to see this former college golfer, who still plays off a scratch handicap, shifting back into the sport at such a critical time in its history.As recently as September, King was quoted on respected website firepitcollective.com as stating his belief that in five years LIV Golf will be established and accepted in the professional game’s eco-system and it would make sense on LIV’s behalf to introduce an industry heavyweight at its helm.
Also, and this is crucial: King isn’t Greg Norman. That seems to be the top priority here. Norman’s penchant for miscues and gaffes hurt credibility, and although he’ll surely be handsomely rewarded financially at whatever non-essential position he ends up with at LIV. But getting someone who can actually get things done is probably the key. LIV’s broadcasting situation is brutal, with tens of thousands tuning in on YouTube’s global stream for the final event. Tickets were being given away for nothing, and at a certain point, the product itself is going to have to be the selling point.
Still, it would be surprising to see LIV pull off this sort of move, and they’d certainly have to pay handsomely; King earns well into seven figures as Taco Bell CEO, and that company has a much more stable future than LIV does at this point, even with the deep well of Saudi backing. Plus Norman has been synonymous with the venture. Even so, given this interest in King, it’s hard to see LIV not moving on from the Shark at some point in the near future.
