Brandel Chamblee sounds off on LIV’s ‘dying’ TV ratings

Brandel Chamblee has launched a scathing attack on LIV Golf after TV ratings from last week’s PLAYERS Championship were released.

The Golf Channel analyst was responding to a post from Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal, when he said that LIV is “dying a slow costly death”.

The PGA Tour’s flagship event, won by Rory McIlroy in a play-off on Monday, drew 3.6 million viewers on NBC on Sunday with a peak audience of 6.2 million at 7pm.

That was up from six million last year, while final round ratings for the last three years stood at 3.5 million (Scheffler, 2024), 4.1 million (Scheffler, 2023) and 2.9 million (Smith, 2022).

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And Chamblee was quick to draw comparisons to LIV’s season-ender last year, which gathered just north of 50,000 viewers.

“Compare this to LIV’s finale last year that concluded in prime time on the east coast with Rahm winning… which drew 55,000 viewers,” he wrote on X. “People tune in to sports that matter.”

He continued: “The PGA Tour is killing it and LIV is dying a slow costly death.

“LIV players have seller’s remorse. They want the meritocratic cachet that competing at the highest level confers but they have shown in their choice to play for LIV that they’d rather have the money first and sue for the cachet. Trying to blur the distinction between gift and reward.

“The audience sees right through them and chooses to watch those that prefer to play for history and legacy.”

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It led to a second PLAYERS Championship crown for McIlroy, 35, who became only the fourth golfer to win the event multiple times and capture multiple major titles.

Carpenter also noted that the play-off, in which McIlroy held off JJ Spaun, drew a remarkable 1.5 million viewers on Golf Channel.

Given it was held between nine and 10am, that was a greater figure than many expected.

Meanwhile, Chamblee went deep on LIV in a recent chat with bunkered, which you can read here.