LIV Golf commentator Jerry Foltz has claimed on the 'Fore The People' podcast the Saudi-backed circuit WILL have a TV partner in the United States ahead of their first event in 2023.
Foltz, who formerly commentated on the PGA Tour for Golf Channel, has little interest in such a deal though.
In the eyes of the one-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Foltz, now 60, a network deal will taint the commercial-free aspect of LIV Golf.
"LIV Golf will be on a TV partner in the United States before we have our next event, I am plenty comfortable saying that.
"I am not involved in the negotiations but I do hear quite a bit and I know everything that has led up to it."
"LIV Golf is seen through television, not streaming, in 180 different countries through 35 or 36 different broadcast partners around the globe, but the biggest one, the biggest carrot of the lot is of course America.
"They are being very diligent and seeking out the biggest deal they can get."
He then added:
"I hate the fact that we will be because our product will then not be, I hope we sell it as a wholly owned property and they broadcast it the way it is, but right now we do five hours of commercial-free golf and that is a big draw for the people who enjoy watching.
"We don't move away for anything, we certainly don't see a guy tap in and watch him walk off the green for 30 seconds and show a scorecard hole after hole. We do it completely different. It's hard to re-train old minds like myself and Feherty to do it differently, but we've kind of caught on a little bit to it and hopefully do some more.
"I dread the fact we are going to be on TV, just because I know how much fun our entire 300-person crew has doing golf that doesn't have commercials, but hopefully we come up with some sort of model that is more like a soccer game where they don't have commercials for two halves.
"There is something that limits the commercial interruption because that is the biggest compliment to us and can play it against Golf Channel and network coverage."
Foltz made his comments to FTP about a proposed TV deal just a week after LIV Golf chief operating officer Atul Khosla discussed the new tour's ongoing talks with TV networks.
Khosla described LIV Golf's desire to secure a long-term deal with a TV network, instead of one that only lasts six months or a year. The breakaway tour is still shown for free on their website and YouTube.
"On the US front, we are back and forth with a few different networks at this point in time," said Khosla at the end of October.
Uihlein now joins forces with the hottest LIV Golf team around, while Gooch is heading over to Niblicks GC, captained by two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.
"That's interesting. I'm kinda on the outside looking in to all of this. I talk to a lot of players obviously and you hear a lot of rumblings.
"You take part in a lot of conversations, and it literally is one big family out there. It's 48 players, it's not 144 players each week. You know every single player.
"The team structure is not something I am fully up to speed on but there are 12 teams and there is ownership in those teams.
"The captain of almost all of the teams has an ownership, equity stake, and the rest of the players, starting next year, the money that the team earns isn't one quarter share per player. The money goes to the team to run the team, to divvy up with the team on a contractual basis.
"So I believe with no confirmation that the two moves that we have recently seen (Gooch and Uihlein), and many of the moves we will see in the future, and I think there will be more to come before we start our next event, I think they have to do with who is getting what from what captain, what percentage here and there, and also to try and play for friends and be a tighter knit group.
"Peter Uihlein had a hell of a year. Better year than Talor Gooch. Is Talor Gooch a worse player than Peter Uihlein? Hell no, they're both incredible world class players. It was an interesting move to me, but it's not the last one. It's absolutely not the last."
Foltz then gave credit to Pat Perez, who remains on Johnson's 4 Aces GC for 2023 with Patrick Reed.
Perez was ridiculed by plenty of golf fans during the course of the inaugural LIV Golf season for effectively having an easy ride on the 4 Aces.
But Foltz considers otherwise, especially when push came to shove in the LIV Golf season finale in Miami where Perez contributed significantly as the 4 Aces landed a narrow one-shot victory and $16 million first prize.
"Perez gets such a bad rap but he was there every single day when the 4 Aces needed him.
"Whenever somebody else was having a bad day, even though it's a shotgun start, it seemed like he managed to get things done. He certainly got it done, he was the MVP of the final day on Sunday in Miami. The way he played and the putts he made, he is strokes-gained per F-bomb.
"He's also the one guy on LIV that I consider a true friend, and have for many, many years."
Foltz also spoke about how the team aspect has grown on him during his time as a LIV Golf commentator.
He also thinks there will be plenty of "animosity" among teams as a result of the current trading going on in the off-season.
"The team aspect, I didn't get it, I didn't understand it. But the more I was out there, the more I immersed myself in it, which is obviously part of my job, the more it starts to sell itself because the players are so involved.
"What is going to happen, and is already starting to happen in negotiations, is that it's going to create a little bit of animosity. It's going to leave some hard feelings. You wanted me to leave and go play for them and so on and so forth, therein lies a bit of the Nascar and F1 vibe in terms of the team vs team aspect for the fans. It's natural human nature that is going to happen.
"Next year is going to get a whole lot more juicy from that point."
Foltz then gave his view on the heavy speculation that LIV Golf teams will soon be sponsored by brands, something he believes will happen in time.
"First of all, when you first saw the 12 team names, did you not think 'Really?! Is this the best we could do?!'"
"I thought they were the corniest things ever, but low and behold there was so much research that went into those names. The colours, the logos, not to mention a hell a lot of research into trademarks and social media people with certain handles.
"I've never said the word 'Ironhead' in my life or 'Hy Flyer', are you kidding?!
"I understand two of the team names are changing. Bubba Watson will not tell us what he is changing his team (Niblicks) to, but he is changing his team name.
"From my understanding, yes, we could have a Team X, Y, Z in the future. There are a lot of conversations happening, and it has to be something that makes financial sense to everybody. I think we will see some of that next year, but by 2024, we will have 12 wholly owned teams that are vying for LIV Golf.
"You're going to have a lot of players on the outside looking in who will want to be a part of it at that point. I know a lot of people don't want to hear that, but that is the evolution of where this is headed whether they like it or not. It's kinda cool to have an inside seat to watch it."
Before jumping off the podcast, Foltz was asked what he thought about LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman's request for seven players from the PGA Tour in 2023.
The latest rumours doing the rounds on social media are that the likes of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are on the cusp of joining LIV Golf.
But that was news to Foltz.
"Seven players, that's surprising? I look forward to that news breaking. I haven't heard those rumours yet. I did hear most of the rumours leading up to this. The only one that surprised me was Charles Howell, but he is an asset to LIV Golf and anywhere as he is just a quality human being.
"I don't know. It's going to be interesting. I look forward to the dust settling, and everyone getting along."
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