LIV Golf’s gambit to rewrite global sports, with Scott O’Neil
Key Takeaways
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LIV revenue grew eighty-five percent this year
“This year, we're on track, knock on wood. Revenue up 85%, Expenses up 3%. Listen, it's early. It's a five year old company. NFL is probably 90 years old. MLB, a 100 and some odd years old. NBA, 85 years old. Five years old.”
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Team captains hold equity stakes as business partners
“The captains like the Bryson DeChambeau, the Phil Mickelson's, the Bubba Watsons, the John Rahms, the Cam Smith's, got names you may know are the captains of those teams with the stars. And they are our business partners. They have equity in those teams. We're actually going to market. Right? We had so much inbound interest. We're actually selling a couple stakes in a couple teams this year.”
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Thirty percent of LIV fans are new to golf
“Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Guacconina, they're my partners, my business partners. Like, 30% of our fans have never been to a golf event before. This year, we're on track, knock on wood. Revenue up 85%, Expenses up 3%.”
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Global markets represent an underleveraged opportunity for golf
“All the best golf for since Tiger Woods has been played in The US. 46 of the best top 47 events in the world historically have been played in The US, and then there's the the open championship in The UK. Whole rest of the world out there. And so I wanna take the best players in the world to the world and grow the game.”
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Sports serve as a universal language for unity
“And to see Jack Hughes, who we drafted five years earlier, the devil score the winning goal in overtime, and see a country come together at a time when the world needs a little bit of love. And what a wonderful time. I was in Australia. We've had a record breaking crowd, a 115,000 people. It's arguably our most successful event. You know, the country effectively shuts down, and we celebrate golf there.”
Episode Description
Scott O'Neil has run NBA and NHL franchises. Now he's betting on a golf revolution. The LIV Golf CEO joins Rapid Response to reveal what it really takes to disrupt a legacy sport, the unique pressures of answering to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and why golf may be the most underleveraged business in all of sports. Plus, inside the startup mindset Scott’s instilling his team, and what every leader can steal from the way LIV is chasing opportunity. Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.