SPORTS EXECS ARE BULLISH ON LIV GOLF’S DISRUPTOR ROLE
As one of the investors on ABC’s popular show “Shark Tank,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gets the opportunity to evaluate a wide range of businesses. And with an estimated net worth of $5 billion, he certainly knows a thing or two about successful corporations.
When it comes to LIV Golf, Cuban is all in. He thinks professional golf is in need of a serious shakeup.
“It’s an industry that’s done it the same way forever. It’s opaque, right? It’s very bureaucratic,” Cuban said during a recent appearance at Sports Business Journal’s Dealmakers Conference. “It’s ripe for disruption.”
Another conference guest, Teamworks Founder and CEO Zach Maurides, compared LIV Golf’s disruptive approach to that of Overtime, a company whose intent is to “build disruptive new sports leagues aimed globally at the next generation of sports fans and athletes.” Overtime’s investors include more than 40 NBA and NFL stars.
“I’m a believer in the weight of deep pockets. And I’m a believer in disruption. It’s forces of nature,” Maurides said. “… Push the sport. Make it better.”
Competition is the best thing for everything in life and in business and in sport
- GREG NORMAN
LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman has embraced that disruptor’s role. During the announcement of LIV Golf Adelaide in Australia, Norman said his league’s arrival is “what golf has really needed for the last 45 years. To come in and disrupt an industry that’s been controlled by one institution … Competition is the best thing for everything in life and in business and in sport.”
The majority of the panelists at the SBJ event, held Nov. 9-10 in Washington, D.C., supported LIV Golf’s disruptor’s approach. Asked to buy, sell or hold LIV Golf, most senior executives eagerly gave the green light. (Watch video)
“You’ve got to go buy because it’s global and it’s competitive and that’s what we need,” said Ted Leonsis, founder, chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports, which owns several sports entities, including the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals. “We need more leagues. We need more deals.
“The pixels that are being thrown around, I totally get. But I think it’s going to be good for golf. It’s going to be good for the sport and I think that the money available from funds to get into sports is a positive thing, not a negative thing.”
Added Monumental Sports CFO Peter Biché: “I still think the dynamics make a lot of sense in terms of competition for the existing product.”
Brent Lawrence, the CEO and founder of Accelerate Sports, is another who’s bullish on competition to improve a product.
“The NBA got better when the ABA was around,” Lawrence said. “It forced them to sharpen their pencils and figure out a better business plan. I think the PGA Tour and LIV can both exist. I think it’s healthy for the PGA Tour to have some competition. I think LIV is well-financed and has generated a lot of interest. I would definitely buy LIV Golf.”
Alex Michael, the co-head of LionTree Growth, also cited competition as a positive development for the golf world. In addition, he likes LIV Golf’s desire to embrace a younger demographic.
“All these sports need to get younger,” Michael said. “Let’s face it – there is a real issue with the age of some of these sports. And so if they are willing to grab people who may never enter this and spice it up, frankly, that’s great.”