LIV Golf will feature 'Any Shot, Any Time' broadcast feature, putting users in control of broadcasts
LIV Golf's new broadcast feature will offer fans a much wider range of coverage and information.
If there's anything that golf fans enjoy more than watching their favorite players, it's complaining about the broadcast not showing those favorite players. LIV Golf's latest broadcast offering, created in connection with Google and PMY Group, is intended to offer the widest possible range of viewing options. Called "Any Shot, Any Time," the feature will roll out later this summer on the tour's LIV Golf Plus app.
Complaints about standard golf broadcasts tend to run along a common theme: Too much ancillary material — commercials, shots of announcers, interviews with sponsoring CEOs — and not enough actual golf shots.
LIV announced the feature on Thursday morning, prior to the tour's season-opening event at Mayakoba in Mexico. According to LIV, "fans will be able to select exactly which golfers, teams, or groups they want to watch at any given time, as well as searchable and customizable on-demand highlight reels from any round of any LIV tournament."
LIV Golf Plus will also, according to a LIV release, offer "3D aerial overviews of each venue, advanced real-time statistics, virtual caddy views, and customized competition recaps." It's a significant upgrade to most current broadcast operations, and if "Any Shot, Any Time" delivers as LIV promises, it will continue to transform golf broadcasts from a one-way delivery to a user-driven effort.
The Masters has won rave reviews for its similar technology, offering users of its app and website the chance to see every shot by every player all over the course. The PGA Tour and Amazon Web Services have offered "Every Shot Live" at The Players Championship since 2020.
LIV Golf has its detractors, and they are both numerous and loud. But as LIV continues to roll out changes that push the envelope of golf's status quo — from purses to atmosphere to format — the breakaway tour becomes harder to write off. Even considering the controversy of LIV's financial backing from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the PGA Tour has taken notice of LIV's efforts on several fronts, attempting to emulate, keep pace with, or outright copy LIV's offerings.
The PGA Tour on Wednesday announced an investment of $1.5 billion, with the possibility of up to $3 billion in total investment, from the Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of professional sports franchise owners. The investment will provide players with equity in a new Tour-backed venture and help the Tour keep pace with LIV's ever-escalating purses and signing bonuses.
Still uncertain: the status of a proposed agreement between the PGA Tour and the PIF. The two sides had agreed to cease legal hostilities last June, but a Dec. 31 deadline came and went without an agreement. Given the likely regulatory scrutiny of such an agreement, it's possible that any unification of the two tours will not occur before the 2026 season, at the earliest.
