The LIV Golf debate is addictive – in a watching-a-train-wreck kind of way. It’s hard to ignore when things are moving so fast. The golf landscape is changing in front of our eyes as players defect to LIV Golf. Professionals are jumping ship as fast as golf’s establishment is denouncing the rebel tour.

The LIV Golf chaos is unsettling for everyone used to the game’s status quo – players, tours, the media, and fans. It is also unsettling for brands caught in the crosshairs between professional golf and public opinion.

Before the traditional professional golf 2022 season kicked off, players signed sponsorship deals with an array of brands.

Then along came LIV Golf.

If a brand’s sponsored player defects to LIV Golf, should the brand continue with, or cancel a player’s sponsorship contract?

We wanted data, not opinion to answer this question. So, Gather surveyed golf fans – the audience targeted by sponsors – to offer some insight into the dilemma faced by brands that sponsor LIV Golf players.  

OUR SAMPLE

Gather surveyed four hundred and nineteen golf fans across the USA and UK. Sixty-six percent of the sample were men, and thirty-four percent were women.

All golf fans in the sample were familiar with LIV Golf.

OUR QUESTION

Golf fans were asked to indicate their level of agreement with this statement on a multi-point scale:

“Sponsors should cancel contracts with professional golfers who play the LIV Golf Series.”

THIS IS WHAT WE FOUND…

40% Agree

17% Neither agree
nor disagree

43% Disagree

It’s almost a dead heat. Nearly half the sample think sponsors should cancel contracts of LIV Golf players. And almost half don’t. Then, of course, there’s the golf fans who sit on the fence. But this breakdown doesn’t tell the whole story. Fans’ responses did not differ based on geographic location or gender.

There was one variable, however, that did make a statistical difference – golf fans’ age.

As golf fans’ age increases, they are less likely to agree that sponsors should cancel contracts with LIV Golf players. Younger golf fans, on the other hand, are more likely to think sponsors should cancel contracts of LIV Golf players.

WE CAN BREAK
THE DATA
DOWN
BY GENERATIONS…

GenX and Baby Boomers
(born between 1955 and 1980)

31% Agree

16% Neither agree
nor disagree

53% Disagree

“Sponsors should cancel contracts with professional golfers who play the LIV Golf Series.”

Millennials and GenZ
(born between 1981 and 2012)

43% Agree

13% Neither agree
nor disagree

38% Disagree

These findings suggest a generational difference when it comes to golf fans and their support of brands that sponsor LIV Golf players.

BASED ON THESE INSIGHTS, WHAT SPONSORSHIP DECISIONS SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM BRANDS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSHAIRS BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL GOLF AND PUBLIC OPINION?

• Leaders of companies that sponsor professional golfers are most likely to be GenX and Baby Boomers. A 2017 KPMG study found that the average age of all S&P 500 company boards was 62.4 years old (Baby-Boomer generation).  If company boards make sponsorship decisions, there is a strong chance that sponsorship of LIV Golf players stay in place.

• Brand decisions about the sponsorship of LIV Golf players may be market driven. GenX and Baby Boomers play more golf on traditional courses than their younger cohorts. If traditional golfers are the brand’s target market, sponsorships may stay intact. But if brands are targeting Millennial and GenZ – those who play non-traditional forms of golf – the brand may decide to drop players who move to LIV Golf.

• Brands may look to reposition themselves with the next generation of core golfers in mind. These brands may drop players who defect to LIV Golf and invest in ambassadors more aligned with values of GenZ and Millennial golf fans instead.

Brands that now find themselves as sponsors of LIV Golf players have difficult decisions ahead. Insights can inform these decisions and align them with future brand strategy.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS OUR FULL REPORT ON GOLF FANS AND THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARDS LIV GOLF, CLICK HERE.