Norman says new bid for world golf tour has ‘more legs’ than his plan
● Australian reckons Premier League proposal has ‘chance to get off ground’
Greg Norman, who failed with his bold bid to create a breakaway world tour 25 years ago, believes a fresh attempt to shake up golf has a “little more legs”.
Norman was speaking as he attended the final day of the Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers ahead of being one of the keynote speakers at the Golf Saudi Summit in King Abdullah Economic City.
“It’s just a matter of getting all the right components together, whether players stay together,” said the 64-year-old as he reflected on his own bid, which he tried to push through at a time when he was the world No 1. “With my original concept, some players loved it and others didn’t like it. I had corporate, I had television, but you need 100 per cent of the pie to be together before we can bake it. From what I’m seeing here, this one has every chance of getting off the ground.”
Under the proposals by British-based World Golf Group, 48 players would compete in 18 tournaments, each over 54 holes, in an eight-month season from January to September for a total prize fund of $240 million (£183m) with no cut and an individual and team league format.
The weekly individual winner would claim $2m (£1.5m) of the $10m (£7.5m) purse, the overall individual champion will receive a $10m (£7.5m) bonus and there will be a $40m (£30m) team prize fund, with $14m (£10.7m) split between the winning four-man team.
It is being claimed that financing would come from various places, including Tokyo-based Softbank and Middle East investors.
“The PGA did it, Formula 1 did it, tennis has done it, soccer has done it and so has cricket. I saw it 25 years ago but maybe the time is right now,” added Norman.
“It was pretty much the PGA Tour that stopped it. You’ve got to remember back in my day the players were looked on a little bit different. Seve [Ballesteros], Jose [Maria Olazabal] and I were trying to tell everybody we were independent contractors who could go and play anywhere in the world we want. Today is that way for sure now. Restraint of trade is not as prevalent – you can’t do it basically in this day and age – so that’s why this one probably has a little more legs.
“Managementralliedagainst me a little bit because they owned a piece of the golf tournaments at the time. So the confluence of everything has to come together to make sure it works.”
Organisers of the Premier Golf League have still to show their hand in terms of TV coverage, with the European Tour’s broadcast partner being Sky Sports while the PGA Tour has deals with NBC CBS and Golf Channel.
Asked about that, Norman, one of the most successful businessmen in the game, said: “Who is one of the biggest companies in the world right now with a trillion dollarbusiness?apple.andamazon. Streaming is the future.
“I was just live streaming the Australian Open tennis before I came to speak to you. Everybody is out for this real time, 5G, 6G, instantaneous coverage. Boom here it is, no matter where we are in the world.
“Why not stream golf on Apple, why not on Amazon? Get out of the box. There are opportunities out there that are far greater than even I could have contemplated back in my day.”
European Tour and PGA Tour chiefs have warned their members about breaking away, but Norman said: “I’ve always thought there was room to have the best players travel the world in a true World Tour. You’ve got to look forward to where we are headed and take the important next step.”