Greg Norman says LIV Golf’s franchise concept was one of the driving factors in garnering the interest of Open Championship winner Cameron Smith.
World No.3 Smith told Australian Golf Digest after leaving the PGA Tour in August, a month after winning the 150th Open at St Andrews, that his reasons for joining the rival circuit were the opportunity to spend up to three months a year in Australia during LIV’s long offseason from November to February, as well as a guaranteed money contract and the potential to bring LIV tournaments to Australia.
But former world No.1 Norman, the chief executive of LIV, said the idea of Smith owning his own franchise became a key factor in landing the 29-year-old’s signature. “From Cam’s position, I spoke to him before he decided to come on board,” Norman told a handful of reporters Wednesday in the US. “He understood exactly what the circumstances were for him and he understood opportunities to be able to spend more time at home.
“But also, he really grasped hold of the opportunity of building a franchise in Australia. This excited him probably more than anything else, to be honest with you. An ownership of a franchise; he got really enamoured with that idea. He’s embraced it; like how [captains] will structure their franchise from brand colours to the way the brand looks or regions [they’ll represent].”
Last week, during the teams championship finale to LIV’s inaugural season, its president Atul Khosla revealed more details of what the franchise concept will look like in 2023 and beyond. There’ll be a 25 per cent equity stake in the franchise for captains, while LIV will keep 75 per cent, as well as a transfer market for players and teams paying for all their operating costs. While LIV has no immediate plans to sell off the franchises next year, teams will aim to use sponsorships, team prize money and merchandise as their main revenue streams.
The league will also grow from 48 to 60 players as each of the 12 teams will add one injury substitute who travels with the team.
Smith is the captain of the all-Australian Punch GC, which includes Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby. Smith will have a major say on the way the team travels, any potential new team members, as well as the way they practice and train. He would be the face of the Australian franchise.
The overall franchise model, LIV hopes, will aid the eventual selling of franchises that will aim to recoup the almost $2 billion investment LIV Golf has made into its disruptor league. LIV is financed by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
“I think there’ll be a budget to work within, but basically [a captain] will be in charge of what the team is going to wear and having certain sponsors,” Smith said last week. “It would really be cool to bring that [franchise] element to golf like Formula 1 has.”
Norman and Khosla both said LIV was willing to be patient as it attempts to monetise the 12-team model that would ultimately see franchises bought by ownership groups or individuals—thus providing an income source for LIV Golf.
“I’ve already been approached by individuals who have expressed an interest in wanting to be involved in either owning a percentage or acquiring a team,’’ Norman said. “Those discussions are there already. We’ve not there as a league yet to entertain that. The value of the league and each team will go up as the success gets seen on a global basis. There will be a heck of a lot more value as you come out of 2023. A lot of these teams are not built up yet.’’
As reported by Australian Golf Digest earlier this year, Smith and Leishman’s signatures are set to bring a LIV event to Australia in April. The circuit’s 60 players will travel to Australia to contest the Australian leg of its 14-event second season, including Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
