After an agonisingly long wait for 2024 tournament dates to be locked in, LIV Golf Adelaide officials are now bracing for a complete sell-out after an early rush for tickets has all but exhausted their hospitality allocation.
Despite organisers increasing capacity across the course for next year’s event to again be held at Adelaide’s Grange Golf Club from April 26-28, more than 80 percent of hospitality passes have been snapped up, forcing officials to look at ways to increase crowd capacity for a second time.
At the time of writing, all hospitality for the tournament’s boisterous Watering Hole had been exhausted on LIV Golf’s ticketing website. It was music to the ears of LIV Golf chief executive officer and commissioner Greg Norman, who praised Adelaide for its patience and unrivalled passion for live golf.
“I’ve been following the numbers by the hour and it’s unprecedented,” Norman told Australian Golf Digest. “In the first 24 hours of hospitality going on-sale, we had sold two-and-half-times more tickets than last year in that same time period. In total, 80 percent of our hospitality allocation has already sold out.
“Not surprisingly, Adelaide is again leading the world on showing the real value of LIV Golf and the impact it delivers. Golf is a force for good!”
Nick Haslam, executive tournament director for LIV Golf Adelaide, added: “We have been thrilled with the result, but also not surprised given the success of the tournament this year.
“LIV Golf has brought the best golfers in the world to Australia, something we haven’t been able to do on a consistent basis, whilst the atmosphere, noise and colour of LIV Golf has made this such an incredible event.
“Over the past few months, we have heard from so many people their desire to come back in 2024, and whilst we welcome hospitality purchasers, we are also excited to see the public response when grounds tickets go on-sale.”
Those ground tickets will go on-sale December 5 to ‘LIV Golf X’ members, while December 6 will see the release of all general admission ground passes to the public.
Haslam said national interest for LIV Golf Adelaide was again strong, while there had been a noticeable spike from across the Tasman in New Zealand.
The early demand may force Norman and tournament officials to follow-through on his lofty ambitions to increase crowd capacity on the tournament’s party hole. In an exclusive interview with Australian Golf Digest, Norman was bullish about the par 3’s potential.
“I think the success of the watering hole could be expanded because of the popularity of it. I think you can get more spectators around there,” he said.
And it’s not just Norman who wants a more lively experience for LIV Golf Adelaide.
“I work very closely with the SATC, the South Australian Tourism Commission. They have got the bit between the teeth and are wanting to improve it for next year. We’re under contract with them for multiple years. We want to make what we did last year as the minimum benchmark with what we can do going forward.
“We used LIV Adelaide as the benchmark for all our other 13 events around the world. Because it created the true culture of what LIV is all about: the energy, the lifestyle, the integration of entertainment fandom. All that stuff was there and Adelaide was the one that stepped up to it.
“That type of thought process and working in collaboration with the premier’s office and his people, I think that could be very achievable.”
New data revealed the inaugural event contributed $65 million to South Australia’s economy. The analysis also confirmed that of the 77,076 attendees across the three-day event, more than 40 per cent were from out-of-state.
The merchandise tent sold $2.5 million of team gear. And in 22 tournaments with LIV Golf, 60 percent of viewers are aged 43 or younger compared to 67.5 for traditional golf broadcasts.
LIV Golf Adelaide was named World’s Best Golf Event of the Year 2023 at the World Golf Awards last month.
For ticketing information on LIV Golf Adelaide, click HERE.
