Brandel Chamblee ridicules LIV Golf for ‘$10B’ investment while weighing viewership numbers

LIV Golf’s success has not wooed Brandel Chamblee. The star analyst, a staunch opposer of the Saudi-backed series, has yet again mocked it over low viewership numbers. The 62-year-old was replying to a user’s comment on the circuit when he accused it of spending “$10 billion” and failing to draw an ‘audience larger than a local college football game.’

Chamblee on Tuesday slammed Bryson DeChambeau for his comments on the bunkers at LIV Golf Mexico last week. The analyst dubbed the LIV star a “puppet for a murderous dictator” and went on to slam the latter’s behavior. Following this, a fan came out in the reigning U.S. Open champion’s defense and asked Chamblee to ‘quit complaining about LIV.’ The X user said the league was “here to stay.”

Replying to the comment, the TV analyst pulled up a tweet citing the average viewership numbers each round of LIV Golf Mexico City garnered. According to a post by journalist Josh Carpenter, channel Fox Sports 1 had 110,000 viewers tune in to watch Joaquin Niemann’s win on Sunday.

Sharing the tweet in response to the fan’s query, Brandel Chamblee wrote on X:

“You sure about that? 10 billion dollars in and they can’t draw an audience larger than a local college football game.”

According to the original post, LIV Mexico had 84,000 viewers tune in for its Saturday coverage and 30,000 on Friday. For the unversed, Justin Thomas’ RBC Heritage win earlier this month was seen live by a whopping 4.36 million people, as per CBS Sports. This was marked the largest for an RBC final round since 2002, a 26 per cent rise from last year.

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Brandel Chamblee mocks LIV Golf ratings after The Players Championship

It is pertinent to note this isn’t the first time Brandel Chamblee has mocked LIV Golf for its ratings. Earlier in March, the former pro golfer turned commentator compared The Players Championship’s viewership numbers to the Saudi series.

The Players Championship’s Monday playoff between Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun was viewed by 1.5 million across TV and other digital platforms. Chamblee quickly re-shared the unofficial ‘fifth major’ of golf’s preliminary TV ratings and taunted the breakaway tour's 2024’s season finale numbers.

Brandel Chamblee wrote on X:

“Compare this to LIV’s finale last year that concluded in prime time on the east coast with Rahm winning… which drew 55,000 viewers. People tune in to sports that matter.”

It is pertinent to note that Chamblee’s number of ‘55,000 viewers’ was way off the real count. According to Golfweek, Rahm 2024 LIV Individual title win at LIV Golf Chicago last September drew 134,000 viewers. It is also noteworthy that the event was shown on the CW cable network and the series’ own stream.

LIV signed a broadcasting deal with Fox Sports earlier this year. Season-opening LIV Golf Riyadh’s final round garnered 54,000 average viewers on FS1. While Chamblee’s 55k number for last season’s finale was wrong, the PIF-backed circuit’s original average numbers are not so different.