LIV Golf’s gambit to rewrite global sports, with Scott O’Neil

Transcript from https://podmenti.com/t/e666f8ce4d20f199

The very best founders I know are brilliant at building systems.
They connect teams, they remove bottlenecks, and they eliminate single points of failure. And yet
When it comes to their own wealth.
Most are running a disconnected stack.
A tax accountant here and a state attorney there, a wealth manager who doesn't talk to either one of them.
Creative planning was built to fix exactly that.
One integrated team of tax professionals, state planners, investment specialists, all coordinated by a dedicated wealth manager who sees your full financial picture and keeps every piece working together.
Proactive tax efficiency, state strategy, investments all under one roof.
Creative planning where wealth works together.
Learn more at creative planning dot com slash masters of scale.
Hey folks, Jeff Berman here. I am thrilled to share some of the new names who will be joining us at this year's Masters of Scale summit.
This may be our biggest stage yet.
Reed Hastings, Meredith Whitaker, Van Jones, Amjad Masad, and more.
Will be there with us October 20th through 22nd in San Francisco. If you're building something great, or you want to build something great,
We want you there with us too.
Join us at masters of scale dot com slash apply twenty six.
That's mastersofscom slash apply.
Twenty six.
Bryson Deschambeau, John Rom.
Waco Neeman, my partners, my business partners.
Like thirty percent of our fans have never been to a Golfabet before.
This year we're on track, knock on wood.
Revenue up 85%.
Spencer's up three percent.
Listen, it's early, it's a five year old company.
NFL's probably 90 years old. MLB, 100 and some odd years old. NBA, 85 years old, five years old.
Okay.

That's Scott O'Neill, CEO of Live Golf, the upstart league that's enticed top players away from the PGA tour.
in a quest to change the game. Scott and I first met when he was CEO of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils. He's a disruptor at heart and since over to live a year ago, he's brought that spirit to the fore.
With a new live season underway, including a big tournament this month in Mexico City, I wanted to ask Scott about what makes Live different, why he stepped back into the fishbowl of the sports business, and golf to lure the top leaders from the C suite to the White House. Scott, share stories.
both from the course and in the VIP area, with insights about untapped opportunities, multi-generational engagement, and the special role that sports plays in culture. So let's get to it.
I'm Bob Saphian and this
is rapid response.
I'm Bob Safe and I'm here with Scott O'Neill, CEO of Live Golf. Scott, great to see you. Bob, great to see you. It's great together. Yeah. So you and I first met. You were CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, the uh New Jersey Devil's the NHL.
It uh a post with a lot of eyes on it.
But
also a business that was kind of grounded in local community. Yeah.
Then you went to
Merlin.
Merlin Entertainment. Yeah. Um
Attractions, amusement parks, Legoland.
Amount of two so twenty three countries.
Thirty thousand employees, good brands, family entertainment. Global portfolio.
But
Less media attention. Yes. Much less. All right. So now the past year at Live Golf, you're back in the spotlight. Global scale, as CEO of arguably one of the most intriguing, sometimes controversial, certainly talked about sports businesses around.
Are are you are you having fun? I mean you and I talked about how sort of sports is like
business is like a fishbowl and the eyes are on you. Are you are you happy to be back in the fishbowl?
Well, I've never had this much fun in my life.
Okay, I
I'm happy. I I work with
Incredible people. I get to travel the world.
The success trajectory momentum is
Mm.
almost incalculable what we've done in the last fourteen months.
And and it's a huge mountain to climb.
And I I like a challenge. And this is certainly the biggest challenge I've ever had. And and I'm by the way, and and I'm working for a wonderful chairman.
His name is Yasser Al Rmayan.
Uh he's also the chairman of PIF, the public investment fund, the sovereign month fund of of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
And that's why I took the job.
'cause I was gonna ask you that,'cause like when when Live Golf
launched.
Yeah.
It was like a grenade. I mean it came out disruptive challenger to the PGA tour, throwing money around to lure players money from from Saudi Arabia, which
spark these claims about like sports washing and you know a country that was trying to buy respectability. Like and this this didn't dissuade you though. This would there were things about this were appealing. I've I've learned
You know, I spent thirty years in this business.
And
The one thing I learned is just
the power and influence of what we do and why we do it. You know, I was just in Milan with my wife and
Um, watching the gold metal hockey game, by the way, next to Mike Ruzioni, if you follow hockey, okay, the captain of the eighty championship team.
And Mark Messie, yeah, who was a former New York Ranger Captain with the greatest you got there. And my wife. Okay, that was our that was our crew.
And and to see Jack Hughes, who we drafted five years earlier, the devil score the winning goal in overtime.
And see a country come together. At a time when the world needs a little bit of love.
What a wonderful time. I was in Australia. We've had a record breaking crowd, 115,000 people. It's arguably our most successful event. You know, the country effectively shuts down and we celebrate golf there.
And Anthony Kim, I don't know if you know the story of Anthony Kim, but but pretty remarkable, he was heralded as the n next Tiger Woods.
Purchase Achilles.
It's a drug problem.
And he's down for twelve years. He had a cardiac arrest or two. It's scared him and then he had a daughter
And he said, I've got to get it back together, pulls his life back to Hadn picked up a club in twelve years, comes on to live two years ago. And in Adelaide, he wins. And and I will tell you
It was as close to Rocky Balboa as you'll ever see in your life, but people were crying, including me. I grabbed my sunglasses really quickly on eighteen. His daughter runs, jumps into his arms, and it's like it was one of those beautiful moments where you could actually feel the energy.
But but that moment when he talks about getting one percent better every day.
And how he understands what addicts are going through and how important resilience is. And I hope to be an example because I know I'm here for a bigger purpose. That is sports.
And so sign me up for that all over the world. Anybody willing to invest in that, in this moment and opportunity in a world that's filled with
divisiveness in a world of chaos. Well it's one of the things that pulls us together at a time where we're it's the one common language we can understand. And what about golf? I would I would argue
You know I don't come from a world of golf. I don't come from a family of golfers and yet golf's a
World's most important sport.
Ninety percent of Fortune five hundred CEOs play golf.
World leaders play golf. I was in uh South Africa recently, a couple weeks ago, with our event there. 100,000 fans, biggest event in the history of the country for golf.
And who's with me on Sunday? The president of the country, who's an avid golfer.
We're in Korea, we've got sixty chairmen of companies in a in a in a VIP room. Where what other
environment are you pulling those people together?
When you have them together, like is there a message that you're trying to deliver to them? My message is I need your help.
All the best golf for the since Tiger Woods has been played in the US.
Forty six of the best top forty seven events in the world historically have been played in the US, and then there's the the open championship in the UK.
whole rest of the world out there. And so I wanna take the best players in the world to the world and grow the game. So it's it's a man, I I will say like never been challenged more
Never worked harder.
Never travel more and never had more fun. So for for folks who who aren't golf fans and aren't familiar. So what what makes live different? Yeah. You know, um, I mean
There there does seem to be an emphasis I've seen recently on teams versus individual players. But for folks who who may be familiar with PGA golf, like what what's different?
Well, there there are several things that are that are different. We have teams, so you're assigned to a team.
Most of the teams are regionally based. Like we have Southern Guards are a South African team. Ripper G C is an Australian team. Majestics are a UK team. Korean golf clubs like a rider cup sort of feel to it. Yes, it is. And so we go to these countries.
There's a lot of nationalism. And in South Africa, I I'll tell you, like on the first T, our players were were crying. They're singing the national anthem. People are like screaming their names and they were like so overcome. Aussie team when they go to Australia, they're they're like
It's like you two walking down the street. I mean, it is unbelievable, like the love and passion. So teams are definitely a unique aspect. Now, there's a different competition model to that too, right? There sure is because we there are the captains like the Bryson D Chambeaux, the Phil Mickelsons, the Bubba Watsons, the John Roms, the Cam Smith.
Um got names you may know.
are the captains of those teams of the stars, and they're our business partners. So they have equity in those teams. And we're actually going to market, right? We had so much inbound interest. We're actually selling a couple stakes and a couple of teams this year. I was with the New Jersey Nets as a marketing assistant in nineteen ninety two, and I remember the Utah Jazz sold for thirteen million dollars.
I went to work for Jeff Laurie in um in Philadelphia just after he bought the team for$188 million. And people thought he had lost his mind. I think he just raised at at over six billion. And I think the Jazz just sold for just about two billion. And so you start to think about okay.
Well, franchise values have worth, right? There's a scarcity value. And so we believe of our thirteen teams, I think we'll end up eventually go to fifteen teams.
There'll be a a a really strong asset value there. So so they're so there are the events that are part of the tour and then they're the teams. That's right. And
The league I I don't even know whether you call it a league. It's a league. It's a league. The the league owns both.
And you might sell pieces of the
Teams eventually teams will be on just like the NBA. But the league will also stay separate.
As it's absolutely. Yes, absolutely. So it's Did you know that when you came in? Like that's that's where we're gonna go. Yes, absolutely. I mean the value of teams is indisputable in sports. And most of our teams are are profitable, which which helps the investment thesis. But but they're profitable small businesses.
the question is do you want to create a big business? Well, if you're Australian
And you buy our Aussie team.
What could you do? Could you create a media company around them? Could you create a clothing brand around? Could you buy a golf course? Could you create an academy? Of course, of course, of course, of course, of course. And so I think there's a real
uh interest and understanding a and how to drive some value there. But but that the teams is different. Our format, we have a what they call a shotgun start. I know you're not much of a golfer yet. Everybody starts at the same time. Right. You're not waiting. No the the reason that's an advantage for those of us who've been to go gone to golf events for quite so many years is you're not sure when your guys are playing.
And it lasts a good like ten hours. We've got a smaller field, fifty seven players.
And they all go off at the same time. And in four hours and thirty five minutes, you're done. So our hospitality is akin to Formula One. We we consider ourselves the Formula One of Gol. Elite hospitality. So now when I'm entertaining you, I'm not inviting you from
Seven A.
Seven PM I'm saying, okay.
From twelve to four thirty, I'd love to have you come.
And so it's a little more fixed, a little more regular. Also good shorter TV windows. Yeah, I mean, it's still a long TV window compared to.
Basketball hockey, I mean but a quite quite different from the open ended ones, where spinning off to other networks just to try to get the coverage. Right. Those are like the primary differences. And I guess the teams mean that you could be interested in players who are not
winning the tournament because they're contributing to their team. Absolutely. You you and and
This team concept, people like, it's crazy. I'm like
Is it crazy at the Ryder Cup?
Is it Crazy The Olympics?
Is it crazy in college? Like it's not
It's we are not like
splitting atoms here. Okay. I mean I was I was curious because I'cause I I had read that you talked about the relationship between Live and the PGA tour as being like competes, not compete. Complete.
Not compete. Complete They've got the US on lockdown and they do a wonderful job.
For us?
I'll take the seven point two billion people. I'm gonna take that bet.
Mm-hmm. I'm gonna take the one hundred and ninety nine countries that we broadcast in outside the US. I'll take that bet.
Over time.
I like the growth a lot. I like where the sponsorship market's going. I like where the broadcast being. I mean, I was thinking like is it like Apple and Samsung or you know
Open AI and anthropic. How do you think about it?
In my most cynical view, I'd I'd I'd say it was like
You know, the iPhone with the iPhone.
Coming in.
We're different, for sure, but the same.
Stop.
Talk on it.
Take photos, take video.
You know, maybe access the world wide web.
Although you're more Samsung'cause you're you're pushing global first, right? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. No, the the global piece is you know, Tom McKibben is a one of the best
Players command Northern Ireland.
Um ever. I said, Hey Tom, why us?
I said, Well, the music I thought was really cool. I went to your event in the UK, I absolutely fell in love with it. He goes, and my parents love
Think about this.
at the time, twenty two years old. My parents love the notion of me
learning from John Romm, one of the greatest players on the planet.
I learn how to dress, I learn how to eat, I learn how to work out, I learn how to handle myself on the range, I learn how to handle myself in the media. I get to play with him.
How about that for an education?
One of the loneliest sports in the world. Now you have mentorship. Now you have a role model. So you said 57 players. So it's it's it's a finite.
Group. Small field, yeah.
You've had some players leave.
You know, you've had you have other players who've renewed
I like how much do you personally get involved in in that in that talent part of it? And I mean and the contracts can be.
hundreds of millions of dollars. I mean it's it's it's a well it costs. Yeah. I mean the contracts are a little bit misunderstood for whatever it's worth. It's like we're acquiring your rights, you know?
Yeah, so if you
If you're John Romm and you're
You're sponsored by Callaway, or you're sponsored by
Um
Mercedes or you're sponsored by Rolex, or like they're paying for certain rights which we're acquiring.
And so it's a good headline price and it's good for the age to talk about. So
the the money that they would have gotten for that is now going to you.
And you're selling it and they don't have to worry about it, they're getting a flat fee. That's right.
Now, in John's case, he has equity in the team. So he has a lot of incentive for us to keep driving revenue, okay, which builds value in his team. So it's it's a bit of a cycle. But but yeah, some of the some of the deals for guys, I I don't know. I just I think I read Taylor Swift made over a billion dollars in her tour. I read a couple of PGA tour players did okay last year as well. So I I I never
I I don't know, I've been in this business for so long. I've seen contracts.
High low.
You know, I what we're looking for is
Stories and personalities. Bryce and D Chambo. I don't know if these names mean anything to you, but he's a YouTube superstar has got ten million followers. I can tell you we can go to Singapore and and kids will lose their mind and and we can go to Korea or we go to
Bedminster and and and equally uh crazy, crazy fans.
D the athletes in golf understand the business?
of it m more than some of the athletes in the other sports. Because they've had to run themselves this business. They are businesses. They they are the brand. They are the business.
I mean we we we've seen the the everybody else catch up, but they have they had the best head start.
I I would say like
What we ask of our players in in South Africa, this woman run up to me and say, Scott, and I was like, Uh oh, what happened? And she said, My 10 year old daughter, you know Victor Perez, one of our players.
Came over during play, took his glove off.
Took a Sharpie out of his bag, signed it, and handed his 10-year-old girl, Bryson and John Romm, 60 minutes outside of the press area signing stuff. 60 minutes. We don't rope.
The stands away from fans, we rope them through fans. And our players understand their role. They know they have to sign more. They know they have to take selfies. They know they have to.
Engage this notion of managing a brand.
And how you think about
Uh media relationships and how you think about relationships with players and think what Adam Silver has done at the NBA and transforming
the the relationships between league and player. Well that's what we have. I travel with these guys. I'm with them for seven months. I know their caddies, their families, their children
Their wives?
I know what they like, what they d and they didn't even say about me.
Scott is all in on Liv's Mission.
He's attacking the opportunity with a zeal reminiscent of a Silicon Valley startup. So what makes Liv the same and different from other sports businesses? And does he feel any special pressure working for Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund?
We'll talk about that more after the break.
Stay with us.
Hey listeners, Bob here. If you listen to Rapid Response on Masters of Scale, you may be missing half the show.
Because every Friday we release a second rapid response exclusively in the Rapid Response feed. The guests and topics are just as compelling and timely from Ford CEO to NASA's administrator to the lessons from The Devil Wears Prada. It takes about
10 seconds to find, just search rapid response wherever you listen to podcasts and hit follow to make sure you never miss an episode.
I hope to see you there.
Humans will never be more intelligent than AI. There's gonna be two types of companies.
Those were great at AI and those that went out of business because they weren't. How do we build a future?
That is human centered.
I'm Rana El Calyubi.
On my podcast Pioneers of AI, we answer that question and so many more. As an AI scientist, entrepreneur, and investor, I know what it takes to build AI that works for everyone.
Every week, I sit down with the pioneers shaping our future, and we take you behind the scenes of the AI that's transforming our lives.
Find pioneers of AI wherever you tune in.
Before the break, Live Golf Scott O'Neill talked about what makes the league different than the PGA Tour. Now we talk about how golf compares to other sports businesses, his most important metrics for success, and whether a women's lived league is coming.
Let's jump back in.
There was a a phrase that you became associated with in Philadelphia, trust the process. Is there a trust the process part of what you're doing at Live? I mean, I know you m you mentioned sort of some of the younger golfers who you bring in. Like is there is there a version of that?
Well I think they're uh also I don't know if you remember Madison Square Garden, we had Lin Sanity. And I I think live golf is Lin Sanity meets trust the process.
But it was short lived, Linked Sanity, right? Yeah, yeah, but the But I guess it had echoes, right? It had echoes around the world. Yeah. And and the way we use this is before the advent of social media as it is today, is we were putting out eight, nine videos a day. People were coming from all over the world.
We can drive personality driven stories through social. That is real. And then trust the process. The essence of our Joel Embiid era, trust the process was about look, we don't know the future.
But given the information we have today.
Let's make the right decision.
as many right decisions as we can and just keep walking forward because we know that late at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train.
I saw uh Bryson you mentioned I saw him talking about attracting new fans to golf and he said that uh that more people watch the NFL than play organized football.
But
For golf it's the opposite. More people
play than go to watch.
I will say that like thirty percent of our fans have never been to a golf event before.
What forty percent have never picked up a club. What makes a a live event feel different? It's not stuff we have which is the way we have walk up songs for our for our
So they walk up.
On to the T now.
John Rom and John will have picked his walk up song. Just like you found in baseball. No. We'll have uh parachuters come down, we'll have fireworks, we'll have concerts, we had um
I don't know if you're in the the DJ scene, but we had Dom Dalla and Fisher. We have uh
Thomas Rhett coming to India this year. I mean, but he's big time artists. So after play, there's a concert. And people are like, Why would you have a concert? Well,
What if we can attract new faces?
And people.
Ages?
Genders to the sport.
And so, you know, what makes the experience different, but it's also a a marketing lure. Absolutely. Sixty percent of our fans are under the age of forty.
Like you go anywhere else, it's like shh.
Here you have parents pushing strollers. Twenty three percent of our fan our our audience and fans.
Families. You see packs of kids roaming around.
How how fast is all that?
Changing.
I mean, you know, a a a year ago who the who was coming to the events, who's coming now, and sort of what what do you think that's gonna look like. I'll give you a couple of stats and facts. So in South Australia, we have the event, Natelaide.
Um
Growth of girls.
twelve to eighteen playing golf is up two hundred and twelve percent.
The golf clubs, there are eight of them in the market, all all had openings.
Now have waiting lists.
Forty percent of the new members, forty five years and under.
Maybe they're just a coincidence. Maybe. I I don't think so. We're just in South Africa.
Forty five percent of the sports watching audience in South Africa watched our event. Double who watched the masters there.
We are creating a cultural experience. And we do that because we have a local tie with local athletes and because we leverage social media in a different way.
We've been batted around about our our ratings and I just said
We have five million people watch our Australian event.
Sign me up.
And the and the trust the process part is like, and as long as that keeps moving in the right direction, we keep moving. Yes. And so
Revenue up a hundred and eight percent last year.
Expenses up.
Eight percent. This year we're on track, knock on wood.
Revenue up eighty five percent.
Expenses up three percent.
So like how many years are we gonna stack these big gains on? But
Well listen, it's early, it's a five year old company.
I mean we're building a global
Business.
Changing the tire on a moving car, because we're changing a lot of things on the fly, but if that doesn't pop you out of bed in the morning, it's the wrong business.
So um so in in your job you you engage with two core cohorts that I that I have to ask you other people are intrigued about. First I have to ask you about um President Trump.
Okay.
He's talked about trying to partner up Live and the PGA tour. He's hosted Live events.
What's your relationship with Trump like? Does that association?
Help live?
I think any time the leader of the free world
Plays the sport.
Hm.
And I run one of the major businesses in it. I think that's a good thing. We played a couple of his courses this year. He's been pretty vocal about trying to help and
It's a pretty simple formula. I mean
You know in in terms of what needs to happen and and hopefully something happens there. But like I I
Whatever, having an agreement with PJ Tour, it's not necessarily
A priority are necessary for your business model to keep advancing. Maybe, maybe, maybe they are. Maybe I mean history will, you know, will we write the story, but but generally like we're they are US focused and we are globally focused. There's
Two different markets. Like are there things we could, should, would do together? Of course. You know, should we align our global calendar? Of course. Should we maybe be on each other's cap tables? Probably. Can we create content together?
simple and easy. Like it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do this and and over time we'll we'll find our way to some of that. So the the other entity which you mentioned earlier, Saudi Arabia, live is owned and primarily funded by the the
public investment fund there, right? Having a country as a backer.
This is different than than uh you know, does that f how is that different for you than
Reporting to public shareholders or to an investment company. Yeah, you know, I've worked in the public companies before, I've worked in private equity before, I've worked for a league that's technically owned by I guess the owners. And I guess
The weight of the responsibility might be a little heavier, but it's not too much different. I mean, PIF's a private equity firm. They're investing in lots of sports. One, new soccer, and all kinds of things.
Does does live
operate as part of like
A portfolio? Like are these things linked? Is there sort of a strategically the businesses?
the leaders of those businesses and I, we we stay in contact and and touch base and and try to help each other along the way. And so if that's connecting partners, if that's exchanging some talent, if that's
But we're not gonna see like an F one and a Live tournament sort of happening in the same place over the same weekend. Wouldn't that be wonderful.
Yeah, that'd be wonderful. Hopefully someday.
When folks were less familiar with
Saudi Arabia.
look at Saudi ownership of teams. They're like
Ah, they don't really care about the money.
How much of your success is based on
The metrics that you were talking about about the finances versus sort of the
the larger brand footprint over time.
Yeah. I guess there's ROI and ROI. So the return on investment is real.
And we're we are run, they're set up, they're a private equity company and so we are managed
Just like
Blackstone and Apollo and I've been in those those systems, it is no different. And so it is hardcore.
We're we have real KPIs, we're measured weekly.
We are managed very tightly, so don't make any mistake about it, like this is private equity.
And there's return on image and I I think that's
That's part of the magic of sports. And if you're a country, I don't want to speak specifically about Saudi because I can't speak for them or on their behalf. I'll just speak a country. You know, there's a reason countries bring in the world cup. There's a reason countries bring in the Olympics, right? We're in South Africa and and we brought in eighty million dollars of economic impact in a weekend.
And so we filled hotel rooms, we fill airplanes, we also assemble the who's who of South Africa in in suites, and we do that everywhere we go, you know. I I mentioned we're in Korea, you got sixty chairmen there. Now now are those sixty chairmen
good candidates to to build plants in different places, maybe, or or trade agreements? Maybe that's not for me to say. Um our job is to make sure that we represent their investment
In a way that that would make everybody proud to be a part of it and associated with with Live Golf.
Comparing the the golf business
to where you've been before, to basketball, to hockey. Now now that you're in it, like
What's similar and what sort of surprised you about being different?
The business is exactly the same.
I mean it's
It is there is no difference. You can you can move from NFL to NBA to NHL to Premier League media contract, an arena deal or a course deal.
Sponsorship.
Premium tickets, merchandise.
The athlete's
Uh being
being at the forefront of what we do in and leading our brand the that you have to actually manage communications that you're in the fish bowl you mentioned. Yeah.
Exactly the same.
The importance of impact.
And what we're doing to put more kids clubs in kids' hands. The fact that we we run the most
Um environmentally friendly.
Golf events in the world.
fact that we do quite a bit in terms of the refugee front and a partnership with the United Nations.
All stuff that's really important and very similar to everywhere I've been. Not not not the actual execution, but this notion that impact matters that we
don't have an opportunity but a responsibility to to
To make the world a bit better. Yeah.
What's different here is it's global.
Okay, like you try to name three global sports leagues.
F one.
Right.
Live.
So there aren't too many or any of
Scale.
Um so the the global nature is is is fascinating.
Mm.
The interest
You know, by the powers of the world in this business, the the leaders of the media companies of the world, the leaders of the
businesses of the world and the leaders of the
Governments of the world.
All very interesting. That's
Unique and different.
And then and this notion of players as partners.
You know, I
I like that notion. And and in some ways in the NBA and the NHL and you know, they they have a collective bargaining agreement and they get fifty one percent or fifty two percent or forty nine percent, depending on the league.
But these guys.
Or Bryson Deschambeau, John Romm.
Cam Smith.
Waco Neeman, they're my partners, my business partners. And then the last difference would be like your five.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and NHL I think's over a hundred years old. NFL's probably ninety years old. MLB, a hundred and some odd years old. NBA, eighty five years old.
Five years old.
We're doing okay.
So what's next for Live? Are we gonna see a women's tour coming, you know, or maybe am I gonna see
You know, sponsors with uh with
Polymarket and you know, sports books, which I we haven't seen yet.
Unfortunately on the sponsor front with Rolex and HSB C and Salesforce and Qualcomm and Ping and Cali, I mean big global brands, very nice. And and that that will continue. Um
In terms of women's uh
PIF, um public investment fund.
And a Ramco.
they're the largest investors in women's women's golf in the world. Like period end of sentence. So
You know, how we integrate with Live or is that separate and run differently? We're not really sure. We uh we have our hands full here and we got plenty to do. And so plenty of runway still with what you're doing. If it were if it were my preference, I'd I'd I'd uh I'd
Yes, for a few more years to make sure that we're we're on the right track and have a strong enough foundation.
biggest changes. We're gonna have owners, outside owners. And think of
Think of how
challenging that might be. I mean it's complicated. It creates friction. Yes. And that's okay. That's good friction. It's not bad friction. It's good friction. It's like okay, well how am I building my roster? Is there a salary cap? You know, how are we sharing revenue? All this we don't have to deal with now. Right. And we'll have to and that's but that's that's I that's uh the champagne problem.
Uhhuh. That's a champagne problem I look forward to having. That's probably the biggest change. And then this transformation from
Golf to golf and music.
to golf and music and food. To golf and music and food and art.
To golf and feud, music and art.
And fashion. And so you're starting to see a a cultural experience come through and our especially our more advanced and more successful events. And that's been like intellectually fun to think about.
I mean
It's a lot of
Balls in the air for you though, and a lot of choices because you can't
Do everything, right?
Yeah, I think Steve Jobs said it best. He said, um
You know, I wanna know what you're saying no to.
Mm.
You know, and it has to be something that you really care about. That's when you know you
Understand what your priorities are.
And you're sticking to'em.
Is there something you said no to
recently I I'm a yes person. I know you are. I know you are it it's agonizing for me, especially when there's so much opportunity. Um I'll I'll give you one that we're worth looking at now.
Um creating.
Um gaming company.
Um, online and console.
It's like I know it'll work. I mean, with the stars we have, the Anthony Camp, Bryson D Chambeau, Camp Smith, Dustin Johnson, John R I mean
It's it's a lock.
That's somebody's attention and time. Mm-hmm.
Should we do it?
How about betting?
You know, we have a really small handle.
Those are
Th they're like sizable things that I would love to do now.
You know, and But if you're gonna do them, you really gotta have the capacity to go into them. You can't do'em. Yeah.
'Cause that's the key. It's like what am I not going to do then?
Mm-hmm. And so that's that's life. That's priorities. That that by the way, that's in marriage. That's in raising children, and that's in business. And you gotta stick to what what's what's most important. So so I'm I'm thinking of your book and I wanna ask you, so where are your feet right now? Right here. Be where your feet are.
Look, I I I don't often have a problem with that. I've got other Achilles heels.
But I uh I'm I'm I'm oftentimes present. I take my ringer off, I don't have a buzzer on my phone and so when I'm connected to you, I'm I'm a hundred percent connected.
Well uh well I'm glad you came in to be connected with uh with us today. Thanks, man.
So good to see you.
I'll confess that when Live Golf first came out, I thought, really? Like we need another golf league?
But after talking with Scott, I'm coming around. Live is a disruptor in a sport that can use some freshening up.
Whether he and his team can capitalize on the opportunities they see without overreaching or burning themselves out, it's a fascinating situation to watch.
Most of all, I cheer the way Scott talks about sports as a unifying force. The spirit of sport is cheering each other on, appreciating even those you compete against, and being open to new people and new approaches. And there's no question our world needs more of that in business.
And everywhere else.
I'm Bob Sapphian.
Thanks for listening.
Rapid response is a wait what original.
I'm Bob Safian. Our executive producer is Eve Tro. Our producer is Alex Morris. Associate producer is Mashumaku Tonina.
Mixing and Mastering by Aaron Bastanelli.
Our theme music is by Ryan Holiday.
Our head of podcast is Le Tal Malad.
For more, visit rapidresponsshow.com.
Yeah.