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Love this photo. I keep going back and forth on whether this guy is:
- My homeboy for living in the moment, simply breathing in the fresh air and taking in a group three hall of famers or,
- Feeling completely defeated after bartering his iPhone 13 for a few ounces of beer-flavored water.
Devilsforlife
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Hard to believe Phil won the PGA just over a year ago.
DrKlahn
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Something I've been curious about (but not curious enough to go find the broadcast): was there anyone there? did they have grandstands? corporate tents? was the broadcast competent? was the course pretty? It's kind of hard to put on an event like that and give it a big time feel if you don't know what you're doing. The players may be getting too much money to care, but the fans will tune it out. Watching people play golf is not inherently interesting. You need the atmosphere.
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There are 2nd tier e-sports leagues that get that, right? Like even Call of Duty League gets those numbers, and it's basically a joke in the broader e-sports community.
@DrKlahn The crowds were pretty sparse. It was supposedly sold out, but it seemed like more of a hospitality event where people were doing anything but watching the golf. On course there weren't grandstands that I remember, just groups of people walking around and mostly following the Dustin Johnson/FIGJAM group.
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They Saudis aren't doing this for a return on golf investment though. It's for future business deals. Just like they don't actually care what Jared Kushner does with the 2 billion they gave him. Future returns unrelated to the initial investment.
DrKlahn
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I will push back a little on the Saudis don’t care about the product take, which a lot of people seem to have. When they have invested in soccer, it’s been with an eye towards winning the biggest and most prestigious competitions. In hospitality they try to build the biggest and most luxurious resorts. I don’t buy that they will be happy with a second rate golf product.
CK86
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Yeah, the League of Legends "League Championship Series" here in NA gets around 90-100k for regular season matches and our region sucks. The big events get around 500k+ with several being over a million concurrent worldwide.
DrKlahn
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I watched a little bit of the coverage today, I was one of the 95K or so. It reminded me a bit of the first hour of Red Zone. Just shot after shot. I am a big Red Zone fan so you would think I would like that, but it felt pretty off here. I carefully said “first hour” of Red Zone because even RZ usually pares it down to the biggest & closest games after that. Here, I turned it on with 3 holes left in the final round (or 4, or 2, or 3, it kept changing) and they were still just going from random shot to random shot. No sense of the tournament coming to a dramatic conclusion even though it was still in the balance at that point. I don’t think that is why people watch golf tournaments, but maybe that’s just me.
Also, I love Red Zone but it’s not the way I would watch my favorite team unless that team was a double barreled catastrophe (which, thankfully, it is). I don’t see how the players can build a brand if the camera is literally only on them when taking a shot. But maybe the money solves that, I don’t know.
It’s an awesome format for compulsive gamblers, who I assume made up most of the 95K.
Also, I love Red Zone but it’s not the way I would watch my favorite team unless that team was a double barreled catastrophe (which, thankfully, it is). I don’t see how the players can build a brand if the camera is literally only on them when taking a shot. But maybe the money solves that, I don’t know.
It’s an awesome format for compulsive gamblers, who I assume made up most of the 95K.
CK86
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Going back to the earlier discussion about streaming viewership. Right now 122k+ are watching the League of Legends European Championship stream for a week 1, day 2 summer split regular season match just on Twitch. The LEC is only slightly better than North America's LCS and multiple levels below the Chinese league and Korean leagues. If you throw other streams on alternate platforms, I'm sure it's easily 150k+ viewers. For a shit region talent wise, they're still outdrawing LIV golf on its launch weekend.
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Gonna turn this into my golf journey thread.
I started playing in earnest two years ago. Ive worked my way from a 25+ handicap down to a 10.2. Got fitted for clubs last year and joined a private club.
The objective? Become a scratch golfer before 40 and participate in a US Open qualifier. As a DINK with a flexible job, I should be able to train 4+ days a week. This is not nearly enough training to ever make it as a minor league pro. But Im in a blessed position to go for it, so I will.
First step, break 80.
I started playing in earnest two years ago. Ive worked my way from a 25+ handicap down to a 10.2. Got fitted for clubs last year and joined a private club.
The objective? Become a scratch golfer before 40 and participate in a US Open qualifier. As a DINK with a flexible job, I should be able to train 4+ days a week. This is not nearly enough training to ever make it as a minor league pro. But Im in a blessed position to go for it, so I will.
First step, break 80.