Netflix Steers Into Live Sports With ‘Drive to Survive,’ ‘Full Swing’ Stars

Rick Porter
·3 min read
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Netflix is taking a swing at live sports.

The streamer, which has mounted a few live events in the past year, has set its first live sports event — one that also reinforces the company brand. Netflix will stage a nine-hole golf match, which it’s calling the Netflix Cup, and will feature athletes familiar to viewers of two of the streamer’s docuseries, Formula 1: Drive to Survive and Full Swing.

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Formula 1 drivers Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz will be paired with PGA Tour golfers Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas for the match, which is set for Nov. 14 at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas. The location and timing aren’t incidental: The match will kick off the events leading up to F1’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 18.

“We love to see how our sports series have brought increased fandom to sports leagues and competitions all over the world,” said Gabe Spitzer, vp nonfiction sports at Netflix. “The Netflix Cup will take that energy to the next level with global stars from two popular hits competing in our first-ever live sports event.”

With the event, Netflix will join a number of other SVOD services — including NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Apple TV+, Paramount+ and WBD’s Max — in offering live sports to its subscribers. The Netflix Cup will leverage the streamer’s relationship with Formula 1 and the PGA but doesn’t involve any expensive rights packages, which the company has repeatedly said is not a business it’s interested in at the moment.

“We really think that we can have a really strong offering for sports fans on Netflix without having to be part of the difficulty of the economic model of live sports licensing,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during the company’s second quarter earnings call in July. “We’re super excited about the success of our sports-adjacent programming.”

Netflix has tried its hand at two live events in 2023, with varying degrees of success. Chris Rock’s stand-up special Selective Outrage went off pretty smoothly in March, but a reunion for season four Love Is Blind in April was a mess, with technical glitches delaying the start by more than an hour — by which time it was no longer live.

The PGA Tour and Formula 1 have sanctioned the Netflix Cup, which will feature four two-man teams (one driver and one golfer) competing over eight holes. The two leading teams will then face off on the ninth hole to determine the winner.

Excel Sports Management (which represents Homa, Morikawa and Thomas, along with Tiger Woods and a number of other top golfers) is producing the match with BZ Entertainment and Connor Schell and David Chamberlin’s Full Day Productions, which has produced the ESPY Awards, Oscars red carpet shows and ESPN’s Monday Night Football “Manningcast.”

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