$10M prize for PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf ‘Showdown’ to be paid entirely in cryptocurrency

A made-for-TV golf game between the stars of the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf will award $10 million in cryptocurrency.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 3 Rory McIlroy will play an 18-hole prize match against No. 10-ranked Bryson DeChambeau and No. 79 Brooks Koepka.

The December 17 showdown will officially be called the “Crypto.com Showdown,” with the title sponsor providing a crypto-backed purse for the first time in PGA history.

Front Office Sports reported that the $10 million prize will be paid entirely in the Crypto.com native currency, called Cronos. At the time of this writing, one Cronos is currently valued around $0.227. The $10 million equates to about 44 million Cronos.

It was not confirmed, however, how the prize would be distributed between the winning and losing teams.

Neither the PGA nor LIV are the first sports brands to integrate cryptocurrency into their winnings or payments.

The UFC added $60,000 Bitcoin bonuses voted on by fans in 2023. The “Fan Bonus of the Night” awards were in $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000 increments, paid out to fighters. Crypto.com was also the sponsor for that endeavor, as part of a 10-year, $175 million partnership with the UFC.

Karate Combat, another fight league, has fully integrated cryptocurrency into its business model.

With its own token ($KARATE), Karate Combat allows viewers to own a stake in the sport while also earning more coins through games on the platform UpOnly. This play-to-earn model allows users to gain cryptocurrency while the game designer earns revenue through licensing, ads, microtransactions, or subscriptions.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency overall have skyrocketed since Donald Trump’s election win. On the campaign trail, he pledged to end the “anti-crypto crusade” by the SEC.

Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) publicly declared his support for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency for the first time at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July. The senator touted cryptocurrency as an opportunity for impoverished and lower-class Americans to make investments.

The PGA vs. LIV match will take place at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada. It follows in the footsteps of previous TV golf events like the Netflix Cup and Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson.

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