The Grand Slam winner is a hot favourite for the BBC award after winning the Masters and leading Team Europe to glory in the United States but he is by no means an absolute certainty
If the bookmakers are right and those who can be bothered to vote decide Rory McIlroy should be the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, it will add a jot of irony to the title. Because if he shows up – he did not bother when he was nominated in 2023 – it will be a very rare occasion when he appears live on the BBC.
The same will apply if Lando Norris becomes the fourth motor racing driver to win the award. Let’s face it, if McIlroy or Norris win, he will be the BBC Sports Personality of the Year … as seen on Sky Sports.
This event is an annual reminder of how the Beeb surrendered to subscription television in the battle for live sport. Golf, Formula One, they are just a couple.
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Darts is another. Imagine the viewing figures the BBC would command if it was showing Luke Littler on a regular basis. Anyway, that ship has sailed and Littler, who was second last year, has suggested he might not rock up for the live show. Which is a shame.
Because if awards were handed out to figures who have been transformative for their sport, the Nuke would probably blow the rest out of the water. Darts was stuck on double one until Littler came along.
Now, the winner of the PDC World Championship will pocket £1million. Thanks to Littler.
And whether you think it is a good thing or not, there will be children getting darts rather than football boots for Christmas. Thanks to Littler.
McIlroy – resident of Jupiter, Florida – would be a very worthy winner, as would Monaco’s Lando Norris. But so would Luke the Nuke. And even if he is not at Salford’s Media City to start with, he can always nip along from his Warrington home.
McIlroy, though, is THE outstanding candidate and if he does not win, it will simply be because not enough people have voted for him. Obviously.
And if that was the unlikely case, it would be down to golf being not as popular as many of us think or because we do not, indeed, see enough of McIlroy on live, free-to-air television. You have to go back to 1989 to find the only golfer to be voted Sports Personality of the Year and, that year, Nick Faldo benefited from having his first Masters win broadcast live on BBC.
This year, Sky Sports trumpeted Rory’s win at Augusta as having record viewing figures, with a peak audience of 1.85million. Great.
On the BBC, the peak audience for England women’s 62-7 walkover against the United States in the Rugby World Cup opener got a high of 2.4million. The terrestrial TV peak for England’s penalty shootout win in the women’s football Euros was 16.2million.
For those sports fans who can afford subscription television, McIlroy’s Slam-completing win at the Masters and his starring role in Team Europe’s win in New York make him an absolute no-brainer when it comes to the Sports Personality of the Year vote.
And even for those without, he should be a shoo-in. But whichever way it goes, we will still be reminded that too much fantastic sport can still not be seen by the masses.
