Key takeaways:
- LIV Golf says talks with BC Partners failed and it plans an orderly wind-down while remaining open to third-party proposals.
- The Guardian reported that a potential $300 million financing plan for 2027 was dropped after prominent players declined to commit.
- Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invested more than $5 billion in LIV and said it would end funding after the 2026 season.
LIV Golf plans to wind down after talks over financing to keep the breakaway circuit operating fell apart, bringing its effort to reshape professional golf to an end after more than $5 billion in Saudi backing.
The league said Thursday that discussions with private equity firm BC Partners had failed to produce an agreement. “In light of the current circumstances, we believe shifting toward an orderly wind-down is the most responsible path forward for the League at this time,” Gene Davis and Jon Zinman of LIV Golf’s board special committee said in a statement.
LIV said it would remain open to proposals from third parties that could maximize its value during the wind-down. An earlier hearing in a New Jersey bankruptcy court indicated the league planned to shut down operations while seeking relief from creditors, NBC News reported. The amount it owed was not immediately clear.
BC Partners had lined up $300 million in potential financing to stage tournaments in 2027, but the plan was dropped after several prominent golfers declined to commit to the league, according to The Guardian. The Athletic reported that BC Partners had not received enough commitments from players interested in reviving the tour. Multiple LIV events had been canceled this year, including a team championship, NBC News reported.
LIV burst onto the golf scene in 2022, offering guaranteed payouts that drew major champions and other leading players away from the PGA Tour. Its roster included Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and former world No. 1 Jon Rahm. The Guardian reported that leading golfers announced departures after LIV filed for bankruptcy protection in September.
The PGA Tour barred its members from competing in LIV events and suspended players who defected, including Mickelson, Johnson, DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. The dispute led to lawsuits, among them an antitrust case in which DeChambeau, Mickelson and others accused the PGA Tour of using monopoly power to penalize independent contractors.
In June 2023, the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV’s principal backer, announced a framework for a unified commercial entity and an end to the litigation. The talks stalled. The Guardian reported that the PGA Tour ultimately rejected a $1.5 billion investment offer from the Saudi fund that would have kept LIV intact and made fund governor Yasir al-Rumayyan co-chair of PGA Tour Enterprises’ board.
The Saudi fund said in late April that LIV no longer fit its investment strategy and that it would end funding after the 2026 season, The Guardian reported. By then, it had invested more than $5 billion in the circuit. LIV drew audiences overseas but never secured a long-term U.S. television partner, limiting its visibility and revenue, according to NBC News.
Critics accused LIV of helping Saudi Arabia deflect attention from its human rights record; the Saudi government denies accusations of human rights abuses. Reflecting on the league’s run, LIV chief executive Scott O’Neil said: “LIV Golf was fun, demanding, inspiring, at times challenging – but always rewarding.”
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