LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil has insisted the breakaway series has funding through the end of the 2026 season amid reports that its primary backer, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will pull its financial support.
Following the conclusion of LIV’s Mexico City event yesterday, the fourth season of the LIV Golf League has eight tournaments remaining, including five in the US, with the Virginia tournament at Trump National Golf Club up next from May 7 to 10.
However, the future of the tour beyond this season has been thrown into serious doubt in recent days, with widespread reports suggesting it could be disbanded due to financial difficulties.
The Financial Times reported last week that PIF, which has poured more than $5 billion into the league since 2022, could be set to pull its funding for LIV.
O'Neil responded to the report by issuing a memo to the tour’s players and staff to inform them that the 2026 season will continue “as planned and uninterrupted” despite the speculation.
In an interview with the TNT Sports broadcaster at the Mexico City event, he addressed the issue publicly for the first time, saying: “The reality is you're funded through the season and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going.
“But that's not different from any other private equity-funded business in the history of man.
“Given the momentum of this business, we're really excited about where we are and the position where we are. ... This notion of bringing teams to market, I had two calls this morning. This notion of, 'Do you have to raise money?' Probably. This is business. But if we keep the trajectory going the way we are and the revenue growth going, this is going to be a really good business for a really long time.”
Before the conclusion of this year’s LIV Golf Mexico City tournament, the tour announced it will be returning to the city next year in its first indication that the series will not collapse.
The event will again be staged at Club de Golf Chapultepec in 2027 and mark the fifth straight year the league has played in Mexico and the third in a row at the venue.
O'Neil's email to staff last week did not say whether LIV Golf will continue beyond this season, although players were previously told that funding is in place until at least 2032.
Last year, it was revealed that LIV recorded a crushing financial loss in its non-US business, posting an overall post-tax deficit of $462 million across the 2024 calendar year, up from the $395.9 million loss it made a year prior, despite revenue growing 75% over the same period, from $37.1 million up to $64.9 million.
This is the third consecutive loss LIV’s international business has made since the tour’s establishment. The tour has now lost $1.1 billion on its international business in the three financial years since its foundation in 2022, not including further substantial losses on the US side, which is accounted separately.
O'Neil said in February the series would not be profitable for another five to 10 years.
If PIF pulls funding for LIV, the move would jeopardise the future of a multibillion-dollar project that sparked a civil war across the sport when it lured star names away from the PGA Tour with huge pay salaries in 2022.
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced in 2023 that they had agreed to a merger with PIF, but despite being locked in negotiations for several years, the tie-up has not come to fruition.
This came after tensions built up over several years between LIV and the PGA Tour and escalated to the point of litigation, with the two sides trading charges of treachery and anti-competitive behaviour.
When LIV launched, it prised several high-profile players from the established and dominant PGA Tour, including Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. But some of its top stars, such as Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka, recently left LIV to rejoin the PGA Tour.
Last week, PIF revealed a new five-year investment strategy, with sport not mentioned as a focus area. The sovereign wealth fund is understood to be taking stock of a decade-long spending splurge in sports, both nationally and globally, and illustrated this by selling a majority stake in top domestic soccer club Al-Hilal to investment firm Kingdom Holding Company (KHC).
