LIV Golf, the breakaway golfing tour established by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has once again recorded a crushing financial loss in its non-US business as the series continues to stall in its efforts to make international headway.
The tour made an overall post-tax loss of $461.8 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.
The UK-based filing accounts for LIV’s operations in all non-US markets, covering seven of its 14 events through the 2024 season, events held in Australia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain & the United Kingdom.
The best performing market of these is Australia ($25.8 million in turnover), with only Hong Kong ($10.4 million) also achieving eight eight-figure turnover, while the remainder netted in the mid-to-low seven-figure range, with Saudi Arabia in particular only managing $1.7 million of revenue, despite having hosted an event every year on the tour (Saudi revenue actually fell on the 2023 season).
Most of this revenue was derived from hosting fees in each nation, which amounted to a combined $26.6 million, while sponsorship revenue ($17.1 million) and ticketing ($13.1 million) both also performed in the eight-figure range internationally.
By comparison, international merchandising totaled $2.6 million, and broadcast rights fees were also miserable at $2.7 million, down slightly on 2023, despite the competition hosting one more international event than a year prior
This is the third consecutive loss LIV Golf’s international business has made since the tour’s establishment in 2022, as the PIF continues to sink money into the project.
With this latest filing, LIV Golf 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.
Indeed, across those three years, including 2024, the tour has generated only around $107 million in revenue. For perspective, Spaniard Jon Rahm, LIV’s 2024 individual champion, won $34.7 million in prize money across the season alone in that year, on top of his world-leading contract, which is reportedly worth over $300 million.
Hard times may be set to continue as prominent personnel continue to exit the business’s commercial side.
Most recently, LIV’s chief marketing officer, Adam Harter, announced he would be stepping down after just over a year in the role.
At the beginning of 2025, LIV’s founding chief executive, Greg Norman, departed, followed shortly by chief media officer Will Staeger.
