[Photo: Jordan Bank]
Despite the grim optics surrounding LIV Golf, chief executive Scott O’Neil had plenty to say this morning (Australian time) about his optimism for the league’s future. On the details underpinning that optimism, however, he offered considerably less.
O’Neil met with reporters at LIV’s event outside Indianapolis, which now serves as the league’s de facto season finale after its scheduled team championship in Michigan was cancelled two days ago. The press conference came amid reports that players have not been paid their winnings from the previous tournament and complaints from numerous vendors that they, too, have been compensated. Two companies have sued LIV over unpaid services.
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The turmoil extends beyond the league’s finances. The Asian Tour will no longer serve as a sister circuit, the DP World Tour will bar players from competing on both tours next year, and the Telegraph reported that LIV executives are resigned to former world No.1 Jon Rahm leaving after this season. Golf Digest has learned, however, that social media rumours claiming Rahm has already reached a deal to return to the PGA Tour are inaccurate.
Those developments represent the latest blows in months of uncertainty surrounding LIV’s survival since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund withdrew its support from the soft-power golf venture earlier this year. O’Neil has said LIV has secured a new lead investor; while neither he nor the league has identified that investor – O’Neil declined to do so again this morning – it is believed to be BC Partners, a London-based private-equity firm with ties to GSE Worldwide, the agency representing a sizeable portion of LIV’s roster. BC Partners’ Ted Goldthorpe addressed players during a meeting at the course on Tuesday, though sources told Golf Digest that members were given few concrete details.
Speaking this morning, O’Neil remained vague about how LIV intends to proceed, offering little beyond his conviction that the league will continue.
“It’s time to move forward. Let’s once again put the game first. I spent time over the past several weeks speaking with many of the guardians and stewards of the game of golf, and I heard a real appetite to put the parochial friction of the past behind us. I want to be crystal clear; that’s what LIV Golf wants,” O’Neil said. “The philosophy is simple, if you’ve been around me before, you’ve heard it: it’s complete, not compete. Golf doesn’t need one tour to win and everyone else to lose. There are great tours around the world. They serve different markets, different fans and have different purposes. We believe players should have the flexibility to compete across these platforms when they are good enough and enhance the fields. We shouldn’t live in a world where one group of golfers is uniquely restricted from playing elsewhere. Our goal isn’t to replace or restrict any tour. Our mission is to bring something distinctive to the ecosystem that elevates it and makes the whole game better. More markets, younger, next-gen global fans, more sponsors, more opportunities for players, more great golf, and of course, a lot more fun.”
O’Neil has been pitching prospective investors on “LIV 2.0”, a reimagined league featuring a shorter schedule, smaller purses and greater player control.
“I think about our evolution pretty simply,” O’Neil said. “This next chapter is fundamentally different. We are building towards a league majority owned by its players, and I want you to think about just for a minute what that means. Players aren’t simply playing for LIV Golf. They have an opportunity to own it.
“They get equity in what they’re building. They regain a majority of their commercial rights, and teams become real businesses with real assets, and for the first time, the interests of the league and the players become truly aligned around building long-term value together.”
Yet when pressed for specifics on nearly every broad promise contained in his opening remarks, O’Neil revealed little. He acknowledged there is a deadline for completing an agreement with the prospective lead investor but declined to provide it. Asked whether bankruptcy remained possible, O’Neil said only that he would not rule out any option. After saying that leaders of the golf industry wanted the sport to come together he said he wasn’t talking about new PGA Tour head Brian Rolapp. When confronted with doubts that LIV will exist in 2027, he replied that he is “blessed with hope and optimism”.
O’Neil was also asked about comments from the founder of Fresh Tape, one of the vendors suing LIV. The founder wrote on social media this week: “It’s pretty simple when a small business does work, it deserves to be paid for it.”
“Look, I come from a family of entrepreneurs, a family of small business entrepreneurs and know the challenge that that is. So what I would say to them is we’re doing everything we can to make sure we can do right by them and the work they committed, and I hope we can,” O’Neil said. “For the next generation, it will certainly be a different business with a different process.”
Perhaps the largest unresolved question is which players will remain for LIV 2.0, particularly Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. DeChambeau has played an instrumental role in the league’s presentations to prospective investors, though he will become a free agent after this week.
“I have a lot of time for Bryson. I talk to him quite a bit,” O’Neil said. “…He cares about the global game of golf. He cares about building this next generation of fans.
“I don’t think anybody works harder on or off the course… I’m sure there’s somebody; I just haven’t seen it. Bryson has become a good friend, a good advocate of the league. I certainly hope he’s with us for the future. He’s been extremely supportive, as I can say most of the big guys have been.”
LIV’s season finale in Indianapolis begins tonight, Australian time.
