When Saudi Arabia pulled funding for LIV Golf, it looked certain to signal the death knell of the renegade golf tour. But on Wednesday morning, it appeared that CEO Scott O’Neill had pulled a rabbit out of the hat when he announced that the tour had reached an agreement with an investor to keep the tour alive.
LIV has been plagued by stories around its uncertain future. One event has already been canceled, and although not official, the team championship event in Michigan looks like it fall at any moment. The PGA Tour and DP World Tour struck a deal with the Asian Tour to take away LIV’s secondary series and feeder system that kept several of its stars active through the year. And there are reports of layoffs being imminent or already happening.
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In the midst of it all, O’Neill and LIV have presented the image of a tour that will somehow find a way to survive being cast away as a bored plaything of Saudi sportswashing billions. And that looked to be the case when LIV Golf announced a new “lead investor” after meetings at Trump Bedminster ahead of their tournament there this week. It was also reported that a new-look 2027 LIV season would consist of ten events split between the US and international venues and that players would take equity stakes in the league.
While that certainly sounds like good news for LIV Golf, some immediate questions came to mind. Who exactly is the “lead investor” and why wouldn’t LIV name who it was? Would ten tournaments be enough to keep stars on board? And is equity being offered because LIV no longer has the money to actually pay out their massive nine figure contracts without the Saudi Arabian government?
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Well, as it turns out, there may be a reason why the seemingly triumphant announcement from LIV Golf was so ambiguous.
According to Bloomberg, the credit arm of a group called BC Partners is exploring lending money to LIV. What is BC Partners? It’s an investment group that has as part of its portfolio GSE Worldwide, an agency that represents Bryson DeChambeau and other stars on the tour.
And the Financial Times reports that the BC Partners investment/loan may only come if the tour can hold on to enough top players. That circles back to the contracts with the Saudis as negotiations take place over potential payouts. To muddy the waters further, GSE says they aren’t specifically involved. That’s a lot of stars that need to align to secure an actual funding deal.
The complicated web of big money contracts, payouts, loans, and investments is still incredibly unclear at this time. Is LIV Golf trying to position a loan as their saving grace? Or are they two separate things? And is the proposed loan from BC Partners an actual investment in the league’s success or just a step on the way to bankruptcy? In the middle of it all are the actual players who are caught between repurposing their massive payouts into equity in a fledgling golf league with an uncertain future and becoming further isolated in the global game.
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Surely, if LIV Golf had a real-life lead investor signed, sealed, and delivered… it would have been named specifically in their announcement. Instead, we have vagaries that invite more speculation about the tour’s future and whether or not the deal will be enough to keep its biggest names on board.
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