LIV Golf is pushing ahead with a prospective lead investor.
Ahead of CEO Scott O’Neil’s press conference Wednesday at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey, O’Neil released a statement announcing that LIV had reached an agreement with an unnamed lead investor, which had signed a term sheet and been approved by LIV’s board of directors, to “anchor the transaction and play a key role in supporting the path forward for the league’s next era, driven by and for the players.”
LIV had been searching for financial suitors since at least April, when it was announced that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which had backed the league since its inception in 2022, was pulling all funding at season’s end.
O’Neil, who refused to reveal the investor, said he expects terms of the deal to be finalized by next month while adding that LIV has generated interest from “more than a dozen additional parties to potentially serve as minority investors.”
“What I can tell you is what I told you,” O’Neil said. “At this point, we are keeping the details of the deal, the investor, and much of what you might want to know in this second phase out of the media.”
Reports earlier this week said that LIV was closing in on a $250 million investment.
As for additional investors, O’Neil said, “We don’t need them, but we have the opportunity to do it.”
LIV’s next chapter, which has been dubbed LIV 2.0, will also include LIV players as majority equity holders. The league plans to scale back to 10 events, half in the U.S. and half to be held internationally; that number is down from the 14 tournaments scheduled this year. LIV members will be allowed to participate on other tours to supplement their playing schedules and regain some of their name, image and likeness rights.
Wednesday’s news comes after O’Neil held a meeting with players and fellow LIV executives on Tuesday evening. While several players were reticent to divulge details of what was shared, Richard Bland did tell reporters on site that Bryson DeChambeau led a separate players-only meeting and “ran through everything he knows.”
“We’re just in that kind of stage at the minute that we’re positive with what’s going on,” Bland added, “but we just need everything to be fully signed off so you can go forward.”
It has been a challenging year for LIV, which has seen two of its star players, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, either return to the PGA Tour or begin the process of doing so. In addition to the PIF decision, LIV is currently facing multiple lawsuits, including for trademark infringement and failing to pay vendors.
LIV’s inaugural event in New Orleans, set for June, was canceled, creating a 47-day gap in competition during the height of the summer golf calendar. There are also reports that LIV’s $40 million team finale, set for Aug. 27-30 in Plymouth, Michigan, won’t happen either, with buildout for the event yet to begin. Martin Kaymer, captain of Bland’s Cleeks team, said last month that the Michigan event was “highly unlikely” to take place.
“This is a very fluid situation,” O’Neil said Wednesday when asked about LIV Michigan. “We are all working tirelessly to do everything we can to deliver the events of this season. Some of the stuff is completely in our control. Some of the stuff is not. We are working to deliver the best we can. We just don’t have any update or certainty as we are now.”
LIV has one more tournament left on the schedule before the team finale, the Aug. 20-23 LIV Indianapolis.
Six 2027 events are already listed on LIV’s website, though all are international and only three have dates listed – LIV Hong Kong (Feb. 18-21), LIV Adelaide (March 18-21) and LIV South Africa (April 22-25).
“We’re at 0-0, locked in, focused on driving it,” O’Neil said. “So, I’ve spent my entire career, and certainly the last two, climbing a mountain with some incredible people. Sometimes the wind’s in our face, sometimes a piano on our back, and we just keep going. This is a moment that we’re very happy about, that we’re thrilled to announce, that we’re proud to be a part of. It’s certainly an investor of weight, and we’re all locked in on making it happen. So I haven’t spent a lot of time on thinking about what might not make it happen.”
That led to one final question: If the deal does get finalized, there will be a 2027 season?
O’Neil: “And ’28, and ’29, and ’30.”
