LIV Golf Seeks New Partners After Saudi PIF Funding Ends
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- LIV Golf confirmed it is seeking "secure long-term financial partners" as Saudi Arabia's PIF prepares to withdraw its backing at the end of the current season, with BBC reporting the series is "totally up for sale."
- Gene Davis and Jon Zinman, corporate turnaround specialists, were added to LIV Golf's board to help "institutionalize the league" as co-founder Yasir Al-Rumayyan prepares to step down.
- PIF has bankrolled LIV Golf with more than $5 billion since its 2021 launch, a period in which the tour lost approximately $1.1 billion outside the U.S. and merged only to see that 2023 deal with the PGA Tour collapse.
- LIV Golf officials have accepted they will need to significantly scale back from the current 14-event schedule even if new financiers are secured, despite the tour reportedly set to earn $100M more this season than last.
- Fox Sports holds a multi-year U.S. rights deal with LIV Golf and TNT Sports broadcasts it in Europe, leaving both broadcast partners exposed if the tour contracts.
- Saudi Arabia is pulling back from sports investments more broadly under a new 2030 financial strategy approved by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, including offloading most of its stake in football club Al-Hilal and raising fresh questions about its ownership of Newcastle United.
Why it matters: With PIF's $5B+ backstop ending and LIV reportedly $1.1B in the red outside the U.S., the tour faces a forced scale-down from 14 events even if it lands new capital. Multi-year U.S. and European broadcast deals with Fox Sports and TNT Sports depend on a functioning league. The collapse of the 2023 PGA-LIV merger leaves the breakaway circuit without a Plan B.
