LIV scrambles for $250 million boost after Saudi | Golf News

The future of LIV Golf stays unsure, and with only 4 months remaining until Saudi Arabian funding ends, the clock is ticking.

A current report signifies that LIV Golf management is trying to secure $250 million from buyers to maintain the tour’s operations past 2026.

This follows Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announcement in April that it’ll stop funding the breakaway tour after this season, merely 4 years after its launch as a competitor to the PGA Tour and efficiently attracting some of the world’s top golfers including Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. It comes as PGA Championship followers slam CBS for ‘unwatchable’ commercial-filled coverage.

Fresh reporting from Axios’ Dan Primark discloses that LIV Golf has recognized a $250 million investment as ample to preserve the tour’s viability and obtain profitability within “around 20 months.”

The league is reportedly pursuing investment companions from “private equity, family offices, and individual billionaires.”

LIV Golf has already enlisted investment bank Ducera Partners to “guide the league in its efforts to secure long-term investment partners and support its evolution into a diversified, multi-partner investment model,” according to an official release. Consulting firm AlixPartners has also been recruited by the tour’s management to help the league in its quest to acquire funding.

If a $250 million investment can’t be secured, a determine “down to around $150 million” would possibly also be thought of, according to Axios, though it will finally rely on growing staff valuations and a new media rights settlement to stay viable going ahead. In the three and a half years since its launch, the PIF has spent roughly $5 billion on LIV Golf, reportedly dropping $1.4 billion in the method.

The main draw for skilled gamers was the league’s profitable contracts, with some offers rumored to exceed $100 million, along with $25 million prize swimming pools for each event.

Brooks Koepka, a five-time major champion, was initially the face of LIV Golf, but finally walked away and rejoined the PGA Tour at the start of this yr through the newly established Returning Member Program.

Fellow major champions DeChambeau and Rahm had been also given the chance to return to the PGA Tour but instead opted to stay with LIV Golf.

Now, those high-profile stars may very well be left in limbo if the tour fails to secure funding, with DeChambeau eyeing a full-time profession on YouTube and Rahm reportedly finalizing a deal with the DP World Tour.

Seven LIV Golf occasions have already taken place this season, with another seven still remaining on the schedule, including a stop in South Korea at the end of May before transferring on to a event in Andalucia, Spain in early June.