PGA Tour golfers should thank LIV Golf for making them a lot of money
· Yahoo Sports
LIV Golf is shutting down after the investment firm that considered giving it $300 million withdrew its offer, forcing the league to begin liquidating its assets.
Visit freshyourfeel.com for more information.
LIV attorney Matthew Williams confirmed Thursday in New Jersey Bankruptcy Court the league will start selling its assets Monday after BC Partners decided it would not invest in LIV 2.0.
The beginning of the end for the league created by Greg Norman as a competitor to the PGA Tour was when Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund decided in April it could not continue to bankroll a business that offered nothing in return.
And it took burning more than $5 billion for the PIF to realize that.
Since then, golfers surely tired of CEO Scott O'Neil's outrageous claims and promises, all the while making sure he was taken care of as the ship was sinking.
One by one, LIV's biggest assets — its players — bailed. Jumping into a future of uncertainty after being part of the money grab.
All the while, O'Neil kept up the charade. After PIF pulled the plug seven months ago, O'Neil said LIV would do "what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports." One month ago, he said he believed deeply in the future of LIV and would build something distinctive alongside their players. "We’re delivering on our major milestones," he said.
LIV and BC Partners were seeking 30 to 40 players to compete next season. The Financial Times reported Wednesday about 30 players were currently committed and about 10 were undecided.
Marquee names such as Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Tyrrell Hatton had departed (Koepka and Reed started the trend early this year). Others such as Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson were among 19 players whose contracts were allowed to be rejected amid bankruptcy and the restructuring process.
DeChambeau appeared to be the last holdout, saying on a podcast Oct. 2 he believed LIV 2.0 can make "full financial sense” and hoped it would last forever.
LIV indicated it had between $100 million and $500 million in assets and $500 million to $1 billion in liabilities. Lawsuits were piling up from contractors and vendors owed more than $4 million for work this year. That list included Fresh Tape Media, which produced LIV's preseason media days in January held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
Additionally, 27 players were stiffed out of a combined $64.2 million.
O’Neil, though, received more than $13.6 million in payroll, bonuses, benefits, retention payments and expense reimbursements from Sept. 2025 through Aug. 2026.
LIV filed for bankruptcy Sept. 8.
LIV Golf's business model flawed from start
From the start, LIV overshot its mark. The league's objective was to lure deep-pocketed investors for its unconventional team golf format.
The plan was for LIV to operate like a professional league with several franchises, which would lead to a lucrative television contract.
If that sounds vaguely familiar — a team golf league with investors owning individual franchises and a rights deal — it should.
TGL and WTGL, the indoor, simulated league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and played at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, has pulled off exactly what LIV hoped.
In fact, when Woods was getting started, he told investors his league would be a competitor to LIV Golf.
LIV reportedly received offers of $25 million from investors looking to own a team in its first year. The league declined, believing its franchises eventually would be valued at $100 million.
The cost for a TGL franchise initially was about $35 million, according to reports. It's first expansion franchise, Detroit's Motor City Golf Club, reportedly sold for $70 million.
Without a TV deal, LIV offered its product for free to The CW, with the network paying no rights fees and LIV paying millions for talent and production. TGL's initial deal with ESPN was reported to be worth between $5 million and $10 million. A new multi-year deal recently was signed for at least double that, according to reports.
LIV made a lot of money for more than just its players
LIV never resonated in the United States with golf traditionalists scoffing at a 54-hole, shotgun start format with players wearing shorts and music blaring. That, along with being financed by a country with a history of human rights abuses, were not recipes for success.
That's not to say it did not have its followers and even some in the U.S. But the league was much more popular in places like Australia and South Africa.
At home, LIV fought political blowback partly because of Donald Trump. The president and golf enthusiast at first was all in, mostly because he financially benefitted by LIV contracting to use his courses in Doral near Miami; Bedminster, N.J., and Sterling, Va., for its events.
Trump used each stop to promote his property, slam the PGA Tour and praise LIV's future. When that started going sideways, Trump attempted to facilitate a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. He failed.
When it was evident LIV was no longer a use to Trump, he bailed and went back to siding with the PGA Tour.
Still, LIV Golf made an impact during its four years, specifically altering the financial structure of the PGA Tour. LIV's early success in poaching several elite players from the PGA Tour and its threat to sign more resulted in the Tour being forced to increase the pot for its players.
The unsustainable financial structure of LIV greatly benefitted not only those who joined the league — many will have made more than $100 million between their contract and prize money — but those who remained loyal to the PGA Tour.
The competition and financial pressure from LIV led to several major shifts on the PGA Tour with the establishment of events with $20 million purses, a Player Impact Program that rewarded players who generated the most fan and media engagement and a corporate and investment overhaul with a $3 billion partnership with Strategic Sports Group and the launch of PGA Tour Enterprises.
All of which led to record earnings. In 2021, the year before LIV debuted, Rahm led the PGA Tour money list with $7.7 million. This year, Scottie Scheffler made just shy of $31 million and 17 players earned more than Rahm made in 2021.
Scheffler has made $87.8 million the last three years, enough to rank third on the all-time PGA Tour money list. As it is, Scheffler has risen to the top of that list with $130,390,661 in career earnings.
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: PGA Tour golfers should thank LIV Golf for making them a lot of money