LIV Golf to shutter the league after failing to get support

Five years since its controversial incursion into the professional golf world and with more than $5 billion having been spent, LIV Golf is done and will shutter the league.

A LIV Golf attorney told a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge that the league couldn’t get the necessary financial commitment and player support to proceed with LIV 2.0 and that the company will wind down operations.

Attorney Matthew Williams told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael B. Kaplan that the league would file a new Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan Monday.

“The debtors were ultimately unable to bring the key parties to a fully consensual arrangement that would have supported a financially viable LIV 2.0 league,” Williams said during Thursday’s hearing. “As a result, the debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan. Instead, the debtors are toggling to a value-maximizing wind-down of their business.”

LIV Golf said it would remain open to, and continue to consider, any value-maximizing alternatives with third parties that might arise throughout the wind-down process.

“Building a global platform designed to bring new, younger, and more diverse fans to the sport of golf has been the round of a lifetime for all of us,” LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said in a statement Thursday. “LIV Golf was fun, demanding, inspiring, at times challenging — but always rewarding.

“Together, our team delivered world-class individual and team competitions across five continents, built a global business, secured pathways to The Open and U.S. Open, earned Official World Golf Ranking points, engaged with stakeholders focused on the health and future of the game, created value in our teams, attracted premier sponsors, brought investors to the table around a next-generation business plan, and built a league capable of attracting both elite and rising talent from around the world.”

On Wednesday, BC Partners decided not to invest $300 million in LIV 2.0 after it couldn’t come to terms with other key stakeholders.

Williams said the decision to shutter LIV Golf wasn’t made until Thursday morning.

“BC Partners Credit supported a transaction that aligned the interests of players and investors, offering a credible path toward building a sustainable future for LIV Golf,” a BC Partners spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. “While there was great support for the league, we are disappointed that mutually acceptable terms could not be reached among the various stakeholders. We commend LIV Golf’s management for their tireless efforts and thank the players who supported the future of LIV and engaged constructively throughout. We wish them every success as they continue their careers.”

LIV Golf voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sept. 8, indicating it had between $100 million and $500 million in assets and $500 million to $1 billion in liabilities.

“On the current facts, it concluded that a wind-down is the most likely way to maximize value for creditors at this time,” Williams said. “This was not an easy conclusion for anyone who believed in what LIV Golf built, but it is the right one for these estates and the circumstances. Obviously, if the facts or the circumstances change, the strategic initiative committee can and will revisit this decision, consistent with its fiduciary duties.”

BC Partners had planned to replace Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as LIV Golf’s primary financier, but with not enough of the league’s top golfers committed to return in 2027, the London-based international investment firm opted to pull out.

A source added that LIV Golf met a critical mass of players who had pledged to compete in the league next season — about 30 were committed and another 10 still were considering it — but BC Partners pulled the plug when negotiations with those golfers dragged on.

“This is not for lack of a good faith effort,” Williams said. “Over the past several weeks, the debtors, BC Partners, the PIF, the players, the creditors committee, we all negotiated intensely and in good faith. The parties worked through multiple iterations of the financing for a reorganized league, the upsized [debtor in possession] documents necessary to support the process, and the terms on which the players could and would participate.

“Every constituency made meaningful efforts to find common ground, but ultimately, despite everyone’s best efforts, we just couldn’t get to the level of combined financial and player support necessary for a viable LIV 2.0 within the required timeline.”

Former LIV Golf stars Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton and others didn’t commit to LIV 2.0 and plan to play on the DP World Tour next season.

The PIF announced in April that it wouldn’t finance LIV Golf beyond this season after investing more than $5 billion into the circuit that lured away stars like Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and others from the PGA Tour beginning in 2022 with guaranteed contracts of more than $100 million and events with $30 million purses.