Inside LIV Golf's '2.0' plan to survive without Saudi funding
LIV Golf is preparing for its post-Saudi era with a host of potential changes, increasing its players' stakes in the league, introducing a new individual tournament element, and pushing hard for investment across every phase of the tour, on and off the course.
Originally funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf will lose access to that funding at the end of its current season. Rather than fold up the tents and shutter the league, LIV officials are attempting to move forward with "LIV 2.0" by tweaking the league's format in order to appeal to both potential investors and players who might be considering backing out of the league.
Most notably, from the player perspective, LIV will be returning most commercial rights to its players, a source with knowledge of LIV's operations told Yahoo Sports. What this means in practice is that players could be able to market and monetize their own image in a way that few professional leagues of any sport permit. This, obviously, is an attempt to keep Bryson DeChambeau, LIV's most valuable asset and professional golf's most social media-focused player, in the LIV fold.
"One door closes, another opens," DeChambeau said prior to LIV's recent Korea event. "I think that's the way a lot of us are looking at it. I think we all have optimism that there is a business plan that makes sense for team golf."
LIV has promised to increase player ownership and equity in the league, which, again, is an attempt to keep players with wayward eyes from straying too far from the LIV stable. Ownership, in either the league itself or its individual teams, would obviously give them more incentive both to stay and to promote the league going forward.
LIV continues to promote the concept of global team golf. The league currently has 13 teams, many of which are regionally or nationally aligned, and captained by notable players like DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson. However, LIV will also be introducing eight to 10 "National Opens," individual-play events that will presumably allow for players to increase their Official World Golf Ranking points for major entry while keeping a LIV foothold in key markets.
This is ambitious talk, and it will require a significant cash infusion to keep the league going at anywhere close to its previous levels. LIV is thus reaching out to potential investors, from private equity to media companies to ultra-high-net-worth individuals, to see about investment opportunities in the new league. LIV officials have said they are seeing significant incoming investment interest, as well — though whether "interest" translates to "investment" remains to be seen.
In a pitch deck obtained by Yahoo Sports, LIV is promoting a range of slogans for its 2.0 iteration, from "A Global Platform Built For Growth" to "Restrictions Lifted. Upside Unlocked." Within the pitch deck, basically every element of LIV is on the table for sponsorship and investment purposes, from potential host courses to in-tournament events to external opportunities like digital content creation (documentaries, player endorsements, artist collaborations). "Players, captains and teams build value beyond prize money," the deck notes, with emphasis, "for the first time."
Investors interested in LIV will see plenty of optimistic quotes from DeChambeau and LIV CEO Scott O'Neil, as well as a breakdown of LIV's potential 2027 worldwide team golf schedule. At several of those events, including South Africa and Australia, LIV has already seen six-figure attendance figures; LIV is leaning into the "underserved international markets" angle as part of its pitch.
LIV's bid for new investment comes as the entire men's professional golf world is preparing for a seismic shakeup. The PGA Tour is readying its plans for 2027, 2028 and beyond, which are likely to include significant changes to its current model, changes which likely won't benefit all players equally. Whether LIV will be able to take advantage of that shakeup, again, remains to be seen, but the opportunity will be there.
Does LIV Golf have a future after its Saudi funding dries up? That's yet to be determined, but the tour is certainly talking in optimistic terms — and, notably, with a bit less arrogance and attitude than its previous incarnation. ("Golf, But Louder" is nowhere to be found in the LIV 2.0 pitch deck.) It's still an open question as to whether investors will buy into LIV's vision of global team golf, but the opportunity for them to do so is now open.
