Plenty has been said and written about the origins of LIV Golf, its immense finances, and its eventual financial collapse. Yet in chief executive Scott O’Neil, the breakaway golf circuit has an experienced administrator who is adamant that there is plenty of reason for optimism that “LIV 2.0” can achieve sustainable success.
After Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) pulled the plug on its financial support in April, O’Neil immediately went about securing the backing of players and commercial partners to finish the season. He then turned his full attention to mapping out a brand-new business plan that would allow LIV to continue operating independently without its original benefactor. Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy provided the organization with the necessary breathing room to pursue this new path, and the league has now officially signed up BC Partners as its first major investor in a deal that could be worth up to US$300 million.
Speaking at Leaders Week London at Stamford Bridge, O’Neil referenced “triple-digit growth” in 2025 and reported that LIV’s revenues were up “another US$100 million” in the first quarter of 2026. He also talked up strong support in markets traditionally underserved by the other major tours, highlighted agreements with an array of blue-chip corporate sponsors, and emphasized the diversity of the tour’s growing audience.
Despite these optimistic projections, broadcast reach often masked modest actual television viewership, and multibillion-dollar losses are difficult to disguise. Industry estimates suggest that the PIF invested between US$5 billion and US$8 billion into the enterprise since LIV’s inception in 2021.
LIV’s initial strategy—which relied on innovating with a 54-hole format, securing the absolute best players in the world through astronomical guarantees, and eventually forcing a merger with the established PGA Tour and DP World Tour—appears to be no more. Instead, the vision now is to catalyze commercial momentum and transform its individual teams into genuinely investable assets.
“The most important thing always is keeping this team together,” O’Neil said. “Having BC Partners on our side and seeing… whether we can raise some money and getting the players on board and ready to go for 2027 are also important. There’s so much momentum here, and to have the rug pulled at that time… I was just grateful that [BC Partners head of credit] Ted Goldthorpe and his leadership and vision were able to come on board, and that we have this team that just pulls together and gets it done.”
Why BC is backing LIV 2.0
BC Partners’ investment will not cover the entirety of the league’s past liabilities, but its financial commitment will enable a successful exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection—an essential first step in realizing LIV’s revamped commercial vision. O’Neil also noted that key partners were continuing to support its efforts, with US broadcaster Fox keeping schedule slots open for future LIV events.
At the same time, LIV is now entirely free from the massive, multi-million-dollar contracts that initially lured marquee names like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, which will dramatically lower its ongoing operating expenses. However, this shift is already proving difficult when it comes to retaining their services without the backing of sovereign wealth.
Just hours after O’Neil appeared alongside Goldthorpe at industry events, Rahm’s legal representation informed a bankruptcy court hearing that the Spanish star would be officially leaving the league. The 31-year-old was one of LIV’s most high-profile acquisitions when he jumped from the PGA Tour in 2023, with reports valuing his initial contract at more than US$300 million.
Ultimately, Rahm decided not to be part of the tour’s future after deeming the terms of LIV 2.0 to be what his lawyer described as “unacceptable.” The two sides are currently engaged in advanced discussions regarding a consensual separation agreement.
That departure is far from an insignificant blow. BC Partners’ investment is strictly contingent upon LIV re-signing at least half of the players to whom it currently owes money, and those re-signed athletes cannot simply be the lowest-paid members of the roster. Crucially, the retained players must account for two-thirds of all money currently owed by the league.
Speaking before news of Rahm’s impending departure broke, Goldthorpe explained that player enthusiasm was a primary driver behind BC Partners’ decision to invest, alongside the commercial momentum highlighted by O’Neil.
“The players that play for us love playing on LIV,” Goldthorpe said. “So, retaining the players—and the key players—is a hurdle, but I think it’s a very achievable hurdle in a short period of time. We know the PIF very well and they’re very sophisticated and very smart. No one spends six or seven billion dollars on something and it’s worth zero. It just doesn’t exist. So that was kind of our starting framework. We have not only some of the best players in the world, but also, from a business perspective, some of the most marketable players in the world. Think Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith and Dustin Johnson. As a businessperson, these are fantastic people, assets, players. There’s a lot here we can work with.”
LIV will look “a lot like Formula One”
As part of the restructuring, BC Partners is establishing a dedicated holding company to house its various sporting investments, with plans to leverage its media assets to increase their overall enterprise value. However, the foundational method by which LIV plans to achieve long-term financial sustainability is through the sale of equity stakes in individual teams, with participating players also granted ownership shares.
LIV is placing a tremendous amount of confidence in this revised corporate structure, promising that both athletes and outside investors will mutually benefit from commercial revenues, tournament prize money, and the broader enterprise growth of LIV 2.0. Both O’Neil and Goldthorpe believe the concept is uniquely positioned to capitalize on surging interest in sports properties from private equity firms, which increasingly recognize the commercial potential and resilient revenue streams offered by major sports assets.
Speaking at the Sportico Invest Conference, Goldthorpe estimated that each individual LIV team could realistically be valued at over US$100 million “in very short order.”
“If you look at the athletes that really made a lot of money, they made it through ownership, not through pay checks,” Goldthorpe added. “Look at David Beckham in Miami, or Magic Johnson with the Los Angeles Lakers. If we can show people that this is a sustainable business and league, those teams have tonnes of value. So, my guess is that over time this will begin to look a lot more like Formula One, or other leagues that are analogous to what we’re trying to do.”
However, the original iteration of LIV also harbored hopes that its teams would transform into highly valuable commercial assets, a vision that ultimately fell short. Furthermore, the team-based structure has historically struggled to capture the sustained imagination of casual golf fans, despite being heavily promoted at every available opportunity.
LIV leadership is now hoping that by tapping into passionate local fandoms—such as those established in Australia, South Africa, and South Korea—it can inspire a level of allegiance akin to international spectacles like the Ryder Cup. The concept of player-owned franchises could theoretically prove more palatable to traditional golf enthusiasts than a setup funded entirely by a central sovereign fund, as golfers themselves will be more directly invested in the performance and financial fortunes of their respective teams.
“I think having superstar athletes as your partners on your side of the table, with not only a meaningful stake in their teams but also a meaningful stake in the league, is absolutely a tremendous advantage,” O’Neil said. “And look, this is a five-year-old league. It’s a baby. It’s up on its feet and it’s out of diapers, but it’s a baby. So, from our standpoint, the growth opportunity is huge. There’s so much white space: title sponsors, key television markets. This is a rocket ship waiting to take off. The team element is fun. The one question I get from new people is, ‘I don’t get this team thing.’ And I say, ‘Do you get the Ryder Cup? Do you get the Olympics? How about college golf?’ We’re not splitting atoms. We’re having fun and bringing new people to the game.”
Finding a place in the ecosystem
O’Neil also pointed to TGL, the technology-infused indoor golf league created by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ TMRW Sports venture, as clear evidence of underlying market demand. City-based teams within TGL—which was originally conceived partly in response to the massive financial disruption caused by LIV—have successfully commanded valuations of more than US$80 million, pushing the overall league valuation to an estimated US$1 billion.
“[That] gives us a lot of conviction and hope,” O’Neil noted.
Yet industry analysts observe that TGL occupies a fundamentally different space: it complements rather than directly competes with existing traditional tours, guarantees the consistent participation of top-tier global stars, and benefits from a major broadcast partnership with ESPN while expanding into women’s competitions.
Pinpointing where LIV fits within the broader professional golfing ecosystem remains a complex challenge. But for the immediate future, the circuit has a finalized pitch, a proposed tournament schedule, and is actively reemploying personnel who were previously let go during the restructuring. Crucially, the organization’s leadership insists it has abandoned its combative stance toward the wider golf world.
“There’s so much value destruction when you’re nasty and angry and fighting, and there are fines and suspensions and all this stuff,” O’Neil reflected. “It’s not value-accretive; it’s value-destructive. So, starting over, I think we would have come into the business with more of an olive branch and a partnership approach than we did.”
