With its 2026 season now abruptly over and its future still uncertain, LIV Golf informed its employees Wednesday that it is scaling back operations and terminating a significant number of positions in order to try to make LIV 2.0 “a reality.”
While a spokesperson for LIV did not specify how many people would be impacted, it is expected that a majority of the workforce will be affected.
In July, employees were notified that this was a possibility given the league has now reached the end of its current funding. LIV remains optimistic about future funding and claims that it expects many of the team and league employees who were let go to return should LIV 2.0 launch.
We are grateful to our employees
“We are grateful to our employees for their hard work and dedication in building LIV Golf, and we remain committed to supporting those affected through this transition,” a spokesperson said in a statement obtained by ESPN.
In April, LIV was informed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia that it would no longer be funding the league after the 2026 season. The PIF invested more than $5 billion into LIV Golf since its first tournament in June 2022 and was reportedly spending $100 million per month this year. The shocking move to back away sent the breakaway golf league looking for a new investor.
As it tried to set itself up to relaunch in 2027, LIV canceled its event in New Orleans and most recently, canceled its team championship in Michigan. The individual purse for last week’s Indianapolis event was cut in half, and its two scheduled concerts were also canceled. The league also still faces several lawsuits from multiple vendors who claim unpaid invoices for services.
While CEO Scott O’Neil announced earlier this month
While CEO Scott O’Neil announced earlier this month that the league had signed a term sheet with an investor — confirmed to be Ted Goldthorpe of BC Partners — that $250 million investment has not been finalized. O’Neil has pitched investors and players, whose commitment is integral to the league’s survival, on a 10-event schedule with five international and five stateside tournaments as well as player equity and an ability to play on other tours.
On Tuesday, PGA Tour CEO/commissioner Brian Rolapp said the tour has no current plan to bring back the Returning Member Program, which would be a potential pathway for Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith to return from LIV. The DP World Tour has, according to multiple reports, informed some LIV players that it may resume fining them in 2027 should they try to play on both tours.
“The first chapter of LIV required enormous ambition and investment. This next chapter requires something quite different: Commercial discipline,” O’Neil said last week in Indianapolis. “I wasn’t here in the early days, but at least reputationally, it was a bit more free-spending than it will be in the future. We’ve taken a real disciplined look at the cost side of the business, and I’ve grown up in a business where you sell it then build it, and this was a build it then sell it.”
After taking steps to shrink operations and terminate
After taking steps to shrink operations and terminate its workforce, LIV has also not ruled out filing for bankruptcy.
“I don’t think we would rule out any option. I mean, the whole focus is on transaction, transaction, transaction,” O’Neil said. “We’re spending all our time thinking about how we best land this plane and have it landed so we can take off again. All our focus is in that direction.”
Source: www.espn.com
