Embattled LIV Golf to make ‘surprise’ changes: CEO

Multiple outlets this week reported that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund will shortly stop bankrolling the divisive league, which has spent billions to lure top golfers away from the traditional PGA and DP World tours.

The league has said its current season will continue “full throttle,” and this week’s Mexico City tournament began Thursday as planned, although coverage was hit with a lengthy broadcast blackout due to local power outages.

“I talked about some structural changes. They’re coming,” said O’Neil, in an interview broadcast during the Mexico City event.

“You can ask just about the 50 people I met in Augusta,” he said, referring to last weekened’s Masters venue.

“I rolled out the plan. We have one, and it is… It might surprise some people.”

The Saudi-backed tour, which features major winners including Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, and a focus on faster, geographically diverse and team-oriented competitions, has bitterly divided the world of golf since its 2022 launch.

Seeking to tap into markets beyond the United States, it has attracted strong crowds to tournaments in countries including Australia and South Africa, but has struggled to bag lucrative television deals.

The Saudi wealth fund is estimated to have spent around $5 billion on LIV Golf. But at a five-year plan presentation this week it said it would focus on “increasing the efficiency of investments.”

O’Neil said Thursday that the LIV Golf tour would “probably” have to raise money.

He pointed to a previously touted strategy of selling stakes in LIV Golf’s 13 team franchises, and said he had received “two calls this morning” on the topic.

The league plans to replicate sports like Formula 1 with separately owned teams.

Sales of minority or even controlling stakes in two teams to wealthy individuals or companies were being explored this year prior to the reports of a possible Saudi withdrawal.

In January, Bloomberg reported that the league was targeting valuations up to $300 million per team. There is currently no public valuation of what the teams are worth.

O’Neil also pushed back on media coverage of LIV Golf in recent days, in particular a story from Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reporting that executives had been called into an emergency meeting in New York.

“It’s a lot of reaching and grabbing for headlines and clickbait and stories,” said O’Neil.

“Will there be a change in how we operate? Of course,” he added.