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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast
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“LIV GOLF–BAD IDEA-GONE BAD”
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Money can buy you lots of things.
Happiness. Luxury lifestyle. Recognition.
It cannot guarantee you business success, especially if it is driven by greed.
Just ask the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which went on a spending spree four years ago to create a rival golf league to the PGA Tour.
They signed some of the Tour’s biggest names with big bonus contracts, some with paydays of 100-to-200M bonuses. They offered big prize money (33M) for the some 16-tour events they planned globally.
They lured more than 50-golfers in 4-years, from established stars like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm,Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and more.
They hauled in the top European golfer and the US-Amateur king and the NCAA-champion.
Players named a price, the PIF paid it, no questions asked.
But then reality set in. The PGA suspended all those name stars for violating their tour card. Mickelson enraged the tour and the fans by becoming the point man on behalf of LIV, making contacts with other PGA members to come on board.
Then the media stepped in using the term ‘blood money’, to describe Saudi oil money, the same kind of money used by those who hijacked the 3-jetliners that became the trauma of 9/11.
No one wanted to do business here in the US with LIV. They had to buy their own tV time, take on the production costs, for tourney’s no one watched here in the states
The players became outcasts. The events drew few fans and negligible TV ratings, even when the tournaments were held at Trump resort courses here.
The numbers are staggering in red-blood..red ink. In 4-years, LIV lost lost (5.4B) total.
Now the party seems over. Players have asked out of contracts. A few have come to the PGA after sitting out a full year.
Now reports LIV has missed payments to other players and has not paid vendors globally.
And International reports are the PIF is going to end its funding of a tour no one watches, maybe at the end of this year. What becomes of the big names who left?
No one knows, but most think they won’t be welcomed back without repaying a penalty for damage done and the violations of their tour cards.
The idea of merger talks ceased over who would pay what fees to run what events in the US and Europe.
And now the backer is walking away, tired of losses, and no return on investment.
Many thought a bad idea, that became a bad product (team play-really?), no cuts, small fields etc. Not really tournaments of value but more like exhibitions.
Who knows what happens to Phil Mickelson, DJ or others, who went, disappeared from the radar, padded their pockets and ruined their reputations.
Money, lots of money, can buy you many rich things. Blood money you took, cannot buy you back your reputation.
LIV-RIP-SOB…Bad Idea
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(Front Office Sports Essay on what is next with LIV)
As LIV Golf moves forward with the rest of its season following multiple reports signaling a lack of long-term funding for the league, uncertainty remains about LIV’s existence beyond this year.
Should the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia decide to no longer financially back LIV, which it has done since the tour launched in 2022, there are three major questions surrounding what would happen next.
Could LIV Golf Members Return to the PGA Tour?
The timeline for LIV players to return to the PGA Tour would almost certainly vary between individuals.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said Wednesday he is “interested in doing whatever makes the PGA Tour better. Fans want the best players playing together.” Speaking to Trey Wingo on the Straight Facts Homie! podcast, Rolapp said, “I don’t know what the circumstances are. Once there’s clarity, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But we’re clearly not there yet.”
Brooks Koepka was able to immediately rejoin the PGA Tour as the first participant in the newly created “Returning Member Program,” which was also made available to LIV’s Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cam Smith. However, no one else accepted the offer, and the program is not currently open. Rolapp could decide to make the same or a similar offer to the trio of stars if LIV folds.
Patrick Reed is set to rejoin the PGA Tour as early as August, after it has been one year since his most recent LIV start. That one-year ban would likely be what most LIV players would face if they want to get back on the PGA Tour, or seek membership for the first time.
Could LIV Continue With New Investors?
LIV, now in its fifth season, has been an expensive operation, hosting events around the globe and now paying out $33 million weekly purses. The PIF’s total spending on the league is projected to surpass $6 billion by the end of this year.
A LIV official recently told Front Office Sports that the league, through five events this season, was tracking $100 million ahead in revenue year over year, with significant increases in sponsorship (+40%), ticket sales (+129%), VIP hospitality sales (+67%), merchandise retail (+26%), and YouTube revenue (+309%). At least four LIV events and 10 teams are projected to be profitable this year, according to the league.
Should the PIF end its funding, though, it could look to sell off its LIV assets, and league officials could also seek out new investors to keep the tour running.
LIV this year was already in the early stages of reviewing strategic options for minority stake sales in at least two of the league’s thirteen teams, each of which is owned 25% by team captains and 75% by the PIF. The sports group at Citigroup has been LIV’s exclusive adviser in that process, which has included conversations with private-equity funds, family offices, and other individuals.
Finding new investors now, though, could prove difficult. “Can’t imagine anyone would touch it,” one anonymous PE executive told FOS.
In 2023, former Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said he had previously considered a $1 billion investment in LIV that would have replaced the PIF’s early involvement.
However, Emanuel is now CEO of TKO Group Holdings and the principal investor in live experiences company Mari. And Endeavor is now majority-owned by Silver Lake, whose co-CEOs Egon Durban and Greg Mondre last year reportedly invested in TMRW Sports, the Tiger Woods–cofounded parent company of TGL, which is also backed by the PGA Tour.
Will the PIF Continue Other Golf Investments?
The PIF is also currently invested in several other golf events and tours beyond LIV.
On the Ladies European Tour, the five-event PIF Global Series is paying out $15 million in prize money this year. February’s $4 million Aramco Championship in Las Vegas was co-sanctioned with the LPGA.
The Asian Tour has the International Series, which is backed by the PIF, serving as a pathway for players to earn spots on LIV. This year, seven events are paying out $17 million in prize money, culminating with the $5 million PIF Saudi International in November.
Golf Saudi, the nation’s initiative promoting the sport domestically, has sponsored dozens of players across LIV, the LPGA, and LET.
Given the PIF’s new strategy prioritizing Saudi Arabia’s local economy more so than international investments, events played in Saudi Arabia are likely to remain even if LIV and other tours see their funding cut.
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