LIV Golf wind-down after BC Partners withdraws support, Digi Mart USA News (Adelaide, Australia): LIV Golf is closing down after losing the financial support it had hoped to secure from BC Partners to keep the breakaway men’s golf league afloat. The league lasted five years but fell into financial trouble earlier this year when Saudi Arabia withdrew its financial backing.
Instead of launching a new version in 2027, LIV is entering a liquidation phase. According to a bankruptcy court hearing, the league plans to wind down operations rather than proceed with a new version due to a lack of support.
LIV Golf, which launched in June 2022 by offering nine-figure signing bonuses to lure top players away from the PGA Tour, lost Saudi Arabian funding in April after spending more than $5 billion (US dollars) (about $7 billion Australian dollars). LIV held four events in Australia, all in Adelaide, and was scheduled to host its fifth tournament in March at Kooyonga Golf Club.
“The debtors are not currently proceeding with the LIV 2.0 plan,” lawyer Matthew Williams of Gibson Dunn said during a hearing in New Jersey. “Instead, the debtors are toggling to a value-maximizing wind-down in their business.”
LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 8 and had hoped for a lifeline from BC Partners Credit, which pledged a $300 million investment to pivot to a more financially sustainable “LIV 2.0.” However, players including Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton and Louis Oosthuizen were not interested.
“BC Partners Credit supported a transaction that aligned the interests of players and investors, offering a credible path toward building a sustainable future for LIV Golf,” BC Partners said in a statement. “While there was great support for the league, we are disappointed that mutually acceptable terms could not be reached among the various stakeholders.”
Rahm agreed to forfeit all claims against LIV, said to be worth some $100 million, to get out of his contract. He is back on the European Tour and hopes there will be a path back to the PGA Tour, which currently has a one-year ban in place for players dating back to their last LIV appearance.
LIV Golf paid $15.6 million to retain seven of its executives, including $6.375 million to chief executive Scott O’Neil, in the months between the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal and the bankruptcy filing. Such payments are not unusual for a company trying to emerge from bankruptcy, but the question now is whether they can be voided given that LIV is not going forward.
LIV suffered two major setbacks, both before and after its bankruptcy filing. The Asian Tour, which had received financial support from LIV for an International Series, decided in July to renew its alliance with the PGA Tour and the European Tour.
European Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings said last month that anyone signing up for LIV 2.0 need not apply for membership on the tour, putting European players at risk of having no part in the Ryder Cup.
The biggest setback came in April, when the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia changed its investment strategy and said it would no longer pay for LIV Golf after the 2026 season. LIV was originally run by Greg Norman, who had tried unsuccessfully to start a world tour in 1994, and promoted the league as “Golf, but louder,” featuring 54-hole shotgun starts and $25 million in prize funds at each event.
LIV had no broadcast deal in its first year, meaning it had to cover production costs. It later secured a deal with the CW Network in 2023 and eventually signed Fox Sports in 2025.
Brooks Koepka exited his LIV deal with one year remaining earlier this year, and Patrick Reed chose not to extend his deal and is poised to return to the PGA Tour next year through his performance in Europe.
LIV’s final event was in August in Indianapolis, won by Michael La Sasso, who failed to get through the second stage of European Tour Q-School last week.
