LIV Golf will reportedly not be affected by plans to reduce the international investments of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) that bankrolls the circuit.
Per the Financial Times, governor of the PIF, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, announced at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh on Tuesday that the sovereign wealth fund intends to reduce its international investments from around 30% to between 18% and 20%.
Naturally, that would lead to questions over what it meant for LIV Golf given the PIF’s sizeable investment in the venture, including over $400m a season in prize money and lucrative contracts to lure players to the circuit, including for two-time Major winner Jon Rahm, whose deal was reportedly in the region of $566m.
However, according to sports reporter at The Times, Tom Kershaw, it will be business as usual for LIV Golf as well as another sporting enterprise financed by the PIF, Newcastle United soccer club.
He wrote on X: “Understand the PIF's announcement about cutting international investment applies to future rather than existing portfolios, meaning it will not directly affect the future of LIV Golf or Newcastle United's stadium plans.”
Understand the PIF's announcement about cutting international investment applies to future rather than existing portfolios, meaning it will not directly affect the future of LIV Golf or Newcastle United's stadium plans.October 29, 2024
Ever since its emergence in 2022, there have been questions over the financial sustainability of LIV Golf, including from a plan drawn up the year before by management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
It stated that for LIV Golf to succeed financially it needed “to sign each of the world’s top 12 golfers, attract sponsors to an unproven product and land television deals for a sport with declining viewership - all without significant retaliation from the PGA Tour it would be plundering.”
Three years since the report and LIV Golf has only been partially successful in reaching those benchmarks, although much has changed at the top of the men’s game since its launch.
The PIF and the PGA Tour remain embroiled in discussions over a way for the two to coexist in the future following the announcement that they had put their rivalries to one side to come to the negotiating table in June 2023.
Nevertheless, earlier this week, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman conceded in an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated that its inability to secure a network TV deal had caused a knock-on effect for its ambitions, saying: “Where we’re falling short is due to the headwinds in not getting a network deal. That creates uncertainty in the marketplace. (A lot of companies say) let’s see what happens. That rolls into sponsorship.”
Regardless of the implications, it seems that, even though the PIF is scaling back its international investments, it remains full steam ahead for the circuit as it plans for the 2025 season.
