LIV Golf boss Scott O’Neil sees hope for new sponsors beyond 2026

WASHINGTON – LIV Golf sees hope in finding new financial sponsors to carry the series beyond 2026, when its vast Saudi funding will end, even though chief executive officer Scott O’Neil was short on details in comments on May 5.

Speaking ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Virginia event at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, the American said he has spoken with potential investors as he works on a business plan he can pitch to players and sponsors alike.

“I definitely will not be talking through specifics of the plan,” he said.

“But it’s a playbook that won’t surprise too many people once you see it. It’s for next year that we’re going to be making some pretty significant, substantive changes.”

The days of playing less golf but making more money than PGA Tour talents figure to be at an end, since the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund has said it will pull the plug on backing LIV once this season concludes in August.

But O’Neil believes that, even with changes, LIV players will want to remain with the series.

“Do I believe that when we have a business plan and we raise money, that this is the place the players will choose? I do,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence this is a place players want to be.”

O’Neil added he was “very confident” of support from new sponsors.

“I had about a dozen inbound calls this weekend from potential investors,” he said. “It was a split between private equity, family office, and then your traditional high-net-worth guys who invest in sports and sports teams. So that has been really positive.”

He has also spoken with broadcast and marketing partners about staying with LIV, saying, “We have a good sense at this point. We know where we’re going.”

O’Neil wants to keep a 14-week season but have other tours allow LIV players into events to produce showdowns with the world’s top talent.

“If you want to see the best players in the world playing together more often, no problem, let’s do it on the other 38 weeks,” he said.

The PGA Tour has banned LIV players from its events, but opened a brief return path which allowed Brooks Koepka back in 2026.

O’Neil had no timetable for when LIV might have a plan to offer players and investors.

“I won’t speak to specific timing other than to say that you’ll find urgency here,” he said.

When it came to return on investment, O’Neil pointed to LIV teams, some of whom have changed in recent months to reflect more national line-ups.

“We believe teams will have extraordinary value,” he said.

“Once we set the business in the right direction with the right trajectory, with the right revenue base and cost base, these teams will have extraordinary value.”

O’Neil also said players have offered to make visits to private equity firms in hopes of deals to sustain LIV, which has made a splash with events in places such as Adelaide.

“To see the impact it’s having in markets like Australia where we had 115,000 people, and South Africa we had 100,000 people, and the UK where we had 60,000 people last year... You start to feel that movement that the teams are catching on,” he said.

“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling an appropriate amount of pressure. I’m feeling inspired and I feel like we have a clear path to a win.”

Meanwhile, former world No. 2 Cameron Smith said he had been given every assurance LIV will continue beyond 2026 despite the loss of Saudi Arabian backing.

Smith, who captains the all-Australian Ripper GC outfit, signed up early for a reported US$100 million (S$126.8 million) and has earned about US$50 million in prize money from the team-based tour.

The 2022 British Open winner did not elaborate on what he heard, but he was confident.

“I know the team are working hard behind the scenes and they’re doing everything they can for us,” he said.

“So I am excited, I know O’Neil is really excited for the progress and challenge in the coming months.” AFP, REUTERS