The golf organization will reveal its financial angel in September.
According to the LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil, his professional golf league has funding to keep the organization going. O’Neil though has not identified the potential investors but he claims that will all be cleared up by September and that its full speed ahead for the financially troubled golf circuit. “LIV Golf has an agreement in place with a lead investor, signed by the investor and approved by the board, to anchor the transaction and play a key role in supporting the path forward for the league’s next era, driven by and for the players,” O’Neil said in a statement. “We’re also seeing strong interest from more than a dozen additional parties to potentially serve as minority investors, creating a multi-partner model built for long-term stability and growth.” O’Neil needs to find $250 million to $300 million to keep LIV alive. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced on April 30th that it would no longer finance it.
LIV golfers will be the majority equity holders. It all sounds good but until the ink dries on the contact paper, O’Neil’s statements don’t mean all that much and history suggests in the United States that getting fresh money to save a league doesn’t always work. So far, the second iteration of the United Football League has not been successful despite new money coming in. Other leagues have come and gone without getting a second chance. The World Football League was going to revolutionize football in 1974 but WFL owners found out what the owners of three American Football Leagues and the owners of the All America Football Conference learned. You better have deep pockets or you are out of business. The WFL tried to get its financing under control but folding halfway through its second season. A startup sports league is a difficult venture.
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