LIV Golf Faces Deadline to Secure Player Commitments for Relaunch
LIV Golf must obtain enough player commitments by the end of October to keep its planned 2024 relaunch viable, while several high-profile players negotiate severance settlements.
LIV Golf's 2026 season ended abruptly in August after a combined individual and team tournament in Indianapolis, after which most staff were laid off except for legal and executive personnel. The promotion is now seeking to restart as "LIV 2.0" and has been given an extended deadline to secure player commitments.
Investor BC Partners, which is backing the relaunch, set an original deadline of Oct. 25 for the tour to attract enough players to remain viable. The Financial Times reported that about 15 players have expressed interest, short of the 30-40 players BC Partners hoped for. The deadline was later extended to the end of the week to allow further negotiations.
Several players, including Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Ian Poulter, Louis Oosthuizen and David Puig, have publicly announced they will not return. A separate group of high-profile players, led by Dustin Johnson, is reportedly seeking severance payments from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) that originally financed the league. The Athletic reported that more than 10 players are negotiating a cash settlement in exchange for dropping their claims.
"Given their reliance on these promises, our group seeks a sensible severance payment as part of the wind-up of LIV," lawyer David Cornwall told The Athletic.
The PIF, described by the fund as an equity investor that has ceased investing, says it is not involved in discussions with the holdout players. Another group, represented by law firm Reed Smith, is also negotiating a settlement.
Financial reports indicate that LIV Golf owes its former players roughly $400 million and has offered settlements at a low percentage of the claimed amounts. The PIF, now the senior lender in the bankruptcy case, can initiate a winding-down of the business if a new agreement is not reached by Oct. 30.
The outcome will determine whether LIV Golf can launch a reduced-scale tour with fewer events and lower prize money, or whether the brand will cease operations entirely.