May 19 (Reuters) - LIV Golf has begun laying the groundwork for a potential U.S. bankruptcy filing as a last resort if it fails to raise new funds, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which has spent more than $5 billion on LIV Golf since it launched in 2022, said in April that investing in the league no longer fit with its investment strategy.
The PIF's decision to cut LIV Golf's funding at the close of the 2026 season
has left the breakaway circuit scrambling for new backers and raises questions about the future of its big-name players on lucrative contracts.
The report said that while LIV's management and advisers were looking for options, including trying to find new investors, they were preparing for the league's collapse when the season ends in August as a possible outcome.
LIV did not confirm the report when reached by Reuters.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil, speaking to reporters two weeks ago in his first press conference since the PIF announced it was pulling its funding, said he had heard from plenty of potential investors.
"It was a split between private equity, family office and then your traditional like high net worth -- you probably know who they are, the guys who invest in sports and sports teams. So that's been really positive," said O'Neil.
"It's still early. We haven't gotten to market yet. We haven't finalized our business plan. We're still picking and prodding. We have a good sense at this point... we know where we're going, and we're just going to tighten the screws."
LIV has previously said it posted a 100% increase in revenue year-on-year this season and was convinced that the team golf model would be highly attractive to investors.
Through big-money contracts and lucrative purses, LIV managed to lure a number of golf's biggest names from the PGA Tour, including Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.
LIV Golf launched in 2022 with the backing of the PIF and critics have decried it as a vehicle for the country to attempt to improve its reputation in the face of criticism of its human rights record.
The Saudi government denies accusations of human rights abuses.
(Reporting by Frank PIngue in Toronto and Carlos Méndez in Mexico City; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Clare Fallon)
