LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil expressed optimism Tuesday in his first public comments since Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund confirmed it will pull its financial support following the 2026 season.
O'Neil cited the value of the league's 13 teams as a means to attract new investors in the wake of the PIF news.
"If you ask me where the value of this business is, it's in the teams," O'Neil said at his pre-tournament press conference ahead of this week's LIV Golf Virginia event in Washington, D.C.
"If you're
looking for direction, we believe that teams will have extraordinary value," O'Neil said. "We believe that once we set the business in the right direction with the right trajectory, with the right revenue base and cost base -- which we're well on our way to doing -- that these teams will have extraordinary value. And that's where, if you're an investor and you're listening to this or reading this, that's where you're going to get your value."
His comments came one day after LIV Golf announced that New York-based Ducera Partners LLC will serve as an investment banking advisor as it seeks financial stability moving forward.
O'Neil also discussed sponsorships, ticket sales and television contracts on Tuesday as a means to drive up funding.
"The way the process will typically work -- I may be getting ahead of myself -- is that we're going to create a business plan, we're going to lock arms with the players, we will go to market and raise money on a top level, and then we will get investors in teams in that order," he said. "The players on the team should be locked in."
O'Neil also addressed whether the PIF had committed to honoring contracts past 2026.
"I mean, they own the majority of the business now, and they've agreed to fund through the season, as they said. Nothing there has changed," he said.
O'Neil said later in his press conference that he has "confidence that this is a place players want to be." That said, he also was asked about golfers pursuing other options.
"I have so much to say on this topic, and I'm going to keep this short because I'm under direction to," he said. "I will tell you this, one of the beauties of LIV Golf, the beauties, the thing I enjoy most about it, is that we are for golf. We always have been and we always will be. Our players, we commit them to 14 weeks. They come and play. They know exactly the weeks they're expected to play, they show up, and they play.
"If another Tour is open for them to play, that's 14 weeks out of 52. That's 38 weeks. So 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. Like it's such a special opportunity.
"I feel like the opportunity, the chance, the gift we've been given here at LIV Golf is that we have players who will travel the world, and that is a gift to the game."
Founded in 2021, LIV Golf made its debut in June 2022 and used lavish, guaranteed contracts to lure dozens of stars like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau away from the PGA. Former LIV participant Brooks Koepka already has returned to the PGA Tour while Patrick Reed will return later this season.
PIF has provided LIV with more than $5 billion, but the league reportedly has lost millions of dollars per year. Earlier this month, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, PIF's governor and LIV's main financial backer, shared a plan for the kingdom to cut back on international investments and focus on more domestic projects.
O'Neil replaced former league leader Greg Norman as CEO in January 2025.
--Field Level Media
