LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil Says Saudi Funding Will End After This Season, Teases New Business Model

LIV Golf Chief Executive Scott O’Neil has confirmed that direct Saudi Arabian financial backing for the breakaway golf league will cease at the conclusion of the current season, marking a pivotal shift for a circuit that has reshaped professional golf since its 2022 launch. O’Neil said he has a forward-looking business strategy to sustain operations but declined to disclose specifics, leaving the sport’s power brokers and players watching closely.

The announcement represents one of the most consequential developments in the LIV Golf saga since the circuit’s disruptive debut three years ago. Backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, LIV lured away a number of the world’s top players — including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Jon Rahm — with guaranteed contracts reported in some cases to exceed $100 million. That spending spree, funded almost entirely by PIF, triggered a bitter legal and commercial war with the PGA Tour, reshaped the global men’s professional golf calendar, and forced the established tours to dramatically raise prize money to retain talent.

O’Neil’s comments suggest LIV intends to pivot from a pure subsidy model toward something resembling a commercially self-sustaining enterprise — a transition that would require meaningful growth in broadcast rights, sponsorships, ticketing, and franchise-team equity sales. To date, LIV has struggled in several of those categories. Its U.S. broadcast partnership with a major network has delivered modest ratings, and analysts have repeatedly questioned whether the team-based, 54-hole, shotgun-start format can generate the kind of mainstream commercial traction needed to support nine-figure player contracts without continued outside capital.

What happens next will be closely scrutinized by players, sponsors, and officials at the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. Key questions include whether LIV will seek outside private equity investment — a path the PGA Tour itself took through its Strategic Sports Group deal — whether it will restructure player contracts to reflect tighter budgets, and whether a reconciliation with golf’s establishment bodies could accelerate now that the Saudi subsidy spigot is set to close. The Official World Golf Ranking’s continued refusal to grant LIV events ranking points also remains a persistent structural challenge for the league’s long-term viability.