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They just finished their 4th season and most estimates put the Saudis' cash-burn at roughly $4 to 5 Billion. They have virtually no broadcast revenue or mass media presence.
How long can LIV Golf survive?
Here are some excerpts from a story in The Athletic:
Great for the handful of top golfers like Rahm and DeChambeau - play under 20 events a year, all no-cut, each with a $25mm purse. But very bad for any semblance of a business model. With virtually no broadcast revenue, small crowds, minimal media presence (although they did upgrade from the CW to Fox in the US), a team format no one cares about and no new stars to draw interest, the future clearly relies on the Saudis continuing to fund LIV Golf - allegedly in an attempt to rehabilitate their human rights image on the world stage.
My point here is that, in today's world, the social cost of Saudi's repressive policies is not nearly so damning as it was 5 years ago. My guess is that the Saudi royal family will soon lose patience with the whole thing as expensive and ineffective.
​
How long can LIV Golf survive?
Here are some excerpts from a story in The Athletic:
LIV Golf Ltd, the United Kingdom-based entity which manages the upstart golf league’s activities outside of the United States, lost £461.8million in 2024 ($590.1million).
It represents the latest high, or low, for the already heavily loss-making business and meant losses in the UK business across the first three-and-a-half years of operation hit £1.1billion ($1.4billion).
Those losses, as shown in LIV Golf Ltd’s 2024 accounts, come as LIV revenues remain small compared to the significant sums paid to attract golfers away from the more established PGA and DP World Tours, operated in the U.S. and Europe respectively.
With the exception of the $50m Team Championship held in the U.S. at the end of each season, LIV Golf events offer competing players a prize pot of $25m each, with 16 non-U.S. events hosted across the 2022, 2023 and 2024 leagues. That put LIV Golf Ltd’s expenses in prize money alone at $400m (£318.5m), well beyond revenues in that time.
This is before considering the huge sums paid to bring players to the new league in the first place. Alongside individual prize money, several LIV golfers also secured significant commitment fees, as well as annual payments made for as long as they remain part of the league.
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​If so, after applying prevailing exchange rates at the time of the share issues, LIV Golf Inc received £2.1bn in funding between mid-2021 and the end of 2024, or double the amount required to fund the league’s activities outside the U.S.
A further $983.5m (£759.3m) of shares have been issued in LIV Golf Investments in 2025, including $309.2m (£229.6m) as recently as September 22. That is lower than the £1.2bn injected in 2024 but still reflects a business deep in the red. Broadcast rights, which tend to underpin growth in sports leagues, remain miserly for LIV, with just £2.8m generated outside the U.S. last year.
If the league is proving costly for PIF, players who have joined are reaping the rewards. A little under $1.4bn in prize money has been paid to 95 golfers across the four completed LIV seasons, with 14 annual events yielding a combined $375m purse.
Despite only joining ahead of the 2024 season, Spaniard Jon Rahm leads LIV’s overall earnings list, banking over $75m in the past two years. That is exclusive of the amount Rahm received for agreeing to join the new league.
Signing fees paid to both Rahm and others have never been officially disclosed, but public filings make clear why some of golf’s biggest names were willing to move to a nascent organisation.
LIV does not just have its golfers to pay, and has incurred noteworthy costs as it attempts to establish itself on golf’s world stage. Administrative expenses alone, unrelated to player payments, exceed revenues.
Yet those signing fees were plainly significant. Over the past four years, PIF has invested $4.890bn into LIV Golf, three and a half times the declared prize money in the same period.
It represents the latest high, or low, for the already heavily loss-making business and meant losses in the UK business across the first three-and-a-half years of operation hit £1.1billion ($1.4billion).
Those losses, as shown in LIV Golf Ltd’s 2024 accounts, come as LIV revenues remain small compared to the significant sums paid to attract golfers away from the more established PGA and DP World Tours, operated in the U.S. and Europe respectively.
With the exception of the $50m Team Championship held in the U.S. at the end of each season, LIV Golf events offer competing players a prize pot of $25m each, with 16 non-U.S. events hosted across the 2022, 2023 and 2024 leagues. That put LIV Golf Ltd’s expenses in prize money alone at $400m (£318.5m), well beyond revenues in that time.
This is before considering the huge sums paid to bring players to the new league in the first place. Alongside individual prize money, several LIV golfers also secured significant commitment fees, as well as annual payments made for as long as they remain part of the league.
​
​If so, after applying prevailing exchange rates at the time of the share issues, LIV Golf Inc received £2.1bn in funding between mid-2021 and the end of 2024, or double the amount required to fund the league’s activities outside the U.S.
A further $983.5m (£759.3m) of shares have been issued in LIV Golf Investments in 2025, including $309.2m (£229.6m) as recently as September 22. That is lower than the £1.2bn injected in 2024 but still reflects a business deep in the red. Broadcast rights, which tend to underpin growth in sports leagues, remain miserly for LIV, with just £2.8m generated outside the U.S. last year.
If the league is proving costly for PIF, players who have joined are reaping the rewards. A little under $1.4bn in prize money has been paid to 95 golfers across the four completed LIV seasons, with 14 annual events yielding a combined $375m purse.
Despite only joining ahead of the 2024 season, Spaniard Jon Rahm leads LIV’s overall earnings list, banking over $75m in the past two years. That is exclusive of the amount Rahm received for agreeing to join the new league.
Signing fees paid to both Rahm and others have never been officially disclosed, but public filings make clear why some of golf’s biggest names were willing to move to a nascent organisation.
LIV does not just have its golfers to pay, and has incurred noteworthy costs as it attempts to establish itself on golf’s world stage. Administrative expenses alone, unrelated to player payments, exceed revenues.
Yet those signing fees were plainly significant. Over the past four years, PIF has invested $4.890bn into LIV Golf, three and a half times the declared prize money in the same period.
Great for the handful of top golfers like Rahm and DeChambeau - play under 20 events a year, all no-cut, each with a $25mm purse. But very bad for any semblance of a business model. With virtually no broadcast revenue, small crowds, minimal media presence (although they did upgrade from the CW to Fox in the US), a team format no one cares about and no new stars to draw interest, the future clearly relies on the Saudis continuing to fund LIV Golf - allegedly in an attempt to rehabilitate their human rights image on the world stage.
My point here is that, in today's world, the social cost of Saudi's repressive policies is not nearly so damning as it was 5 years ago. My guess is that the Saudi royal family will soon lose patience with the whole thing as expensive and ineffective.
​
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