Report: PIF's LIV Golf investment nearing $5 billion
LIV Golf Investments, the parent company for worldwide LIV Golf operations, has increased its authorized share capital twice this year, once in mid-January and once late in April, for a total of $674.3 million, according to the Money in Sport newsletter on Monday.
This brings the total spend to $4.58 billion, with $1.9 billion of that coming since January 2024.
Money in Sport had previously projected an increase in the PIF investment of $5 billion by the end of 2025.
With a reference to $82 million in revenue from January to October 2024, PIF's filing included the first time a consolidated revenue figure for LIV Golf has been publicly disclosed.
The filing shows the latest authorizations come with three conditions: a minimum number of events this season, a minimum revenue and a finalized TV deal with Fox Sports.
LIV Golf has made significant changes this year, including Scott O'Neill replacing Greg Norman as CEO in addition to altering its team format to make all players' scores count in every round.
LIV Golf's first event in the United States of 2025 brought record viewership for the league, with 484,000 people tuning in to watch Marc Leishman's triumph in Miami on April 8.
Unfortunately for the breakaway league, that was still less than a third of the amount of people who opted to watch a standard PGA Tour event the same day.
"I think we all hoped it would have been a little bit further along, and that's no secret," Koepka said ahead of the LIV Golf Miami tournament at Trump National Doral on April 2.
"No matter where you're at, you always hope everything is further along. But they're making progress, and it seems to be going in the right direction."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
10 hours ago
- Reuters
PGA Tour overhauls playoff bonus structure for this season
July 2 - The PGA Tour has restructured the distribution of playoff bonuses, including the FedEx Cup champion this season earning $10 million in prize money instead of $25 million as in the past two years. The new payouts from the $100 million total in bonus money -- first reported Wednesday by Front Office Sports and posted on the PGA Tour website -- were revealed weeks after an announcement in May that the Tour Championship's "starting strokes" format will be eliminated. The season-ending tournament in August -- for the top 30 following two previous playoff events -- will be a standard 72-hole stroke-play format at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The new three-tier system will reward golfers based on the FedEx Cup points standings after the regular-season finale at the Wyndham Championship (the top 10 splitting $20 million, with No. 1 getting $10 million), and after the second playoff event, the BMW Championship (top 30 splitting $23.93 million, with No. 1 getting $5 million). The Tour Championship winner will get $10 million of the remaining prize money ($57.08 million), with the rest paid to the other 29 players based on their finishes. Players ranked Nos. 31-150 will divide $17.08 million in deferrals. "To account for the increased volatility of the final event, reward season-long performance and recognize the significance of the FedExCup, the FedExCup bonus distributions for the top 30 positions were rebalanced," the PGA Tour posted on its website. Front Office Sports worked the scenario that if current points leader Scottie Scheffler is the No. 1 at the end of the regular season and after the BMW Championship and then wins the Tour Championship, he will receive the same total of $25 he collected for winning the 2024 FedEx Cup. The tour also posted that there are no changes in 2025 for the Comcast Business Tour Top 10, which pays $40 million to the top 10 players in the standings at the end of the regular season. First place is worth $8 million, and each place earns less down to $2 million for 10th place. The bonus structure was led, per the Front Office Sports report, by the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council's business subcommittee, which consists of Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell, Brandt Snedeker and Kevin Kisner, and is overseen and player director Patrick Cantlay. --Field Level Media
Reuters
15 hours ago
- Reuters
Zach Johnson feeling right at home at John Deere Classic
July 2 - Unofficial host Zach Johnson feels right at home at the John Deere Classic, where he starts for the 24th time on Thursday at the course where he has made the cut 16 consecutive times. The tournament is played at TPC Deere Run, just over the Iowa border and across the Mississippi River in Silvis, Ill. "It's going to sound strange, but my feet feel comfortable here," said Johnson, 49, whose "Mr. Iowa" credentials stem from growing up in Iowa City, attending Drake University is Des Moines and being born in Cedar Rapids. "I grew up on bent grass fairways, bent grass greens. I had a lengthy putting session yesterday and kind of just -- I'm not suggesting I'm going to putt great this week -- but felt like, man, here we go. It's hard to summarize that." For Johnson, he believes "boring" wins, and as a 12-time PGA Tour winner, the only style points he's concerned about are the gleam of the trophy on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps another byproduct of age and experience, Johnson is determined not to overthink anything from tee to green this week. "I think my game is at a point where execution is really the only -- is really the main thing I got to focus on, and I love that," said Johnson, who finished in the Top 10 at The Masters (T8) and Top 20 at the Texas Open (T18). "Every aspect of my game has been pretty solid. Everybody that knows me and knows me well, it's boring, but I love boring. I'm really good at being boring. So I love boring golf. It's everything here. It's the hills, the bumps, it's the rolls, it's the speed, it's just I'm comfortable. Doesn't mean it's going to happen. I think that answers why I've had a pretty consistent amount of arguably success." Outside of the Zurich Classic team event, Johnson has only one round under 70 since The Masters in April. Johnson tied for 82nd last week at Detroit Golf Club, scrambling through the final three rounds after an opening 65 at the Rocket Classic. He is at TPC Deere Run with greater expectations two weeks prior to his 20th start in an Open Championship. The last time the 2015 Open Championship winner was in the event at Royal Portrush, he missed the cut in 2019. Johnson has played on the weekend only once in the past four Opens. In his four starts prior (2015-18), Johnson won the Claret Jug and finished in the top 20 three consecutive years. While the John Deere Classic doesn't always boast a marquee field, Johnson said the 2025 event will prepare him for what's ahead. "This tournament has always had, if you call it that, a date that can be kind of difficult, right, as far as my peers go. It's going to be the best field statistically if you look from a World Golf Rankings standpoint. I don't really love that measure, but it's legitimate. So the buzz is out as to how good this golf course is and this tournament is." --Field Level Media
Belfast Telegraph
17 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Portrush native Graeme McDowell ‘gutted' not to qualify for hometown Open
The former U.S. Open champion was one of 288 players in contention for one of 20 final places on the Dunluce Links as he competed in 36 holes of qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports, however he would finish three shots off the mark at the Kent course. McDowell, a Portrush native, was right in the mix after an opening round 70 but he would follow it up with a 73 that ended his chances of teeing it up on home soil in two weeks' time. The LIV Golf star was the best Northern Irishman at The Open in 2019 as he made the cut but will now have to watch this year's action from Portrush on the TV which, unsurprisingly, left him devastated. "Not to be at Open qualifying yesterday," he wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "Gutted to sit this one out at Royal Portrush. Going to be an amazing week with lots to celebrate for Irish golf. Congrats to all the guys who qualified. It's a grind with such a special reward. My game is trending, so we plow ahead." We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. McDowell hasn't played in a Major since the 2020 U.S. Open, when his 10-year exemption for winning the event in 2010 expired, with his move to LIV in 2022 undoubtedly playing a factor in that. There was better news for 52-year-old fellow LIV golfer Lee Westwood, who did qualify for Portrush after a three-year absence from the tournament as he was one of the best five finishers at Dundonald Links. And after sealing his place in the field, the former World No.1 was effusive in his praise for the Dunluce Links as he prepares to return to a course he finished fourth on six years ago, when Shane Lowry triumphed. 'I've always said it's the greatest championship in golf and as a British player you get phenomenal support,' Westwood told reporters after his second round. 'I really enjoyed Portrush last time. I finished fourth and played nicely. 'I'm just looking forward to enjoying the week at Portrush. Seeing a few old friends and enjoying that golf course. For me, it's in the top three links courses in the British Isles.'
