When it initially burst on the scene with seemingly endless amounts of money, tapping into long-simmering frustrations from professional golfers fed up with PGA Tour rules, it seemed as though LIV Golf was destined to remake the sport in its own image.
Several years later, the good times seem to have ended. The PGA Tour fixed its player equity issues. The proposed LIV-PGA Tour merger appears DOA. LIV ratings are in the toilet. Some of the biggest names who defected from the PGA are returning, hat in hand. And more defections are seemingly on the way.
The upstart golf league has reportedly accrued $5 billion in losses, according to LIV’s regulatory filings. That sounds like a lot, but the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) is worth nearly $1 trillion, making it a drop in the bucket for them. Still, a losing bet is a losing bet, and Meadowlark Media’s David Samson thinks the league’s backers are likely realizing that the payoff just isn’t going to exist much longer for this investment.
“The amount of money that was lost, that many people, including me, said, ‘What’s the difference if they lose 1 billion, 5 billion, 10 billion?’ I violated my own rule of American capitalism, which is, who’s going to run a losing business interminably? Nobody,” said Samson on a recent episode of Nothing Personal with David Samson. “But I thought that Saudi Arabia would, I thought this fund had endless amounts of money.
“Well, you know what? It turns out not only do they want to launder their money, not only do they want to be like the PGA Tour and be like American companies and other companies throughout the free world, now they’re acting like one.
“They’re now thinking to themselves, ‘What are we doing? We’re throwing good money after bad. We’ve got eight and a half dollars of expenses for every dollar of revenue. What crappy plan is that?’ And now, players are defecting. First, it was Koepka. Now, it’s Patrick Reed.
“LIV is going to become a third-rate tour at best. The defections have started, and they’re not going to stop. The LIV tour is over.”
LIV is looking at contract-extension decisions with stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm in the coming years. Presumably, they won’t stick around for deals that don’t at least match what they’re doing now. And once the league has exhausted its roster of top-tier talent, what’s the point then?
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.