LIV Golf files for bankruptcy: What we know

Following months of rumors, lawsuits and financial unease, LIV Golf has officially filed for bankruptcy. The rival golf league that took on the status quo in pro golf has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey, formally marking some end to, as Jon Rahm called it Tuesday morning, LIV Golf 1.0. Chapter 11 is best understood as a corporate restructuring mechanism with intent to continue.

The filing arrived shortly after 4 p.m. ET and includes some information not previously released, like money owed to players and various vendors that have recently taken LIV to court for unpaid services. Also Tuesday, we had confirmation of LIV’s “lead investor” that CEO Scott O’Neil first mentioned a month ago; O’Neil also wrote a letter to fans about LIV’s next phase.

Here’s what we know from the initial documents that arrived Tuesday. 

LIV GOLF BANKRUPTCY: WHAT WE KNOW

— — — —

LIV owes several parties more than $1 million

Part of filing for bankruptcy requires a company to list out the 30 people and/or entities it owes the most money to. The initial filing suggests that LIV owes at least 24 different parties more than $1 million, ranging from Jon Rahm ($7.4 million) at the top to Lucas Herbert ($1.01 million) at the bottom. 

Included among them is Brooks Koepka, who left LIV 10 months ago and is owed around $1.68 million. YouTuber Rick Shiels is also owed roughly $1.4 million, stemming from an official partnership he struck with the league years ago. There are numerous others, like the State of Louisiana, or even the Asian Tour, that serve as a reminder of the wide web of partnerships LIV Golf was trying to maintain before the Saudi PIF decided to end its funding of the enterprise. 

But this still required PIF funding

As part of the filing, the Saudi PIF will be loaning $49.6 million to LIV Golf as part of Debtor-in-Possession financing, likely the finishing touches of the Saudi funding that reached near $6 billion over the last five years. 

It was just 4 1/2 months ago that the PIF said it would only fund LIV through the 2026 season, and even that was a short-lived promise. LIV quickly postponed and canceled its New Orleans event and eventually canceled its Team Championship in Michigan, folding part of it into the proceedings of its final individual event in Indianapolis. 

Player contract figures vary greatly

A quick perusal of the players on the list of largest creditors shows no surprise up top with Rahm. Bryson DeChambeau follows next at $5.7 million and Dustin Johnson at $5.4 million. These claims are associated with the “Player Participation Agreement” — a.k.a. playing contracts, which LIV famously brought to pro golf. 

But keen observers will note how those amounts pale in comparison to the reported hundreds of millions in the initial contracts players signed when they joined LIV. All of which is to say: it’s hard to know what those amounts truly represent. Could they be single installments remaining on contracts? Could they just be for the rest of 2026? Could they be whatever remains after LIV allows players to retain their full NIL value in a future iteration of the league? It’s so far unclear.

LIV litigation shows up 

Recent weeks have seen numerous companies file lawsuits against LIV Golf for unpaid services and breaches of contract, which lists them as official creditors on the filing. A company like Fresh Tape Media, which is suing LIV for more than $1.2 million, is on the docket of creditors. Also listed, in a similar but different sense, is World Golf Group Limited and Premier Golf League — the entity that originally pursued launching a rival golf league. The amount credited to WGG and PGL is listed as “undetermined,” which is due to ongoing litigation in the United Kingdom.

Having these entities listed doesn’t necessarily mean those monetary differences will be resolved. For the time being, the bankruptcy filing automatically halts ongoing litigation in almost all cases, putting a stay on the mounting lawsuits LIV was facing.

‘Lead investor’ named

It was just five weeks ago, on Aug. 5, that O’Neil first said his league had signed a term sheet with a “lead investor” for the second iteration of the league. It was quickly reported that investor was the credit wing of firm BC Partners, led in this endeavor by Ted Goldthorpe. A week later, Goldthorpe was in Indiana, making a pitch to players at their final event. While O’Neil and the league refused to acknowledge BC Partners in any official capacity over the last month, today it finally had to.

In conjunction with the news, LIV issued a press release naming BCP as that investor, listing it as a future sponsor that will provide exit financing on the other end of what it believes its bankruptcy path to be. It also mentioned minority partners could join on that future sponsorship/exit financing.

LIV’s future?

All of this, of course, is contingent upon court approval. New Jersey bankruptcy judge Michael B. Kaplan was assigned the case Tuesday, while voluntary petitions were filed for each of the dozens of LIV subsidiaries that it used to operate its business.

But “LIV 2.0,” as it has been discussed numerous times, is all about a player-owned league, which O’Neil outlined in a letter to fans. Within that letter is an update on what LIV 2.0 looks like, of which one line in particular stuck out:

“We intend to expand our fields to 75 players, introduce a cut, and create additional pathways for players to earn their way into LIV Golf, including Monday qualifiers.”

That would certainly look like a much different golf league. To live up to this week’s promise, O’Neil now has about five months to make it happen. LIV’s press release suggested it hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 in early 2027.