Despite the grim optics surrounding LIV Golf, CEO Scott O\u2019Neil had plenty to say Wednesday about his optimism for the league\u2019s future. On the details underpinning that optimism, however, he offered considerably less.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neil met with reporters at LIV\u2019s event outside Indianapolis, which now serves as the league\u2019s de facto season finale after its scheduled team championship in Michigan was canceled two days earlier. The press conference came amid reports that players have not been paid their winnings from the previous tournament and complaints from numerous vendors that they, too, have been compensated. Two companies have sued LIV over unpaid services.<\/p>\n
The turmoil extends beyond the league\u2019s finances. The Asian Tour will no longer serve as a sister circuit, the DP World Tour will bar players from competing on both tours next year, and the Telegraph reported that LIV executives are resigned to former World No. 1 Jon Rahm leaving after this season. Golf Digest has learned, however, that social media rumors claiming Rahm has already reached a deal to return to the PGA Tour are inaccurate.<\/p>\n
Those developments represent the latest blows in months of uncertainty surrounding LIV\u2019s survival since Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund withdrew its support from the soft-power golf venture this spring. O\u2019Neil has said LIV has secured a new lead investor; while neither he nor the league has identified that investor\u2014O’Neill declined to do so again on Wednesday\u2014it is believed to be BC Partners, a London-based private-equity firm with ties to GSE Worldwide, the agency representing a sizable portion of LIV\u2019s roster. BC Partners\u2019 Ted Goldthorpe addressed players during a meeting at the course Tuesday, though sources told Golf Digest that members were given few concrete details.<\/p>\n
Speaking Wednesday, O\u2019Neil remained vague about how LIV intends to proceed, offering little beyond his conviction that the league will continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s time to move forward. Let’s once again put the game first. I spent time over the last several weeks speaking with many of the guardians and stewards of the game of golf, and I heard a real appetite to put the parochial friction of the past behind us. I want to be crystal clear; that’s what LIV Golf wants,\u201d O\u2019Neil said. \u201cThe philosophy is simple, if you’ve been around me before, you’ve heard it: It’s complete, not compete. Golf doesn’t need one tour to win and everyone else to lose. There are great tours around the world. They serve different markets, different fans and have different purposes. We believe players should have the flexibility to compete across these platforms when they are good enough and enhance the fields. We shouldn’t live in a world where one group of golfers is uniquely restricted from playing elsewhere. Our goal isn’t to replace or restrict any tour. Our mission is to bring something distinctive to the ecosystem that elevates it and makes the whole game better. More markets, younger, next gen global fans, more sponsors, more opportunities for players, more great golf, and of course, a lot more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neil has been pitching prospective investors on \u201cLIV 2.0,\u201d a reimagined league featuring a shorter schedule, smaller purses and greater player control.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think about our evolution pretty simply,\u201d O\u2019Neil said. “This next chapter is fundamentally different. We are building towards a league majority owned by its players, and I want you to think about just for a minute what that means. Players aren’t simply playing for LIV Golf. They have an opportunity to own it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get equity in what they’re building. They regain a majority of their commercial rights, and teams become real businesses with real assets, and for the first time, the interests of the league and the players become truly aligned around building long-term value together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet when pressed for specifics on nearly every broad promise contained in his opening remarks, O\u2019Neil revealed little. He acknowledged there is a deadline for completing an agreement with the prospective lead investor but declined to provide it. Asked whether bankruptcy remained possible, O\u2019Neil said only that he would not rule out any option. After saying that leaders of the golf industry wanted the sport to come together he said he wasn\u2019t talking about new PGA Tour head Brian Rolapp. When confronted with doubts that LIV will exist in 2027, he replied that he is \u201cblessed with hope and optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neil was also asked about comments from the founder of Fresh Tape, one of the vendors suing LIV. The founder wrote on social media this week: \u201cIt’s pretty simple when a small business does work, it deserves to be paid for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I come from a family of entrepreneurs, a family of small business entrepreneurs and know the challenge that that is. So what I would say to them is we’re doing everything we can to make sure we can do right by them and the work they committed, and I hope we can,\u201d O\u2019Neil said. \u201cFor the next generation, it will certainly be a different business with a different process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the largest unresolved question is which players will remain for LIV 2.0, particularly Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. DeChambeau has played an instrumental role in the league\u2019s presentations to prospective investors, though he will become a free agent after this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of time for Bryson. I talk to him quite a bit,” O’Neil said. “…\u00a0 He cares about the global game of golf. He cares about building this next generation of fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think anybody works harder on or off the course … I’m sure there’s somebody; I just haven’t seen it. Bryson has become a good friend, a good advocate of the league. I certainly hope he’s with us for the future. He’s been extremely supportive, as I can say most of the big guys have been.\u201d<\/p>\n
LIV\u2019s season finale begins Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite the grim optics surrounding LIV Golf, CEO Scott O\u2019Neil had plenty to say Wednesday about his optimism…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[87,20203,44,4106,81,508,82],"class_list":["post-52985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-despite-grim-optics-liv-golf-ceo-preaches-optimism-amid-questions-on-leagues-future","tag-golf","tag-indianapolis","tag-liv-golf","tag-scott-oneil","tag-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}