LIV Golf to postpone event amid questions about funding, according to reports

LIV Golf is expected to postpone one of its upcoming events amid questions about its funding, according to multiple outlets. The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate, New Orleans-based WDSU and the Athletic all report that LIV will not play its event at Bayou Oaks at the originally scheduled dates in late June. Days after reports emerged regarding Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund no longer backing the fledgling golf league, Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development Susan Bourgeois reached out to LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil regarding the league coming to her state. According to the Athletic, LIV officials agreed to “push back the date” due to its changing business model. Additionally, the New Orleans Advocate reports that LIV has instead pitched a fall date with a different format and smaller field. An official announcement is expected on Tuesday.

RELATED: Is LIV Golf finished? Earlier this month PIF unveiled a new strategic direction this week that amounts to a fundamental rethinking of its mission. For the better part of a decade, Saudi Arabia used the fund as an image-laundering operation, pouring money into global sports, entertainment and technology as a means of projecting a modernized, westernized face to the world. That approach is being shelved. The new priority is domestic investment, and any international ventures that survive the cut are expected to generate returns. PIF has injected more than $5 billion into LIV Golf since the league launched in fall 2021. However, the league has hemorrhaged billions and failed to gain investors for its teams. LIV CEO Scott O’Neil said earlier this year that it could be another decade before LIV sees profitability.

Moreover, the Iran War has created serious financial pressure on PIF, with Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz cutting Saudi oil exports nearly in half. In broadcast remarks that were promptly deleted from social media, O’Neil said two weeks ago that LIV was only funded through the season, pushing back on previous remarks that the league was backed until the 2030s. “It’s just not the way the world works,” O’Neil said about future funding. “We have commitments to have this … the reality is you're funded through the season and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going.” Following reports about LIV’s future, O’Neil addressed staffers in an email saying the season would continue as planned. He seemingly addressed the reported by mentioning “the life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure." LIV Golf's next event is scheduled for a Trump property next week, beginning May 7.