LIV Golf spent August 2026 cementing one big promise, and that has now come undone. At Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, CEO Scott O’Neil gave hope to the league’s players with an announcement: the league had found and signed a deal reportedly worth $300 million with an unnamed lead investor. They expected to reveal the identity and full details of the deal in September. But according to the latest Financial Times (FT) report, the picture looks almost the opposite. FT believes LIV’s bankruptcy is imminent.
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The report reads: “LIV Golf may be filing for bankruptcy protection as soon as next week as the challenger golf league races to find funding for a slimmed-down version slated for 2027, according to people briefed on negotiations.”
Despite multiple attempts over months, the league has been in a financial crunch since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) late April 2026 announcement to pull back its funding. Reason? The league has incurred estimated losses of $5-6 billion since its inception in 2022. The PIF said that the substantial, multi-billion-dollar investment needed to support the breakaway league no longer aligns with its core investment strategy.
The league has struggled financially since then and will reportedly file for Chapter 11 as it scrambles to find a financial partner for a smaller circuit planned for 2027.
New Jersey, a debtor-friendly venue that handled WeWork and Rite Aid, is the likely filing location. LIV quietly registered a New Jersey subsidiary early this summer, a move it followed as preparation for bankruptcy.
That said, there is a big caveat throughout. LIV lacks $300M for operations, and vendors and players remain unpaid, with Jon Rahm as the league’s biggest creditor.
So who’s helping the league? Well, not the unnamed investor. It’s the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, which is expected to lend the league $100 million as a “debtor-in-possession” loan to carry out the bankruptcy process. Moreover, they have refused to commit any fresh capital beyond that amount.
“PIF wants clean baton talks,” a person involved in the talks told the Financial Times.
In parallel, PIF and LIV League are also working on settling players’ guaranteed money past 2026. Players have reportedly received settlement offers worth just a few cents on the dollar. The report describes three distinct paths offered to LIV players: settle and join the reimagined LIV 2.0; settle and walk away from the league entirely; or refuse to settle and instead pursue their contracted money as unsecured creditors in the bankruptcy case itself.
That decision carries real mounting pressure for big players like Bryson DeChambeau and Rahm, whose current LIV deals expire at the end of the season. LIV owes Rahm significant sums beyond PIF’s funding window. Depending on which path DeChambeau and Rahm choose, both could negotiate their way back to the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour.
However, LIV 2.0 may not happen at all. Bloomberg’s Reshmi Basu believes “BC Partners is the new investor for this deal, which may or may not happen because it’s not a binding offer, meaning there are still some negotiations to take place.”
That will mean LIV is now filing for bankruptcy, extending settlement offers to players, and a promised LIV 2.0 may or may not exist.
Moreover, if the 2.0 version exists, LIV’s reimagined schedule has only 10 global events, down from 14. The DP World Tour has already warned players they could face fines or bans for competing in weeks that clash with their schedule. The PGA Tour, on the other hand, has completely closed the doors on a reinstatement program or a merger.
So far, both LIV and PIF have declined to make any official statement.