Since Saudi Arabia’s PIF withdrew its funding from LIV Golf in April, the league appears to be spiraling further out of control. According to BBC Sport, LIV Golf New Orleans (August 27–30), which was already postponed and never rescheduled, might see its $40 million season-ending Team Championship at The Cardinal at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan, canceled as well. As per Front Office Sports (FOS), the breakaway league has defaulted on nearly $100,000 in payments to its vendors, even though LIV Golf Indianapolis will take place at The Club at Chatham Hills from August 20–23 with a $30 million purse.
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According to its report, no full-time employees of the league have missed paychecks. However, the league owes contract workers, past and present, for their services earlier this year. They are in the dark about whether and when they may get their payments.
The services in question that these contractors provided include video production, data collection, merchandising, tournament food and beverage operations, and more. FOS claims to have verified the contractors’ affiliation with LIV Golf and granted them anonymity as they continue to work for LIV or to work to recover payments for their services.
According to the report, the amount owed can be anywhere from several thousand dollars to $100,000 and even higher. FOS’ source told them that even though they had previously experienced delayed payments from LIV, it was never as bad as the situation right now, with the delays extending into months and tens of thousands of dollars owed to several contractors. Amid all this, LIV has maintained minimal to no communication with them, which has forced some contractors to pursue legal avenues, including breach-of-contract notices.
“There’s no response from the accounts receivable department,” one contractor said. “Even their legal counsel has not responded to demand letters.”
This comes after LIV’s former vendor, Mobii Systems Group Limited, sued them in July. The Canadian company had been supplying LIV’s streaming option, but claimed the league owed them more than $1.1 million for breach of contract, unpaid licensing fees ($820,600), usage fees ($104,500), and lost revenue damages ($209,531). FOS spoke to the co-chair of law firm Jones Walker’s bankruptcy and restructuring team in Houston, Joe Bain.
Bain revealed that companies often withhold payments to contractors as a strategy when they are about to file for bankruptcy.
“They’re looking at their cash balance, and they’re trying to figure out how long of a runway they have, and what their options are,” Bain said. “And cash is absolutely king in this process.”
This comes after LIV CEO Scott O’Neil announced that they had found new investors to keep it afloat in 2027. Although he didn’t reveal the investor’s identity or details, he proposed that LIV players could become majority equity holders in the league. FOS reported that the credit division of private investment firm BC Partners is looking into investing in the league.
But what makes the latest report worse is that LIV filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice last month. This is a legal requirement for U.S. companies with over 100 employees to provide 60 days’ notice of mass layoffs. Not to mention, the league also gave 30 days’ notice to some vendors about termination, with language about opportunities with LIV Golf 2.0.
The affiliation of some contractors with LIV via third parties further complicates this matter. Amid all this, backlash toward LIV Golf shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“The frustration is compounded when it appears that the executives are still being paid regularly and on time and the CEO continues to use a private jet to travel around to meetings and tournaments,” said one LIV contractor. “The staff on the ground keeping things afloat seem to be at the bottom of the priority list.”
LIV Golf itself has yet to issue a statement on the matter. However, given the events of the past few months and the headlines surrounding the league, the latest development may not come as much of a surprise.