LIV Golf continues to face mounting challenges as it attempts to restructure its business following its September bankruptcy filing. With the likes of Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, and several other players already having walked away from the league, another setback has emerged off the course. Salesforce Inc., which announced a multi-year strategic partnership with LIV Golf in June last year, has now taken its dispute with the league to the bankruptcy court.
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According to documents shared by Financial Times’ Sujeet Indap on X, Salesforce is trying to exit its sponsorship agreement with LIV Golf.
They filed a motion in a New Jersey bankruptcy court on October 29 through attorney Jeremiah Vandermark. The motion, filed as part of LIV’s Chapter 11 proceedings, asks the court to force LIV Golf to make an early decision on the agreement and, preferably, reject it.
The dispute centres on what Salesforce describes as LIV’s failure to deliver the technology benefits that formed the principal commercial purpose of their agreement, which runs through 2029. The partnership was designed to showcase Salesforce’s Agentforce artificial-intelligence and customer-relationship-management technologies through LIV’s digital products, tournaments and broadcasts.
These included an AI-powered Fan Digital Caddie, integration with the league’s “Any Shot, Any Time” viewing feature and live AI-powered predictions during tournament broadcasts. However, Salesforce claims that LIV Golf failed to deliver those central benefits. In its filing, the company states that during live events, the Agentforce chatbot “displayed errors instead of providing the intended fan experience.”
The company claimed the reason was that LIV “did not build the dynamic pre-reasoning action lookup required for the artificial-intelligence agent’s geolocation functionality.” Instead, the league relied on “manual and hardcoded workarounds, including hardcoding a tournament location.” The filing further alleges that, midway through the season, the viewing experience required fans to leave LIV’s native mobile interface and open an external browser.
LIV also allegedly abandoned the planned integration with its “Any Shot, Any Time” feature. Salesforce, which has nearly $200 billion in market cap, argued that these failures undermined the very purpose of the sponsorship. The company stated that the technology deficiencies “diminish the sponsorship’s marketing value” and create reputational risks by associating its products with defective or incomplete fan experiences.
It also pointed to LIV Golf’s cancellation of scheduled tournaments earlier this year in New Orleans and Michigan, which it said eliminated or impaired contracted signage, hospitality, media exposure, and activation opportunities. Not to mention, LIV Golf’s financial and staffing issues have added to Salesforce’s concerns. Under the agreement, LIV was required to provide a $400,000 activation fund for 2026.
However, the filing alleges that approximately $375,000 remained unavailable because LIV never got approval from Saudi Arabia’s PIF. Salesforce also claims that LIV reduced the technical personnel involved in managing its relationship with the company after filing for bankruptcy. As a result, it says it has not received a completed technical-remediation plan for the Fan Digital Caddie or related integrations, nor a binding commitment identifying personnel capable of maintaining them.
The timing of the dispute is particularly significant because Salesforce is due to make another substantial payment to LIV Golf in January 2027. The company paid $6.75 million for the 2026 contract year and is scheduled to pay a further $6.75 million on January 4, 2027. However, LIV Golf’s proposed restructuring plan has a contemplated effective date of January 6, just two days later.
Salesforce argued that the proposed LIV 2.0 structure remains contingent on financing, player participation, and the completion of definitive restructuring documents. It also maintained that the restructuring does not guarantee that the league will retain the technical workforce, tournament schedule, or resources needed to fulfil the sponsorship agreement.
In its motion, Salesforce said it had received no information establishing that LIV Golf currently possessed “the personnel, financing, event schedule, technology platform, activation resources, and other resources necessary to perform the Sponsorship Agreement.” It has consequently asked the court to order the league to reject the agreement. Alternatively, it wants LIV to make a decision within 14 days, with no extension granted.
Salesforce has also requested that it retain the right to issue any required termination notice and exercise whatever termination rights are available under the agreement and applicable law. The court has not yet ruled on whether LIV Golf must reject the sponsorship agreement. A hearing has been scheduled for November 19 at 10 a.m. ET, while objections to the motion must be filed by November 12 at 4 p.m. ET.