LIV Golf revealed its future strategy for survival in light of the Saudi Arabia PIF’s decision to pull funding from the league, confirming the widely-reported news for the first time on Thursday.
The league shared the news via a press release Thursday morning, laying out their hopes to transition from a “foundational launch phase” to a “multi-partner investment model.”
Here’s what you need to know.
LIV Golf creates independent board, searches for new investors
For weeks, reports have proliferated about LIV Golf’s tenuous future. On Wednesday, sources in the league told GOLF.com that the Saudi Arabia PIF would pull funding following the 2026 season, confirming an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal.
The Sports Business Journal later reported that PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan would leave the league’s board.
In their statement Thursday morning, LIV Golf did not directly mention PIF’s funding cuts and Al-Rumayyan’s departure, but what they did reveal seemed to confirm both realities.
LIV announced “new board appointments as the league focuses on securing long-term financial partners to support its transition from a foundational launch phase to a diversified, multi-partner investment model.”
By “foundational launch phase,” LIV is referring to the first five years of its existence from 2022 until present, in which the PIF was the sole funder, owner and operator of the league. That will no longer be the case after the 2026 season.
In the absence of PIF’s multi-billion investment, LIV Golf needs to find new big-money investors, and no single investor can make up all of what PIF provided. The league’s hope is that a transition to such a “diversified, multi-partner investment model” would secure its future for years to come.
The league also announced a “newly established independent board” as part of a “strategic evolution,” which is a departure from the model the league previously operated under with Al-Rumayyan as board chairman.
LIV appointed Gene Davis and Jon Zinman to the board “to guide the league through its next phase.”
