Inside LIV Golf’s billion-dollar problem

LIV Golf has wrapped up its fourth season, but the numbers tell a harsh truth: it’s still far from a profitable business. According to the latest financial filings of LIV Golf Ltd., the UK-registered company that manages the tour’s operations outside the United States, the league posted losses of $590 million for its most recent fiscal year – roughly £462 million.

What are LIV Golf’s total losses?

This figure is only part of a bigger picture. Since staging its first event in the summer of 2022, LIV’s total losses have climbed to $1.4 billion, a staggering sum that underscores the cost of building a global golf circuit from scratch without worrying about expenses. The enterprise is sustained almost entirely by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) – a sovereign wealth fund with nearly unlimited capital, and the only reason such financial hemorrhaging remains viable.

The 2025 season concluded with Spain’s Jon Rahm crowned individual champion and his Legion XIII team taking the top spot. But even these successes can’t mask the fact that LIV is spending far more than it earns.

A luxury project without returns

The main drain on LIV’s finances lies in its enormous payouts to players, many of whom signed guaranteed contracts worth hundreds of millions to lure them away from traditional tours. Add to that the hefty tournament prize purses – $20 million per event – and operational costs have ballooned to $1.34 billion since the league began.

Rahm alone has already pocketed about $75 million in prize money, not including his personal contract, making him one of the best-paid athletes on the planet.

What goes out never comes back

LIV’s income barely scratches the surface of its expenditure – roughly one-tenth of what it spends. The league’s broadcast deal outside the US brings in just $3.2 million a year, a negligible figure in professional sports economics. Meanwhile, audiences remain tepid, with LIV still struggling to position itself as a serious rival to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

For now, it seems that only the near-infinite wealth of the PIF keeps LIV Golf afloat. Without it, the breakaway tour would already look like a bold – and economically doomed – experiment.

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