00:00It's game over for professional golf's breakaway tournament, LiveGolf, which has filed for bankruptcy in the United States.
00:07This comes after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund withdrew its multi-billion dollar funding in April.
00:14The tournament's star golfers are now owed more than $45 million.
00:19LiveGolf says it's hoping to return as a reorganized company, majority owned by the players.
00:26Let's talk to Dave Powell, a sports business journalist.
00:29Dave, welcome. I'm not sure what the golf term is, but why has LiveGolf gone bang?
00:36Well, basically, it's not been a sustainable business model.
00:39They invested in golf back in 2022, in LiveGolf, but they invested heavily,
00:46poured some $5 billion into attracting the best talent, John Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau.
00:51But it's just not managed to have a workable business model.
00:54The media rights haven't followed, and they've just been unable to make it work as a viable business.
01:00And Saudi Arabia's strategy as kind of bringing Saudi to the world through enhancing their reputation in sports and entertainment,
01:07they've kind of rode back on that in the past 12, 18 months.
01:11So we're seeing more events based in Saudi Arabia rather than trying to increase their reach around the globe.
01:17And I think that's the knock-on effect of that.
01:21Live was one of Saudi Arabia's many ventures into the global sports market.
01:28What does this say about that strategy of diversification and changing Saudi Arabia's image and its business?
01:38I think they will see.
01:39The idea behind Live was to be a disruptor in the golf industry, and it has been.
01:44It caused major headaches for the PGA Tour.
01:47But they've also, you know, they've moved quite significantly into, I mean, the Newcastle United investment was part of that.
01:53And also they've moved into Formula One, boxing.
01:56I mean, there's the amount of shows, the WWE.
01:58They've really tried to culturally tap in and improve the worldview through sport.
02:04Now, Liv, the problem is just the business model did not match up long term as a sustainable model
02:09because it has to have underlying media rights to support it, and they just haven't been there.
02:13And with the PGA having kind of reassessed its own way of working moving forward after investment from Fenway Sports
02:20Group and others,
02:21it's become more challenging for them.
02:23And I think that they haven't been able to make the cut through that they thought they would.
02:29The company said it hopes to return in some sort of new format.
02:34Is that realistic?
02:37Yes, I think so.
02:38BC Partners, a London-based investment firm, are likely to be kind of carrying the can for that in 2027
02:46and beyond.
02:46But I do think it'd be on a smaller scale.
02:48It'd be more nimble.
02:49And they'll probably focus on some of the key markets where they've done really well, Australia being one of them.
02:55But, you know, the whole thing was the success was predicated on having the biggest stars sign up.
03:00And if they're owed so much money and there's no way to pay them, it's going to be very difficult
03:03to make it a compelling thing for people to watch.
03:07I mean, there are other things.
03:08Tomorrow, Golf League, for instance, is something which is also buying for eyeballs.
03:12And it's whether or not they are doing enough to be a differentiator in the market.
03:16And I'm not sure they are.
03:17But it'll be a far smaller enterprise moving forward with a far smaller cost base.
03:23I don't know if you remember, but when Liv started up, there was lots of fuss about players leaving the
03:29established fold and signing up with Liv.
03:32Is all forgiven and forgotten?
03:34Is everyone going to just move along?
03:38Yes, I think so.
03:39I think that the PGA Tour will realise quite swiftly they'll be vindicated in their stance.
03:46And also they will realise that it will add another element of intrigue and kind of potentially getting some more
03:54eyeballs on the product if some of these players are coming back.
03:56Because some of them have huge followings.
03:58They're some of the most popular players in the Tour.
04:00John Rahm, DeChambeau, etc.
04:03I think it will probably, you know, it'd be good on both fronts for the PGA Tour.
04:08Dave, good to talk to you.
04:09Thanks so much for coming on the programme.
04:11Dave Powell, the sports business journalist.
