The LIV Golf League debuted in 2022 flush with capital from its Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund.
In terms of revenue, however, the circuit did not generate much of it, according to federal court documents obtained by ESPN’s Mark Schlabach.
In a motion filed in Northern California on Monday, LIV Golf attempted to blame the PGA Tour’s motion to delay the ongoing antitrust lawsuit as the reason why the fledgling outfit made “virtually zero” revenue in its first season.
“The Tour’s motion to amend should be denied because the amendment would be futile, would cause unfair prejudice, was unduly delayed, and is obviously intended to inappropriately delay the case and resolution of Plaintiffs’ antitrust claims,” LIV Golf’s attorneys wrote, via Schlabach.
“Delay will equally harm LIV because the Tour continues its anticompetitive conduct while the litigation is pending. The Tour has damaged LIV’s brand, driven up its costs by hundreds of millions of dollars, and driven down revenues to virtually zero.”
LIV Golf president and COO Atul Khosla has said publicly that the Public Investment Fund spent $784 million to bankroll the league’s debut campaign.
That figure reportedly did not contain any guaranteed, multiyear player contracts, so it’s feasible that LIV spent over $1 billion in 2022. Considering that whopping amount, it’s not a surprise they didn’t do much better than breaking even.
The 2023 LIV Golf season is set to begin Feb. 24-26 at El Camaleon Golf Course in Mayakoba, Mexico.
