For the second time in two weeks and perhaps the last time in quite a while, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil sat in front of cameras and reporters (and many interested LIV staffers) for a proper, professional press conference.
It lasted 33 minutes. It was nearly 4,000 words long. And there were some clues into LIV’s present and its future, among plenty of veiled coach-speak, CEO-speak, leader-speak. I’m here to parse through it on your behalf, like Trent Crimm of the Independent, aka the fictitious reporter from “Ted Lasso” — whom O’Neil himself likened me to during the proceedings.
Here are EIGHT things O’Neil communicated Wednesday and what they mean:
1. He (and LIV) is up against the clock
The last time O’Neil spoke was at LIV’s Bedminster event in New Jersey, where he told the world that the league had received a signed term sheet with an investor. But it is decidedly not finalized. There’s a deadline to reach a final agreement, O’Neil admitted, but wouldn’t clarify what it was. He also called the entire timeline LIV’s been working on to land a major deal “compressed.” He’s not wrong. Two weeks ago, he had targeted September.
2. He seems irritated by the DP World Tour
Since he joined LIV’s ranks, O’Neil has suggested he wants to add to and complete the golf ecosystem, rather than compete with the golf ecosystem. It’s his way of saying he wants LIV to have its space to play, be recognized by the other main tours, and to not see barriers to access for LIV players when they want to play elsewhere.
Numerous times, O’Neil made coy reference to the DPWT, either by mentioning “stewards” of the game he’s met with, or by outright name-dropping a DPWT staffer. “You know, we heard some — Stuart Cage [DPWT player relations director] apparently he called a bunch of agents of our players and some of our players directly.”
Cage is a facilitator of sorts for all kinds of things between pro golfers and the DPWT. As reported by The Athletic, a number of LIV players were advised to not plan their 2027 schedules around the belief that the Europe-based tour would be granting them releases like they received via special agreements in 2026.
O’Neil later said that a big priority for him is making sure that LIV players have enough events to make a full playing schedule and, “we’re hoping that the ecosystem understand the value and power of inviting some of the most recognizable names in the world of golf into their events… You don’t have to look really too much further past the sponsor invites and where they’re going. They’re going to our players.”
If I had to guess, that’s a reference to Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood receiving invites to October’s Dunhill Links Championship, the first DPWT event they’ll have played in years.
3. Bankruptcy is (sort of) an option. Everything is
Two weeks ago, O’Neil was asked if filing for bankruptcy was a plausible route for LIV given financial pressure; he invoked the name of Sam Hinkie, an old colleague of his who managed the Philadelphia 76ers with extreme “optionality.” By that, Hinkie traded for as many draft picks as possible, rid the roster of difficult contracts and tried to build from the ground up. I’m not sure it’s the best analogy, but O’Neil used it. So I asked him about that idea, and if, point-blank, bankruptcy is an option for LIV. (Mostly because many, many signs point toward it.)
“I don’t think we would rule out any option,” he said. “I mean, the whole focus is on transaction, transaction, transaction. We’re spending all our time thinking about how we best land this plane and have landed so we can take off again.”
Filing for bankruptcy is an alarming thing, but it has been bandied about by LIV staff, players, agents and media for months now. It would absolutely be one way to land the plane, but it would definitely be a bumpy runway.
4. Sustainability. Commercial discipline. Operational rigor
These corporate-speak words and phrases are corporate-speak for a reason: They’re how corporations convince investors, owners, outsiders, etc., that they’re doing things in a financially savvy way. O’Neil is not so coy about how LIV needs to spend a lot less money.
In regards to LIV 2.0, O’Neil said fans won’t recognize the differences, but “I think that discipline of how you grow a business over time on the back of revenue will be what will be most different.”
In other words, spending the money you make and/or forecasting appropriately for revenue rather than operating under a mountain of debt. The league is facing pressure from a lot of angles: lawsuits from unpaid vendors, canceled concerts and events and being so cash tight that they need to decrease purse sizes. The next iteration of LIV, if it does exist, will have smaller purses. As I understand it, probably something more like 40 percent of what LIV players are currently used to. Still, that’s undeniably more sustainable than the “free spending” in the league’s early days, to use O’Neil’s words.
5. A tease of what LIV 2.0 could be
While some of this has been leaked and reported, O’Neil underlined how the LIV 2.0 vision is 10 events that fits “harmoniously” with the global golf calendar. Five of those events will be “marquee Team Championships,” he said, most of them played internationally, noting that the league plans to lean even more in the direction of those teams and the nations they represent — like South Africa and Australia.
The remaining events he’s calling “Signature Events” — don’t ask me to draw inferences there — that are sequenced around the major championships to proper prep around the biggest events in the world. That would seem to have LIV targeting weeks ahead of majors and perhaps even courses and cities near where the majors will be held.
6. It takes the “right” players
O’Neil was asked a question of the moment that can be boiled down as such: Will the investor sign a definitive agreement without a specific number of players committing to the enterprise, or is the buy-in from players a necessity to attract the investment?
“Without the players, that becomes very difficult,” O’Neil said. “I have a good level of confidence in my conversations that we’ll have a critical mass of the right players to move this league forward.”
I am intrigued by those words in the middle: a critical mass of the right players.
O’Neil has been using the last few weeks to check in with LIV pros about their interest moving forward, and will be doing so in an even more earnest way the next few weeks. He’s absolutely gotten some positive response, but the “right” players is obviously important. Players like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann, etc. LIV’s best — are they in?
“[Bryson’s] been extremely supportive,” O’Neil said, “as I can say most of the big guys have been.”
Again, most.
7. OWGR promise
The shortest question and answer of the press conference came when O’Neil was asked about Official World Ranking Points: if he thinks LIV will remain an accredited league in its new era, if there had been conversations with the OWGR board about it, and if he was confident in complying with OWGR standards.
“I have 100 percent confidence,” he said, immediately turning to the next question.
An OWGR spokesperson recently confirmed to GOLF.com that the organization has been in contact with the league for clarification on what 2027 will look like.
8. Building more events?
Finally, one last part of O’Neil’s presser felt a bit … fantastical. But hey, we’re living in the transition zone between LIV 1.0 and LIV 2.0. Anything can happen.
After explaining those few details above about LIV 2.0, O’Neil continued with this:
“We want all LIV players to have the ability to compete anywhere they’re eligible to be invited. And if that is not the case, we will simply build events so they can.”
He was asked a bit of a follow-up 15 minutes later and doubled down.
“Yeah, it’s pretty simple. If you look at some of the feeder tours and what their prize money is, it’s simple enough for us to build events around our events and host them and bring people in. We just want to make sure we have enough events for our players to play a full schedule, and we’re hoping that the ecosystem understands the value and power of inviting some of the most recognizable names in the world of golf into their events, into markets that others might not attend or travel to. It seems very obvious for sure. You don’t have to look really too much further past the sponsor invites and where they’re going. They’re going to our players.
“I’m hoping that’s true. If that’s not the case, we’ll just build events. Simple as that.”
This article originated on Golf.com
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