PIF concern as project set to fold after funding pulled by Newcastle United owners
There was some big news over the future of LIV Golf earlier this week.
LIV Golf, the controversial breakaway league created by Newcastle United’s majority shareholders PIF, is to be wound down after being deal a financial blow earlier this week.
Several of the sport’s biggest names switched their alliance and penned lucrative deals with LIV when the league was launched in 2021 with the likes of Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau all taking part over the years that followed.
However, speculation over PIF pulling back their investment in LIV and seeking investment from elsewhere increased over the last 12 months and confirmation over that move came in April before the league filed for bankruptcy protection five months later. LIV 2.0, which has echoes of David Hopkinson’s description of a new look Magpies squad as Newcastle 2.0, looked for new investment but the league is ‘now toggling to a value-maximising wind-down of their business’ according to lawyer Matt Williams after investment firm BC Partners pulled out of a deal.
Speaking at a bankruptcy court hearing on Thursday, Williams said: "Despite everyone's best efforts we just couldn't get to the level of combined financial and player support necessary for a viable LIV 2.0 within the required timeline," Williams told a bankruptcy court hearing. It was not an easy conclusion for anyone who believed in what LIV Golf built but it is the right one for these estates in these circumstances. Obviously if the facts or the circumstances change the strategic initiative committee can and will revisit this decision. But sitting here today we believe the wind-down path is the best path to maximise value for stakeholders."
In a statement released by LIV Golf, CEO Scott O’Neil added: "Building a global platform designed to bring new, younger, and more diverse fans to the sport of golf has been the round of a lifetime for all of us. LIV Golf was fun, demanding, inspiring, at times challenging - but always rewarding."
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