Saudi-backed LIV Golf made ‘virtually zero’ money in its first year

LIV Golf made a big splash last year in part because of the huge sums of money the Saudi-backed tour laid out to land stars Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and others. When it came to how much dough the controversial circuit raked in, however, the number was apparently a lot smaller.

As in “virtually zero,” according to federal court documents.

After wooing some of the biggest names in golf, LIV, which is bankrolled by the Public Investment Fund, revealed in a motion filed Monday by its attorneys in the U.S. District Court for Northern California that the circuit generated virtually no revenue in 2022.

With no TV deal in place and its tournaments broadcast only on YouTube and its website last year, that’s hardly a surprise.

The motion by LIV came as part of a lawsuit involving the PGA Tour. The LIV lawyers asked that the judge deny the PGA Tour’s motion for leave to add the PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as plaintiffs in the tour’s countersuit against LIV. The PGA Tour is alleging that LIV interfered with its contract with players. Judge Beth Labson Freeman has scheduled a Feb. 24 case management conference to hear arguments from the two sides.

As for LIV’s outrageous spending, it was revealed in October that the upstart league spent about $784 million on its first season, COO Atul Khosla told ESPN.

That number reportedly did not include players’ contracts. LIV paid a reported $200 million for Mickelson, a six-time major champ; $150 million for two-time major winner and former world No. 1 Johnson; more than $125 million for DeChambeau, who won the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot; and at least $100 million for reigning Players and British Open champ Cameron Smith.

Whether LIV will generate any revenue this year remains to be seen.

Last month, the league inked a a revenue-sharing agreement rather than the typical rights fee networks pay to leagues to broadcast events.

LIV’s first tournament of the season will be Feb. 24-26 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.