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Saudi Arabia-backed league LIV Golf has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing liabilities between $500mn and $1bn, with nine professional golfers owed millions of dollars among the company’s top-10 unsecured creditors.
The FT previously reported that LIV would seek to launch a “2.0” version backed by buyout firm BC Partners with the bankruptcy used to shed legacy obligations.
LIV said: “Under the proposed transaction, the reorganised company is expected to be majority owned by players, whom the company remains in advanced discussions with, creating an ownership structure aligning players’ interests with the league’s long-term success.”
LIV said the company would emerge from the court-supervised process in “early 2027”.
However, LIV and BC Partners did not announce the format for the new league, nor which golfers would remain with the private equity firm’s investment, previously reported as much as $300mn.
The BC deal is dependent on LIV reaching various operating and financial milestones during the case, which the group did not immediately disclose.
The golfers’ claims were listed to be worth between $2mn and $7.4mn, respectively in the filing made in a US bankruptcy court in New Jersey. The player liabilities in the filing only reflect LIV’s 2026 third-quarter obligations and not the full remaining contract value, which for some golfers extends multiple years and can range into tens of millions of dollars, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invested more than $5bn in total on the circuit, which launched in 2022, but disclosed earlier this year it would halt its funding at the end of the 2026 season. PIF on Tuesday said it would fund a $50mn bankruptcy loan to see LIV through the Chapter 11 process.
David Orlofsky, an executive at turnaround consulting firm AlixPartners, will serve as the LIV chief restructuring officer, according to the petition filed with the court.
A “first-day” hearing in the case in which LIV’s lawyers will share their plan to complete the bankruptcy is expected to be scheduled for later this week or early next week.
LIV said it would seek to have courts in England and Wales recognise the US proceedings “to preserve the value of its international assets and operations”.
