BC Partners has abandoned its plan to invest up to $300 million in LIV Golf. The breakaway circuit is now without a replacement for Saudi funding and, according to ESPN, is likely heading toward a liquidation of its assets unless a buyer emerges at the last minute.
The London-based private capital firm agreed in October to back a relaunch of the league, known as LIV 2.0. That plan followed the decision by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to stop financing the circuit after the 2026 season. ESPN reported on Wednesday that BC Partners withdrew because too few of LIV's leading players had committed to play in 2027.
A source told ESPN that about 30 players had pledged to compete next season and another 10 were still considering it, but talks with the golfers dragged past the point where the investor was willing to wait. Only a handful of players have said publicly that they intend to return, and none of the league's marquee names were among them.
Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter have said they will not come back and will play on the DP World Tour instead. CNA, carrying a Reuters report, said LIV also failed to lock in Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann, citing Sports Business Journal.
In September the league entered bankruptcy proceedings in New Jersey. The PIF had put more than $5 billion into LIV from its 2022 debut and then said it would stop funding it, CNA reported. The Financial Times was first to report the BC Partners decision, which came as a deadline approached for LIV to prove it had enough player backing to run a 2027 schedule.
The Athletic reported, attributing its story to several people, that the league is drawing up plans to close down, because BC Partners decided the window for a workable LIV 2.0 had closed, according to CNA. LIV has said it intends to keep operating while it reorganises.
A hearing is set for Thursday before U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael B. Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey, on its agreements, property leases and holdings. Whether the league's fate will come up there is not known. LIV did not comment to Reuters, and a spokesperson did not respond to ESPN's request for comment.
The failed rescue talks close a season in which LIV's biggest names drifted back to established tours. DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings said the league had sought to undermine the European circuit. "They took players; they took sponsors; they turned professional golf into an arms race," Rory McIlroy told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the Abu Dhabi Championship. McIlroy said in October that he would vote to let LIV players return to the PGA Tour.