The LIV schedule could be on the brink of retracting even further.
According to a pair of reports, the latest from the Wall Street Journal, LIV is on the brink of canceling its “team championship” event, which was originally scheduled to conclude the league’s season at the end of August. The news marks the latest in a string of cost-cutting measures from LIV as the league continues its dire push for outside investment necessary to keep it afloat.
The team championship, which was originally scheduled for Michigan in the last week of August, would be the second event to be canceled since the league’s initial financial backer, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, announced plans to cease its funding of LIV at the conclusion of the 2026 season.
LIV has not commented publicly about any potential schedule changes, including the cancelation of the team championship, which was first suggested by league captain Martin Kaymer at LIV UK last week. Still, a league source indicated LIV was willing to “take a disciplined approach” to “long-term sustainability” while it continues its search for outside investment.
“Discipline” can take on many forms, but one path to cost-savings is to postpone or cancel events, saving millions owed to vendors and on-site fees. It’s a lever LIV has already pulled in the post-Saudi era; in June, the league announced it was “postponing” an event originally scheduled for Louisiana after the PIF withdrew funding. Earlier this month, a LIV vendor sued the league for failing to pay its bills.
LIV is keen to point out that it will remain solvent through at least the end of the 2026 season. As part of the PIF’s exit strategy from LIV, the PIF has promised to keep operations afloat for the league they founded through the remainder of the summer.
But the path beyond Saudi divestment is murky. Even with fewer events, the league continues to burn enormous amounts of cash each quarter, and its costs have ballooned to more than $6 billion since launch. These economics have increased the pressure on LIV CEO Scott O’Neil, who has appeared in public repeatedly to pitch the league to potential investors — calls that have grown increasingly urgent as the league moves closer to a desired deal deadline of September 1.
“What we don’t have a lot of is time,” O’Neil told Sportico at the beginning of July. “So we’re very urgently out there talking to those who are interested.”
While LIV would not comment publicly about the reports of a team championship cancellation, the same source cautioned LIV would not make a final decision around the team championship until the conclusion of next week’s event in Bedminster, N.J. Should the team championship be canceled, LIV’s visit to Trump Bedminster would mark the penultimate event of the 2026 season, with the final event — the individual championship — expected for late-August in Indianapolis.
O’Neil is certainly hoping that LIV will have positive news to report by then, ideally in the form of a new majority investor in the league. The Associated Press reported in June that O’Neil is hoping to raise upwards of $300 million to keep the league afloat, and has had conversations with at least five potential investors.
The LIV CEO has taken to calling the “new” vision of the league “LIV 2.0.” Reports have suggested that vision could look like fewer events with purses as low as $10 million — though neither LIV nor its players have commented publicly about the vision.
“I’m always optimistic, I play golf for a living,” Jon Rahm said last week in the UK, before offering a word of caution. “I’m not going to share anything that I can’t share with you guys right now.”
No matter how “LIV 2.0” looks, statements like these reveal the totality of the change facing LIV in the post-Saudi era. The private jet-flaunting, champagne-popping, hundred-million-dollar-signing-bonus iteration of the league that attracted Rahm is a relic of the past.
In its place, there are questions about funding, about lawsuits, and now, about plans for the end of the month.
