The Japan Times - LIV Golf boss sees hope for new sponsors beyond 2026

Speaking ahead of this week's LIV Golf Virginia event at Trump National Washington, O'Neil said he has spoken with potential investors as he works on a business plan he can pitch to players and sponsors alike.

"I definitely will not be talking through specifics of the plan,' O'Neil said. "But it's a playbook that won't surprise too many people once you see it.

"It's for next year that we're going to be making some pretty significant, substantive changes."

The days of players golfing less and making more money than PGA Tour talent figure to be at an end since the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) has said it will pull the plug on backing LIV once the season concludes in August.

O'Neil believes that even with changes, LIV players will want to remain with the series.

"Do I believe that when we have a business plan and we raise money, that this is the place the players will choose? I do," he said.

"I have a lot of confidence this is a place players want to be."

O'Neil said he was "very confident" of support from new sponsors.

"I had about a dozen inbound calls this weekend from potential investors," O'Neil said. "It was a split between private equity, family office, and then your traditional high net worth guys who invest in sports and sports teams. So that has been really positive."

He has also spoken with broadcast and marketing partners about staying with LIV, saying, "We have a good sense at this point. We know where we're going."

O'Neil wants to keep a 14-week season but have other tours allow LIV players into events to produce showdowns with all the world's top talent.

"If you want to see the best players in the world playing together more often, no problem, let's do it on the other 38 weeks," he said.

The PGA Tour has banned LIV players from its events, opening a brief return path that allowed Brooks Koepka back this year.

- 'Urgency here' -

O'Neil had no timetable for when LIV might have a plan to offer players and investors.

"I won't speak to specific timing other than to say that you'll find urgency here," he said.

When it came to return value on investment, O'Neil pointed to LIV teams, some of which have changed in recent months to reflect more national lineups.

"If you're looking for direction, we believe teams will have extraordinary value," he said. "Once we set the business in the right direction with the right trajectory, with the right revenue base and cost base, these teams will have extraordinary value."

O'Neil said players have offered to make visits to private equity firms in hopes of deals to sustain LIV, which has made a splash with events in such places as Adelaide.

"To see the impact it's having in markets like Australia, where we had 115,000 people, and South Africa we had 100,000 people and the UK, where we had 60,000 people last year... You start to feel that movement that the teams are catching on.

"I'm feeling good. I'm feeling an appropriate amount of pressure. I'm feeling inspired and I feel like we have a clear path to a win."

T.Ueda--JT