The biggest golf news of the last week was financial catnip:
LIV Golf’s international business suffered nearly $500 million in losses in 2024.
Half a bil! Coupled with similar losses in 2023 and its launch costs around 2022, the international arm of LIV — roughly half of its operations — has amassed losses north of $1 billion. And that’s not counting those eye-popping signing bonuses…
The most common question about those staggering numbers — How can the business possibly continue operating? — is often met with a hand-wavey answer: Well, LIV is owned by the Saudi PIF, which has total assets approaching $1 trillion. Big picture, this team-golf thing is merely a rounding error.
Indeed, LIV Golf’s financial backers can afford to keep dumping money into the league; they’ve already proven that. But they’ll only do so if they consider it a worthwhile endeavor, which means the bigger story is the dearth of encouraging signs in those spreadsheets. The new players, techy add-ons and revolving door of host sites LIV has rolled out have plunged it deeper into the red. We’re also seeing evidence of something we already knew: running a golf tour is really, really expensive, and running a global circuit is even costlier. And that’s where it’s worth looking to one of LIV’s competitors, too.
LIV’s international financials were made public via Companies House, the British Government wing that requires financial reporting for all registered companies in the United Kingdom. The DP World Tour (formerly known as the European Tour) falls into the same category, and filings show that it suffered significant losses of its own.
In 2024, the DPWT’s non-Ryder Cup revenue was as high as ever, its event attendance increased and so did TV ratings for its biggest tournaments (the Rolex Series). Sponsorship revenue saw a 15% hike and consumer revenue — things like merchandise, ticketing and hospitality sales — grew by nearly 30%.
How, then, did the DPWT accrue $32 million in losses?
It being a non-Ryder Cup year, the Tour has to operate without its crown jewel. The DPWT budgets for this annually, and largely makes up for it via its annual investment from the PGA Tour — more on that shortly — under the terms of the strategic alliance. When it comes to reporting these revenues, the PGA Tour is considered a long term creditor, which keeps the Annual Investment Payment from being reported as ‘income’.
Again, we refer you to the LIV case study: Stretching pro golf to all corners of the globe is pricey. And without anything close to the profit engine that is the Ryder Cup, LIV and any global tour is going to struggle. According to the 2024 report, the Ryder Cup is a roughly $110 million revenue generator when held in Europe every four years; that figure amounts to roughly a third of the revenue driven by the DPWT’s entire 44-event annual schedule. So that helps greatly. So has the windfall from the DPWT’s strategic alliance with the PGA Tour.
