LIV Golf retained investment bank Ducera Partners LLC on Monday, May 4, to lead its long-term capital strategy, a survival move after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced it will stop funding the circuit at the end of this season.
The clock is ticking.
PIF poured more than $5 billion into LIV Golf since the league launched in 2022, and when the money runs out, there is no guarantee anything will replace it.
“PIF has made the decision to fund LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season,” the fund said last week. “The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy.”
Ducera, founded in 2015 by CEO Michael Kramer, boasts that it has advised more than $850 billion in transactions, across sports, media and entertainment. Kramer served as an advisor on NHL and MLB franchise transactions, according to the announcement. He called LIV “hard to replicate” and said the firm would focus on finding the right long-term partners.
The hiring follows a flurry of structural moves. LIV recently added independent directors Gene Davis and Jon Zinman to its board, and Citigroup is already advising on the potential sale of stakes in individual teams, which is a separate process from Ducera’s broader capital-raising mandate.
The league has a lot of selling to do.
LIV has bled an estimated $500 million to $600 million annually since launching as a PGA Tour rival. It has failed to generate meaningful U.S. television ratings, despite deals with The CW Network and Fox. It postponed its upcoming New Orleans event as the crisis deepened.
LIV has not added a marquee player since Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton joined in 2024. Brooks Koepka left his LIV contract early and paid a stiff financial penalty to return to the PGA Tour. Patrick Reed departed to set up his own return in 2027 and speculation is running rampant that Bryson DeChambeau, the league’s biggest star, is eyeing an exit when his contract expires at the end of the season.
LIV is pushing back with its own numbers, claiming sponsorships and partnerships are up 40% year-over-year, ticket sales have grown more than 130% and its broadcast reach is approaching one billion households across 200 countries.
In 2023 there were talks about a potential merger with the PGA Tour, but they collapsed as the Tour forged ahead with its own reforms. That included bigger purses, a revamped PGA Tour schedule, and private investment of its own.
With its season running through August, the league has months to find the money it needs to exist in 2027.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LIV Golf hires investment bank Ducera Partners to find funding