LIV's revenue dwarfed by Rahm's £450m bonus in worrying report for Saudi league
Jon Rahm's reported £450 million contract with LIV Golf is said to be six times bigger than the revenue the breakaway league made during its first full campaign in 2023.
The LIV setup have burst onto the pro golf scene over the past 18 months, all thanks to the backing of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). The wealth of the Saudi fund has allowed the breakaway league to lure in some of the biggest names in the sport.
The likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson have all signed multi-million-pound contracts with LIV, as the Saudi league emerged as a direct rival to the PGA Tour.
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Their latest coup was their biggest yet, as Greg Norman and co acquired the services of one of the PGA Tour's most prized assets in Masters champion Rahm. Unsurprisingly the Spaniard's signature came at a cost, with Rahm penning a record-breaking deal.
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Whilst their is plenty being pumped into the LIV league by its Saudi backers though, it appears there is not much coming back in return. According to a report by Golf.com, the breakaway circuit's revenue for 2023 was less than £78.5 million ($100m), a long way off Rahm's mega-money deal.
Since its formation last summer, the Saudi-backed series has made great strides to announce itself as a big player in pro golf, but commercially it still finds itself in the shadow of its PGA Tour counterparts. Sponsorship-wise the circuit's 12 teams have made their move.
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Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf earlier this month (AP)In June the Majesticks - co-captained by Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson - announced they had teamed up with OKX. The cryptocurrency exchange is no stranger to working in the world of sport, also sharing a partnerships with Premier League giants Manchester City, as well as Formula 1 setup McLaren.
Elsewhere Dustin Johnson's 4Aces and Sergio Garcia's Fireballs have also landed deals, however the league itself are still yet to acquire any significant investment away from the Saudi fund. There is no doubt the Saudis plan to expand their involvement in professional golf, with the proposed framework agreement with the PGA Tour clear evidence of that.
In June, the PGA Tour announced that they would partner with PIF, seemingly ending their feud with the LIV setup. At the time, PIF chair Yasir Al-Rumayyan confirmed the fund would invest 'billions of dollars' into golf as part of the agreement.
Six months on though the future of the game remains unclear with a deal yet to be signed off. An initial deadline of December 31 was set by both parties, but with this set to be missed, the Telegraph reported on Friday that this is set to be extended to March ahead of the 2024 Masters Tournament.
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