Alan Shipnuck on Chances LIV Tour Lives on after Saudi Funding Ends

Alan Shipnuck joined The Rich Eisen Show to map out exactly where the LIV Tour stands now that the Saudi Public Investment Fund is pulling its funding at the end of the year.

The verdict from Shipnuck was unsentimental. The version of LIV that the golf world has been fighting about for three years is finished.

"LIV as we know it is dead," Shipnuck said. "Will there be a zombie LIV that continues? We're going to find out."

Shipnuck reserved a particular kind of contempt for Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the LIV chairman who personally championed the project from inception and then resigned from the board on his way out the door.

"He's left the board of directors, which to me is a super weak move," Shipnuck said. "You're the captain of the ship. You should go down with the ship. He took the first lifeboat to get off the deck."

The real question Shipnuck framed for the show is whether LIV can find outside investment, new sponsors, and corporate partners willing to fund a stripped-down version of the same product. He sketched what that zombie LIV would look like in practice. Possibly no Bryson DeChambeau. Possibly no Jon Rahm. A condensed schedule. International events in markets like Australia, South Africa, and Korea where LIV has already drawn warm receptions. Smaller purses. The end of the guaranteed-money era.

"The age of decadence is over at LIV Golf," Shipnuck said.

Then Rich asked the only question that matters in any operational autopsy. What's the number?

Shipnuck's answer was sharp. The Saudis were spending roughly a billion dollars a year. Jon Rahm's contract alone was reportedly fifty to sixty million annually before any winnings. Purses ran thirty-three million per event. To run LIV in a leaner form, Shipnuck estimated the operation would still need somewhere around two hundred and fifty million dollars a year.

"Good luck finding that," Shipnuck said. "Honestly, good luck finding that."

He did float a counterpoint. LIV is claiming revenue is up a hundred million dollars over last year. Whether that number is real or padded by Aramco and other PIF subsidiaries is open for debate. But sponsors like Rolex and HSBC are in. Some of the team franchises have started building independent revenue streams through apparel and equipment deals.

Shipnuck noted the franchise-sale strategy was always the long-term plan. The asking price of half a billion per team killed every conversation. Reset that number to a hundred million and find a wealthy buyer in Korea who wants to own a golf team and play in the pro-ams, and you might have something.

Shipnuck also flagged a quiet upside to losing the Saudi capital. Removing the Saudis from the equation removes the political squeamishness that scared off blue-chip sponsors and made some consumers refuse to engage. With that overhang gone, LIV may actually have an easier time selling its product.

The new CEO Scott O'Neil and two new board members with turnaround experience now own the math. Shipnuck's read on the odds was honest.

"There is a way forward, but it does seem like a long shot," he said. "I think the answer is maybe."