LIV Golf’s proposed rescue has run into the same problem as its tournament plans: not enough players willing to take part. BC Partners has reportedly abandoned financing of up to $300 million for a revived league, leaving the circuit facing possible liquidation ahead of a November 5 bankruptcy hearing in New Jersey.
The withdrawal threatens the player-owned version of LIV planned for 2027. It does not mean a court has already ordered the league liquidated. The immediate question is whether another buyer can preserve the business or whether the bankruptcy proceedings will move toward selling assets and winding down operations.
CBS Sports reported that approximately 15 players had expressed interest in the proposed relaunch, while the investment firm had expected at least twice as many. The report, citing The Athletic and the Financial Times, said BC Partners doubted that the available field contained enough players and sufficiently prominent names to sustain a viable league.
LIV had spent months seeking a replacement for Saudi Arabia’s financial backing. The LIV Golf financing search had already coincided with tournament cancellations before the league entered bankruptcy in September. Securing capital was meant to give the competition a route into another season; securing a credible field was necessary to make that investment work.
In its September 8 restructuring announcement, LIV said it had signed a support agreement with BC Partners Credit and voluntarily sought Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The proposed company was expected to be majority owned by players, with completion subject to court and stakeholder approval.
That announcement described a plan to preserve an operating business, not a liquidation. LIV said Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund had agreed to provide $49.6 million in debtor-in-possession financing, subject to court approval, while BC Partners Credit and potential minority investors were expected to provide financing when the reorganized company emerged from bankruptcy.
The Public Investment Fund’s decision to end its backing had made that replacement investment essential. The fund announced in April that it would not finance LIV beyond the 2026 season, removing the support on which the circuit had depended since its 2022 launch.
Player departures then weakened the relaunch. NBC Sports reported on October 23 that Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton had said they would not participate in LIV 2.0, following departures by Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia. At that point, only four golfers had publicly said they were staying.
Those decisions came as the established circuits were defining their own positions. The PGA Tour and DP World Tour had announced a broader partnership with the Asian Tour in July. A player’s exit from LIV, however, does not automatically establish eligibility or playing privileges on another tour.
The uncertainty also reaches tournament hosts. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas told ABC that the planned Adelaide event appeared unlikely to proceed without the required players. ABC’s November 5 report said he had not received official confirmation from LIV, an important limit on treating the event as formally canceled.
The reported collapse of the rescue plan marks another turn in a dispute that drew public reassessments from figures including Rory McIlroy. The issue now is less whether LIV can challenge the established tours than whether it can finance an operating league at all.
The next procedural step is the scheduled New Jersey hearing. Until the court record or an official announcement establishes otherwise, liquidation remains the threatened outcome of a failed rescue, not a completed sale of LIV’s assets.
