LIV Golf hires investment bank in bid to survive beyond 2026

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.