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LIV Golf will know its fate by the end of the month, an attorney representing the rebel golf league told a federal bankruptcy court judge on Wednesday, while its legal representation lambasted the “clear attempt to interfere” with LIV’s restructuring by the DP World Tour’s recent decision to not allow players from competing for both leagues in 2027.
Attorney Robert Fitzgerald told U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey Judge Michael B. Kaplan that his clients “anticipate that that decision will be made by the end of the month” on whether LIV Golf 2.0 will go forward or it will cease operations.
“Once we have full clarity on LIV 2.0, the debtors will need to very shortly begin making payments to host sites, vendors and other parties, so that we can schedule and prepare for LIV 2.0 events that we anticipate will take place shortly following the emergence,” Fitzgerald said during Wednesday’s hearing, according to the BBC.
The rebel league has been fighting to stay afloat following the decision by the Saudi Public Investment Fund to pull its financial support and is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings as it tries to come out the other side, with an investment from BC Partners.
Earlier in the week, the DP World Tour said that it would not grant conditional status to players who agree to play in LIV Golf 2.0 next season, which it had in the past, and would impact the ability of players who would want to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup next September.
Fitzgerald said during Wednesday’s hearing that LIV Golf will “monitor this situation very closely and we’re quite concerned by it frankly.”
“The timing in particular strikes us as a clear attempt to interfere with our process with our players and potentially our reorganisation writ large,” the attorney said. “It also raises a lot of the same anti-competitive concerns that LIV has expressed previously regarding the way competing leagues have sought to box out and punish market participants, namely these players, from participating in LIV and really only LIV.”
Previously, big stars like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were granted exemptions by the DP World Tour to allow them to play on the European tour and LIV Golf.
However, the change impacts a number of players as they decide their future and whether or not they give it a go with LIV Golf 2.0.
Players have until Oct. 25 to commit to LIV Golf 2.0.
“Player freedom is the reason LIV Golf was created, and it’s the foundation of LIV Golf 2.0, a league built around its players,” Fitzgerald argued in court on Wednesday.
LIV’s revamped league would give golfers 52.5 percent equity in it, according to a term sheet filed with the court, while BC Partners would receive 45 percent and any potential minority investors and management would receive 2.5 percent.
Kaplan agreed with LIV’s arguments and said the DP World Tour’s decision does “raise concerns.”
The judge did approve a motion to reject 19 players’ current contracts with LIV, which included those of Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bubba Watson.
Kaplan also approved an amended restructuring support agreement that BC Partners would provide LIV $300 million in financing and it included an initial loan of $4 million to help fund operations during the bankruptcy process.