The controversial LIV Golf league will soon begin a second season. But, federal court documents revealed that the circuit is failing to generate revenue of any real significance.
In a motion filed with the U.S. District Court for Northern California on Monday, attorneys for the golf circuit admitted that "virtually zero" revenue was produced in 2022.
The filing was part of LIV's ongoing lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
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The LIV lawyers asked Judge Beth Labson Freeman to deny the PGA Tour's motion for leave to add the PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as plaintiffs in the tour’s countersuit against LIV.
In the tour's countersuit, it alleges LIV Golf interfered with its contract with players.
Freeman has scheduled a Feb. 24 case management conference to hear arguments from both sides.
"The Tour's motion to amend should be denied because the amendment would be futile, would cause unfair prejudice, was unduly delayed, and is obviously intended to inappropriately delay the case and resolution of Plaintiffs' antitrust claims," LIV Golf's attorneys wrote in Monday's motion.
"Delay will equally harm LIV because the Tour continues its anticompetitive conduct while the litigation is pending. The Tour has damaged LIV's brand, driven up its costs by hundreds of millions of dollars, and driven down revenues to virtually zero."
Former LIV Golf president and COO Atul Khosla told ESPN in October that the Public Investment Fund spent approximately $784 million bankrolling the circuit's first season. The funds were largely spent on paying out salaries, covering the production expenses for broadcasting LIV's events, and paying for the build-out of the league's website. However, that figure did not include player salaries.
Khosla stepped down in December.
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The second season of LIV Golf is set to air on the CW network. However, the league will not earn rights fees and must cover production costs due to a revenue-sharing arrangement, according to ESPN's Mark Schlabach.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is set to implement several significant changes. The Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, the Memorial Tournament, and the FedEx St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship will feature increased purse sizes for players.
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That second LIV Golf season will start Feb. 24 in Mexico. The circuit will stage 14 tournaments in 2023.
