LIV's 2027 plan: 10 events, $10M purses and equity for players

Scott O'Neil has been describing a version of LIV Golf that does not exist yet and may never. The proposed new investor has had the full briefing; the public has had fragments. Here is what the chief executive has actually committed to about a 2027 season, and the parts he has not.

What would the 2027 schedule look like?

Ten events. Five would be team championships staged internationally, one on each of the five continents LIV plays, and five would be team Signature Events held mainly in the United States and slotted around the majors so that players competing in them have somewhere to prepare.

The overseas five are already pencilled in, according to the deck shown to the prospective investor.

The US venues are unsettled. LIV has played Portland and Miami among others, and cancelling two events this year, the Michigan Team Championship at late notice and a June tournament in Louisiana, will not have helped its standing with potential hosts.

Why is LIV leaning harder into teams?

O'Neil has pointed to the crowds that turned out in Australia and South Africa for Ripper and the Southern Guards, and to the Ryder Cup and the FIFA World Cup as the model. Four squads already carry a single national identity: England, USA, Korea and Spain. Expect more of them, on the theory that a flag builds a fanbase faster than a brand does.

What is O'Neil offering the other tours?

Peace. He has conceded that LIV's early years under Greg Norman were disruptive and at times divisive, and says he wants arrangements that let his players compete on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour without fines, sanctions or restrictions.

Our goal isn't to replace or restrict any tour.

If those deals do not materialise, the fallback is to manufacture the schedule internally. O'Neil has noted that prize money on the feeder tours is low enough that LIV could simply build its own supporting events around its existing ones to give players a full year.

What do the players get?

Equity, for the first time. The amounts and the mechanism are undisclosed, but ownership is how LIV intends to stay attractive once the guaranteed money shrinks. Players would also recover their name, image and likeness rights, which the league has held until now. That was among Phil Mickelson's original grievances with the PGA Tour, and it will matter to commercially active players such as Bryson DeChambeau.

Purses are the trade-off. Events are expected to carry roughly $10 million, well down on this season. That is still level with the DP World Tour Championship, above anything else on that circuit, and competitive with the larger non-Signature events on the PGA Tour.

What is still unanswered?

The two things that decide it. O'Neil says he has a critical mass of players committed but will not name the deadline he is working to, and getting signatures is itself a condition of the deal closing, which leaves players being asked to commit to a league whose existence depends on them committing. Jon Rahm has not said he is staying. DeChambeau is out of contract and has been positive without being definitive.

World ranking status is the other open question. O'Neil says he is 100 percent certain LIV 2.0 keeps its Official World Golf Ranking position, though a 10-event season, an unclear promotion and relegation structure, player-owned equity and nationality-based teams all complicate that case.