LIV Golf is finishing it’s 2026 season this week in Indianapolis just a few days after announcing next week’s tournament in Michigan has been canceled. The league is currently crumbling thanks to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia pulling its massive funding at the end of the season.
LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil has been under fire the past few months as he tries to save the league, which started in 2022.
NESBITT: Rory McIlroy Had a Brutally Honest Line About LIV Golf’s Best Players. And He Wasn’t Wrong.
Money continues to be the biggest issue for LIV Golf and it hasn’t just been about finding new investors to bring in the cash needed to stay afloat. Reports this week have stated that the league owes a number of different contractors and vendors money for work they have done in the past.
One of those companies is Fresh Tape Media, which handled LIV Golf’s media days last January. The production company is suing LIV Golf for $1.23 million over unpaid dues and interest earned that it alleges LIV Golf owes.
O’Neil was asked specifically about that company on Wednesday, and his answer was one of the worst word salads you’ll hear all year.
“Fresh Tape Media’s founder said ‘It’s pretty simple-when a small business does the work it deserves to be paid for it.’ What’s your response to that and how do you get vendors in the next iteration of LIV to work with these reports out there?” a reporter asked the LIV CEO.
“Look, I come from a family of entrepreneurs, a family of small business entrepreneurs and know the challenge that that is,” O’Neil said. “So what I would say to them is we’re doing everything we can to make sure we can do right by them and the work they committed, and I hope we can. For the next generation, it will certainly be a different business with a different process.”
LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil's response to Fresh Tape Media and the league's other unpaid vendors and contractors. https://t.co/DE061n43gU pic.twitter.com/WX9vPFX9NM
— David Rumsey (@_DavidRumsey) August 19, 2026
The fact that he said “We’re doing everything we can to make sure we do right by them” is just pathetic. If LIV Golf was doing everything they could, the check would have already been cut. Instead, the small company is being forced to sue the league to get the money that they are allegedly owed.
Here’s what the founder of Fresh Tape Media had to say earlier this week on X:
We worked with a lot of great people at @livgolf_league and are proud of what our team produced. This isn’t about the work or the people we collaborated with.
— Jared Kleinstein (@jarzod) August 18, 2026
It’s pretty simple: when a small business does the work, it deserves to be paid for it. https://t.co/AfPSjW5LJu
What makes O’Neil’s answer even more laughable is that this week’s tournament purse is $50 million. $10.1 million will be handed out to the individual winner, $10 million will be handed out to the individual season-long winner. And a whopping $30 million will be handed out to the season-long team champion.
Sure seems like there is some cash available to give to companies like Fresh Tape Media!
NESBITT: LIV Golf Is Falling Apart in the Most Embarrassing of Ways, According to New Reports
But that’s not going to happen. Instead, Fresh Cut Media and other companies that are owed money from LIV Golf are going to have to fight for what should already be theirs while watching already rich golfers make even more money this weekend in Indianapolis.
The past few months have been an embarrassment for LIV Golf and it’s not about to get any better for the league. They can talk all they want about new investors and the possible future for the league. What O’Neil and the rest of his crew should be doing is writing some checks and making good on their past business agreements.
Because how they’re handling things right now is disgusting.
MORE GOLF FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
- Scottie Scheffler’s Hold on World No. 1 Gets Even Stronger after St. Jude
- Bryson DeChambeau Continues to Be His Own Worst Enemy
- Rory McIlroy Had a Brutally Honest Line About LIV Golf’s Best Players. And He Wasn’t Wrong.
- BMW Championship Picks, Props, Predictions: Betting Sam Burns, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg
