The post Jon Rahm & Co. to Breathe Sigh of Relief as LIV Golf's New Deal Dismisses Shutdown Rumors
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The loudest statement LIV Golf made this week has nothing to do with Jon Rahm
being at the top of the leaderboard, nor with the rumours surrounding its financial situation.
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On the final day of the Mexico City event, as the golf world grapples with reports of its impending collapse, LIV Golf announced via a post on X that it will return to Club de Golf Chapultepec in 2027. They even gave a specific date, on April 19 of next year. The 2027 event will mark LIV’s fifth consecutive year in Mexico and third straight at Club de Golf Chapultepec.
Over the past four to five days, multiple reports from industry analysts and major publications have pointed toward a potential shutdown of LIV Golf. Several suggested that the Public Investment Fund (PIF) could withdraw its financial backing.
What unfolded in Mexico City only deepens the contradiction. The city’s official broadcast feed went dark for more than two hours during the opening round, hardly a sign of operational stability. And yet, by the final day of the same tournament, LIV Golf formally confirmed a return to Mexico City in 2027, with ticket registrations already live. This was not a soft indication or speculative tease; it was a definitive announcement.
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That contrast suggests something more deliberate. LIV Golf’s leadership does not appear to be preparing for a quiet exit. CEO Scott O’Neil made a huge statement by attending the Mexico City event in person, engaging with the media, and publicly reinforcing confidence.
“You work like crazy as a business to create a business plan to keep us going,” he said, and his remarks quickly circulated online.
Mexico City is not an isolated case. In March, O’Neil travelled to Johannesburg to announce LIV Golf’s return to South Africa in 2027
, dedicating an entire press conference to that single expansion move. The pattern is becoming difficult to dismiss: LIV Golf appears to be locking in global markets publicly, one commitment at a time.
And yet, the central question remains unresolved. For all the forward-facing momentum, the uncertainty around PIF’s long-term financial backing continues to loom in the background.
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Why Mexico City is the flag LIV Golf chooses to plant
It seems LIV didn’t pick Mexico City at random as the venue just to make a statement. It is one of the league’s most commercially embedded markets, and the 2027 announcement makes that case explicitly.
In the official press release today, LIV Golf’s Head of Events, Ross Hallett, specifically named the local stakeholders backing the 2027 return: Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City, and the Salinas family. These are the same local partners who have anchored the event for two consecutive years, and none of them are Saudi entities.
They represent exactly the kind of independent domestic infrastructure that LIV needs to demonstrate if it is to survive beyond PIF funding. The league has also stated that its global events have generated more than $1 billion in economic impact for host cities worldwide, with an international broadcast reach of more than 900 million. The timing is not coincidental.
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On the sponsorship side, the official 2027 page lists Aramco, HSBC, Ma’aden, Riyadh Air, Roshen, and Salesforce as active partners. Salesforce and HSBC, in particular, are not PIF-linked entities. They are independent commercial relationships that point toward a revenue model that doesn’t solely rely on Saudi backing. Under Scott O’Neil, plans have also been underway to sell team franchises for significant fees—another commercial layer designed to reduce dependence on PIF.
The Mexico City market also has the numbers to back it up. The LIV Adelaide event this season drew a record crowd, while South Africa also delivered strong attendance. Mexico City has consistently performed in the same tier, with a passionate Latin American fan base built around homegrown stars like Joaquín Niemann, Carlos Ortiz, and Abraham Ancer, who pulled in their own crowd this week at Naucalpan.
Club de Golf Chapultepec sits at roughly over 7,800 feet above sea level. It produces record distance totals and a spectacle that plays differently from anything else on the schedule. It’s a venue that also photographs well, sells well, and travels well, and LIV seems to know it.
For a league trying to prove it can exist without a sovereign wealth fund writing blank checks, Mexico City is the most convincing evidence it has. And tonight, LIV made sure that the evidence extends to 2027.
