LIV Golf’s gambit to rewrite global sports, with Scott O’Neil

Summary

Masters of Scale, Rapid Response

Episode: LIV Golf’s gambit to rewrite global sports, with Scott O’Neil
Air Date: April 14, 2026
Guest: Scott O’Neil, CEO, LIV Golf
Host: Bob Safian

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the rise and disruptive ambitions of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed professional golf league shaking up the global sports landscape. Host Bob Safian sits down with Scott O’Neil, LIV’s newly installed CEO and a veteran sports executive, to discuss how LIV is reimagining the business and culture of golf—from its distinct team-based format to global expansion, dynamic fan engagement, and massive financial bets. The conversation also unpacks the league’s strategies, cultural impact, challenges of funding, and persistent questions around Saudi ownership.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scott O’Neil’s Journey and Motivation

• Scott’s career path spans the NBA, NHL, and Merlin Entertainments, giving him broad experience in both US-focused and global enterprises.
• He speaks candidly about the excitement and challenge of leading LIV Golf, describing it as “the biggest challenge I’ve ever had.” (03:16)
  • Quote:
    “I’ve never had this much fun in my life… The success trajectory, momentum is almost incalculable. What we’ve done in the last 14 months—it’s a huge mountain to climb, and I like a challenge, and this is certainly the biggest challenge I’ve ever had.” – Scott O’Neil (03:16)
• O’Neil was particularly drawn to LIV by the vision and backing of Yasser Al Rumayan, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s PIF (Public Investment Fund).

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2. The LIV Golf Difference: Format, Teams, and Global Scope

• Distinctive Features:
  • Team-Based Structure: LIV features regional teams (e.g., Southern Guards of South Africa, Ripper GC of Australia) led by star captains like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, who are business partners and have equity in the teams. (07:45–08:30)
  • Shorter, Audience-Friendly Tournaments: The “shotgun start” format cuts events to about 4.5 hours with a smaller field, providing a definitive, shorter, and more engaging schedule for fans and broadcasters. (10:27)
  • Global Expansion: Unlike PGA’s US focus, LIV is aggressively global, pulling massive crowds in places like Australia (115,000 attendees) and South Africa.
    • Quote:
      “All the best golf since Tiger Woods has been played in the US… Whole rest of the world out there. So I want to take the best players in the world to the world and grow the game.” – Scott O’Neil (06:59)
  • Enhanced Fan Experience: LIV events include concerts, walk-up songs, parachute shows, and more—“It’s fun, it’s not stuffy. We have walk up songs for our players… After play, there’s a concert… What if we can attract new faces and people, ages, genders to the sport?”* – Scott O’Neil (21:06–21:49)

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3. Business Model: Teams as Assets

• Teams are profitable small businesses and will be spun off into independent franchises akin to the NBA or NFL model (09:32–10:14).
  • Quote:
    “Most of our teams are profitable, which helps the investment thesis… If you buy our Aussie team, what could you do?… A media company, a clothing brand, a golf course, an academy… There’s real interest and understanding and how to drive some value there.” – Scott O'Neil (09:51)

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4. Cultural and Societal Impact of Golf

• O’Neil emphasizes the unique role of golf in bridging generations, influencers, and world leaders.
  • “90% of Fortune 500 CEOs play golf. World leaders play golf… What other environment are you pulling those people together?” (06:20)
• The sport serves as a “common language” in a divided world, fostering resilience, inspiration, and shared experiences (Anthony Kim’s comeback story, 04:48–05:55).

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5. Player Partnerships & Brand Building

• Players have unprecedented opportunities to build their brands and become part-owners, incentivizing performance and fan interaction.
• Focus is on athletes with personalities and stories who can drive both on-course and off-course engagement—YouTube stars, international celebrities, etc.
  • “Bryson DeChambeau… is a YouTube superstar… crazy, crazy fans… The athletes in golf understand the business of it more than some of the athletes in the other sports because they are businesses in and of themselves.” – Scott O’Neil (14:07–15:04)
• Players are required to engage deeply with fans—autographs, selfies, social media, breaking down traditional barriers.

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6. Trusting the Process & Growth Metrics

• Scott references the “Trust The Process” philosophy from his NBA tenure, applying a similar long-game approach at LIV.
  • “Let’s make the right decision, as many right decisions as we can and just keep walking forward… that light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train.” (20:03)
• LIV is focused on both immediate and future growth:
  • Stats:
    • 30% of fans have never attended a golf event; 40% have never picked up a club. (20:53–21:00)
    • South Australia: 212% growth in girls 12–18 playing golf; 45% of new club members are under 45. (22:15)
    • South Africa: LIV event watched by 45% of sports audience—double The Masters. (22:39)
    • Revenue up 108% last year, expenses up 8%; this year revenue up 85%, expenses up 3%. (23:10)
• Demographics:
  • 60% of fans under 40, 23% family audience—contrast with traditional golf events. (21:53)

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7. Controversies, Saudi Funding, and Global Perceptions

• O’Neil addresses the “sportswashing” critique surrounding Saudi investment, positioning PIF as a hands-on, finance-driven private equity partner with clear ROI expectations. (26:28)
  • Quote:
    “There’s ROI and ROI… It is hardcore. We have real KPIs, we’re measured weekly… But there’s also return on image.” – Scott O’Neil (26:28)
• LIV is interconnected with other PIF global sports investments—some collaboration, but no immediate plans for crossover events like F1 + golf weekends. (25:33–26:06)
• Major economic impact cited (e.g., $80M impact in South Africa) and political/corporate networking at events.

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8. Future Vision: Growth, Friction, and Possible Women’s LIV

• O’Neil confirms interest in expanding ownership, with outside owners and new complexities (salary cap, revenue sharing, etc.), which he describes as “good friction.” (31:06)
• Music, food, art, and fashion are being woven into the event experience, creating a broader cultural footprint.
• On women’s LIV league: PIF and Aramco are already the largest backers of women’s golf worldwide; whether it will fully integrate with the men’s tour is TBD, with current focus on building a solid foundation first. (30:18–30:49)
• On priorities: Admits the challenge of saying no with so much opportunity—gaming, betting, and new ventures considered but deferred for now. (32:12)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I will tell you, it was as close to Rocky Balboa as you’ll ever see in your life.” (Anthony Kim’s comeback, 05:55)
• “Is it crazy at the Ryder Cup? Is it crazy at the Olympics? Is it crazy in college? Like, it’s not. We are not like splitting atoms here, OK?” (On the novelty of LIV’s team concept, 11:22)
• “They [PGA] are US-focused and we are globally focused. There’s two different markets… We’ll find our way to some of that.” (On possible collaboration, 24:31)
• “The essence of Trust The Process was—look, we don’t know the future, but given the information we have today, let’s make the right decision… and just keep walking forward.” (20:03)
• On LIV’s rapid growth:
  “Revenue up 108% last year, expenses up 8%. This year … revenue up 85%. Expenses up 3%.” (23:10)
• “The transformation from golf to golf and music, to golf and music and food, to golf and music and food and art…” (31:43)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Scott’s career background & transition to LIV: 02:10–03:56
• Why LIV is different (teams, format, experience): 07:26–11:15
• Business model (team ownership, value): 09:32–10:27
• Player engagement and personality focus: 13:33–16:04
• Fan base and demographical shift: 21:06–22:05
• Revenue and growth statistics: 23:10
• On Saudi funding, ROI, and global politics: 25:19–27:44
• Culture & global networking power of golf: 06:20–06:55, 28:56–29:04
• Women’s LIV and future ambitions: 30:05–30:49
• Evolving event experience and priorities: 31:43–33:02

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Conclusion

Scott O’Neil presents LIV Golf as a bold, innovative, and inclusive global sports enterprise—one intent on modernizing not just the sport, but the very way fans, sponsors, and players engage. Balancing enormous ambition with business rigor and a “Trust The Process” mindset, O’Neil is steering LIV through a period of explosive growth and cultural experimentation—while navigating fierce rivalries, funding controversies, and the relentless scrutiny of the global stage.

Final Thought from Host:
“Liv is a disruptor in a sport that can use some freshening up… Most of all, I cheer the way Scott talks about sports as a unifying force.” (33:34)

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For more details, insights, and future episodes, visit rapidresponseshow.com.

Transcript

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[Scott O'Neill]

Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Wako Nieman. They're my partners. My business partners, like 30% of our fans, have never been to a golf event before. This year. We're on track, knock on wood. Revenue up 85%. Spence is up 3%. Listen, it's early. It's a five year old company. NFL's probably 90 years old. MLB 100 and some odd years old. NBA 85 years old. Five years old, doing okay.

[Bob Safian]

That's Scott O', Neill, CEO of Liv Golf, the upstart league that's enticed top players away from the PGA Tour in a quest to change the game. Scott and I first met when he was CEO of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils. He's a disruptor at heart, and since he moved over to LIV a year ago, he's brought that spirit to the fore. With a new LIV season underway, including a big tournament this month in Mexico City. City. I wanted to ask Scott about what makes LIV different. Why he stepped back into the fishbowl of the sports business and golf's allure to top leaders. From the C Suite to the White House. Scott shares stories both from the course and in the VIP area with insights about untapped opportunities, multi generational engagement, and the special role that sports plays in culture. So let's get to it. I'm Bob Safian and this is Rapid Response. I'm Bob Safian. I'm here with Scott o', Neill, CEO of LIV Golf. Scott, great to see you.

[Scott O'Neill]

Bob, great to see you.

[Bob Safian]

It's been a minute together. Yeah. So you and I first met. You were CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, the New Jersey Devils, the NHL. A post with a lot of eyes on it, but also a business that was kind of grounded in local community. Yes. Then you went to Merlin. Merlin Entertainment. Attractions, amusement parks, legoland, Madame Tussauds.

[Scott O'Neill]

23 countries, 30,000 employees, good brands, family entertainment, global portfolio.

[Bob Safian]

But less media attention.

[Scott O'Neill]

Yes, much less.

[Bob Safian]

All right, so now the past year at LIV Golf, you're back in the spotlight, global scale as CEO of Arguably one of the most intriguing, sometimes controversial. Certainly talked about sports businesses around. Are you having fun? I mean you and I talked about how sort of sports is like, business is like a fishbowl and the eyes are on you. Are you happy to be back in the fishbowl?

[Scott O'Neill]

Well, I've never had this much fun in my life. Okay. I, I'm happy. I work with incredible people. I get to travel the world. The success trajectory, momentum is almost incalculable. What we've done in the last 14 months and, and it's a huge mountain to climb and I, I like a challenge and this is certainly the biggest challenge I've ever had. And by the way, and I'm working for a wonderful chairman. His name is Yasser Al Rumayan. He's also the chairman of pif, the public investment fund, the sovereign wealth fund of, of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And that's why I took the job.

[Bob Safian]

Because I was going to ask you that because like when, when Liv Golf launched it, it was like a grenade.

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah.

[Bob Safian]

I mean, disruptive challenger to the PGA Tour throwing money around to lure players money from, from Saudi Arabia, which sparked these claims about like sports washing and you know, a country that respectability, like. And this, this didn't dissuade you though. This was, there was things about this were appealing.

[Scott O'Neill]

I've, I've learned, you know, I spent 30 years in this business and the one thing I learned is just the power and influence of what we do and why we do it. You know, I was just in Milan with my wife and watching the gold medal hockey game, by the way, next to Mike Ruzzioni, if you follow hockey. Okay. The captain of the 80 championship team. And, and Mark Messier, who was a former New York Ranger captain.

[Bob Safian]

I can see you got there.

[Scott O'Neill]

And my wife. Okay. That was our crew. And to see Jack Hughes, who we drafted five years earlier at the Devil, score the winning goal in overtime and see a country come together at a time when the world needs a little bit of love. What a wonderful time I was in Australia. We had a record breaking crowd, 115,000 people. It's arguably our most successful event. The country effectively shuts down and we celebrate golf there. And Anthony Kim. I don't know if you know the story of Anthony can, but, but pretty remarkable. He was heralded as the next Tiger Woods. Hurts his Achilles, gets a drug problem and he's down for 12 years. He had a cardiac arrest or two. It scared him. And then he had a daughter and he said, I've Got to get it back together, pulls his life back. I hadn't picked up a club in 12 years. Comes on to live two years ago, and in Adelaide, he wins. And. And I will tell you, it was as close to Rocky Balboa as you'll ever see in your life. But people were crying, including me. I grabbed my sunglasses really quickly. On 18, his daughter runs, jumps into his arms, and it's like it was one beautiful moments where you could actually feel the energy. But. But that moment when he talks about getting 1% better every day and how he understands what addicts are going through and how important resilience is. And I hope to be an example, because I know I'm here for a bigger purpose, that is sports. And so sign me up for that all over the world. Anybody willing to invest in that, in this moment and opportunity, in a world that's filled with divisiveness, in a world

[Bob Safian]

of chaos, well, it's one of the things that pulls us together at a time where we.

[Scott O'Neill]

It's the one common language we can understand. And what about golf? I would, I would argue, you know, I don't come from a world of golf. I don't come from a family of golfers, and yet golf's the world's most important sport. 90% of Fortune 500 CEOs play golf. World leaders play golf. I was in South Africa recently, a couple weeks ago, with our event there. A hundred thousand fans, biggest event in the history of the country for, for golf. And who's with me on Sunday? The president of the country, who's David Golfer. We're in Korea. We got 60 chairmen of companies in a, in a VIP room where. What other environment are you pulling those people together?

[Bob Safian]

When you have them together? Like, is there a message that you're trying to deliver to them?

[Scott O'Neill]

My message, I need your help. All the best golf for. Since Tiger woods has been played in the US 46 of the best top 47 events in the world historically have been played in the US and then there's the, the Open Championship in the uk. Whole rest of the world out there. And so I want to take the best players in the world to the world and grow the game. So it's, It's a man. I, I will say, like, never been challenged more, never worked harder, never traveled more, and never had more fun.

[Bob Safian]

So for. For folks who, who aren't golf fans and aren't as familiar. So what. What makes Liv different? Yeah, you know, I mean, there does seem to be an emphasis. I've Seen recently on teams versus individual players. But for folks who, who may be familiar with pga, what's different?

[Scott O'Neill]

Well, there are several things that are different. We have teams, so you're assigned to a team. Most of the teams are regionally based. Like we have Southern Guards are a South African team. Ripper GC is an Australian team. Majestics are a UK team. Korean Golf Club.

[Bob Safian]

It's like a Ryder cup sort of feel to it.

[Scott O'Neill]

Yes, it is. And so we go to these countries, there's a lot of nationalism. And in South Africa, I'll tell you, like on the first tee, our players were, were crying. They're singing the national anthem. People are like screaming their names. And they were like, so overcome. Our Aussie team, when they go to Australia, they're. They're like. It's like you two walking down the street. I mean, it is unbelievable. Like the love and passion. So teams are definitely a unique aspect. Now. There's, I mean, there's a different business

[Bob Safian]

model to that too, right?

[Scott O'Neill]

There sure is. Because we, there are the captains, like the Bryson Dechambeaus, the Phil Mickelson's, the Bubba Watsons, the John Roms, the Cam Smith names you may know are the captains of those teams of the Star. And they're our business partners, so they have equity in those teams. And we're actually going to market. Right. We had so much inbound interest, we're actually selling a couple stakes in a couple teams this year. I was with the New Jersey Nets as a marketing assistant in 1992, and I remember the Utah Jazz sold for $13 million. I went to work for Jeff Lurie and in Philadelphia just after he bought the team for $188 million. And people thought he had lost his mind to spend that much money. He just raised at over 6 billion. And I think the Jazz just sold for just about 2 billion. And so you start to think about, okay, well, franchise values have worth, right? There's a scarcity value. And so we believe of our 13 teams, I think we'll end up eventually go to 15 teams. There'll be a really strong asset value there.

[Bob Safian]

So they're. So they're the events that are part of the tour and then they're the teams. That's right. And the league, I don't even know what you call it. A league.

[Scott O'Neill]

It's a league.

[Bob Safian]

It's a league. The league owns both. And you might sell pieces of the teams.

[Scott O'Neill]

Eventually teams will be owned just like the NBA or just like the NFL.

[Bob Safian]

But the league will also stay Separate as it's.

[Scott O'Neill]

Absolutely, yes. Yeah, absolutely.

[Bob Safian]

So did you know that when you came in like that that's where we're gonna go?

[Scott O'Neill]

Yes, absolutely. I mean, the value of teams is indisputable in sports. And now most of our teams are profitable, which, which helps the investment thesis. But, but they're profitable small businesses. The question is, do you want to create a big business? Well, if you're Australian and you buy our Aussie team, what could you do? Could you create a media company around them? Could you create a clothing brand around them? Could you buy a golf course? Could you create an academy? Of course, of course, of course, of course, of course. And so I think there's a real interest and understanding and how to drive some value there. But, but that the teams is different. Our format, we have what they call shotgun start. I know you're not much of a golfer yet everybody starts at the same time, right?

[Bob Safian]

You're not waiting.

[Scott O'Neill]

No. The reason that's an advantage for those of us who've been to gone to golf events for quite so many years is you're not sure when your guys are playing. And it lasts a good like 10 hours. All right. We've got a smaller field, 57 players, and they all go off at the same time. And in four hours and 35 minutes, you're done. So our hospitality is akin to Formula One. We consider ourselves the formula one of golf elite hospitality. So now when I'm entertaining you, I'm not inviting you from 7:00am till 7:00pm I'm saying, okay, from 12 to 4:30, I'd love to have you come. And so it's a little more fixed, a little more regular. Also good. Shorter TV windows.

[Bob Safian]

Yeah. I mean, it's still a long TV window compared to basketball, hockey, but quite

[Scott O'Neill]

different from the open ended ones where you're spinning off to other networks just to try to get the coverage right. Those are like the primary differences.

[Bob Safian]

And I guess the teams mean that you could be interested in players who are not winning the tournament because they're contributing to their team.

[Scott O'Neill]

Absolutely. And this team concept, people are like, it's crazy. I'm like, is it crazy at the Ryder Cup? Is it crazy at the Olympics? Is it crazy in college? Like, it's not. We are not like splitting atoms here. Okay.

[Bob Safian]

I mean, I was curious because I had read that you talked about the relationship between LIV and the PGA Tour as being like, competes, not competes complete, not compete complete.

[Scott O'Neill]

They've got the US on lockdown and they do a wonderful job for us. I'll take the 7.2 billion people. I'm going to take that bet. I'm going to take the 199 countries that we broadcast in outside the U.S. i'll take that bet. Over time. I like the growth a lot. I like where the sponsorship market's going. I like where the broadcast media is going.

[Bob Safian]

The rivalry, I mean, I was thinking, like, is it like Apple and Samsung or, you know, OpenAI and anthropic? Like, how do you think about it?

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah, I mean, in my most cynical view, I'd say it was like, you know, the iPhone, with the iPhone coming in. We're different for sure, but the same. You still talk on it, take photos, take video, you know, maybe access the

[Bob Safian]

World Wide Web, although you're more Samsung because you're, you're pushing Global first, right?

[Scott O'Neill]

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. No, the global piece is, you know, Tom McKibben is one of the best players coming out of Northern Ireland ever. I said, hey, Tom, why us? He said, well, the music, I thought it was really cool. I went to your event in the uk, absolutely fell in love with it. He goes, and my parents love, Think about this. He's at the time, 22 years old. My parents love the notion of me learning from Jon Rahm, one of the greatest players on the planet. I learn how to dress, I learn how to eat, I learn how to work out. I learn how to handle myself on the range. I learned how to handle myself in the media. I get to play with him. How about that for an education? One of the loneliest sports in the world. Now you have mentorship. Now you have a role model.

[Bob Safian]

You said 57 players. So it's, it's, it's a finite group. I mean, you've had some players leave, you know, you've had, you have other players who've renewed. Like, how much do you personally get involved in, in that, in that talent part of it. And I mean, and the contracts can be hundreds of millions of dollars. I mean, it's, it's, it's a lot of cost.

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah. I mean, the contracts are a little bit misunderstood. For whatever it's worth, it's like we're acquiring your rights, you know? You know, so if, if you're John Rom and you're, you're sponsored by Callaway, or you're sponsored by Mercedes, or you're sponsored by Rolex, or, like, they're paying for certain rights which we're acquiring. And so, like, it's a good headline price and it's good for the age to talk about.

[Bob Safian]

So the, the money that they would have gotten for that is now going to you and you're selling it and they don't have to worry about it. They're getting a flat fee.

[Scott O'Neill]

That's right. Now in John's case, he has equity in the team, so. Right. He has a lot of incentive for us to keep driving revenue.

[Bob Safian]

Okay.

[Scott O'Neill]

Which builds value in his team. So it's a bit of a cycle, but. But yeah, some of the, some of the deals for guys, I, I don't know, I just, I think I read Taylor Swift made over a billion dollars in her tour. I read a couple PGA Tour players did okay last year as well. So I, I never, I don't know. I've been in this business for so long. I've seen contracts high and low. You know, what we're looking for is stories and personalities. Bryson Dechambeau, I don't know if these names mean anything to you, but he's a YouTube superstar. He's got 10 million followers. I can tell you we can go to Singapore and kids will lose their mind and we can go to Korea or we go to Bedminster. And equally crazy, crazy fans, the athletes

[Bob Safian]

in golf understand the business of it more than some of the athletes in the other sports because.

[Scott O'Neill]

Because they are their businesses in and of themselves.

[Bob Safian]

Because they've had to run themselves as business.

[Scott O'Neill]

They are businesses. They are the brand, they are the business. Maybe they had a head start because now you're seeing almost, you know, I mean, we've seen the, everybody else catch up, but they had to have the best head start. I would say, like what we ask of our players in South Africa, this woman run up to me and say, Scott. And I was like, oh, what happened? And she said, My 10 year old daughter, you know, Victor Perez, one of our players came over during play, took his glove off, took a sharpie out of his bag, signed it and handed his 10 year old girl. Bryson and John Rahm 60 minutes outside of the press area, signing stuff. 60 minutes. We don't rope the stands away from fans. We rope them through fans. And our players understand their role. They know they have to sign more. They know they have to take selfies. They know they have to engage. This notion of managing a brand and how you think about media relationships and how you think about relationships with players. I mean, think what Adam Silver has done at the NBA and transforming the relationships between league and player. That's what we have. I travel with these guys, I'm with

[Bob Safian]

them for seven months instead of it being adversarial.

[Scott O'Neill]

I know their caddies, their families, their children, their wives. I know what they like, what they and they know the same about me.

[Bob Safian]

Scott is all in on Liv's mission. He's attacking the opportunity with a zeal reminiscent of a Silicon Valley startup. So what makes Liv the same and different from from other sports businesses? And does he feel any special pressure working for Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund? We'll talk about that more after the break. Stay with us.

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[Bob Safian]

before the break Liv Golf's Scott o' Neill talked about what makes the league different than the PGA Tour. Now we talk about how golf compares to other sports businesses, his most important metrics for success and whether a women's live league is coming. Let's jump back in. There was a phrase that you became associated with in Philadelphia, trust the process. Is there a trust the process part of what you're doing at liv? I mean I know you mentioned sort of some of the younger golfers who you're bringing in. Like is there a version of that?

[Scott O'Neill]

Well, I think there also. I don't know if you remember Madison Square Garden. We had linsanity and I think LIV Golf is linsanity meets trust the process.

[Bob Safian]

But it was short lived linsanity, right?

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah, yeah, but the.

[Bob Safian]

But I guess it had echoes, right?

[Scott O'Neill]

It had echoes around the world. And the way we use this is before the advent of social media as it is today. And we were putting out eight, nine videos a day and people are coming from all over the world. We can drive personality driven stories through social that is real and then trust the process. The essence of our Joelle Embiid era. Trust the process was about, look, we don't know the future, but given the information we have today, let's make the right decision, as many right decisions as we can and just keep walking forward because we know that light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train.

[Bob Safian]

I saw Bryson you mentioned, I saw him talking about attracting new fans to golf and he said that more people watch the NFL than play organized football. But for golf it's the opposite. More people play than go to watch.

[Scott O'Neill]

I will say that 30% of our fans have never been to a golf event before. 40% have never picked up a club.

[Bob Safian]

What makes a live event feel different? It's fun, it's not stuffy. We have which is the way we

[Scott O'Neill]

have walk up songs for, for our, our players. So they walk up, it's like onto the tee now John Rom and John will have picked his walk up song just like you found in baseball.

[Bob Safian]

Can I yell at him when he's putting or that's.

[Scott O'Neill]

No, no. People are still respectful and quiet when these guys are hitting.

[Bob Safian]

It's not like shooting foul shots.

[Scott O'Neill]

No, no, no, no. We'll have parachuters come down. We'll have fireworks. We'll have concerts. We had. I don't know if you're in the DJ scene but we had Dom Dolla and Fisher. We have Thomas Rhett coming to indie this year. I mean big time artists. So after play, there's a concert and people are like, why would you have a concert? Well, what if we can attract new faces and people, ages, genders to the sport? And so, you know, so it makes

[Bob Safian]

the experience different, but it's also a marketing lure.

[Scott O'Neill]

60% of our fans are under the age of 40. Like you go anywhere else, it's like sh. Here you have parents pushing strollers, 23% of our fan, our audience and fans, families. You see packs of kids roaming around.

[Bob Safian]

How, how fast is all that changing? I mean, you know, a year ago, who the, who was coming to the events, who's coming now and sort of, what, what do you think that's going to look like?

[Scott O'Neill]

I'll give you a couple stats and facts. So in South Australia, we have the event in Adelaide. Growth of girls 12 to 18 playing golf is up 212%. The golf clubs, there are eight of them in the market. All, all had openings now have waiting lists. 40% of the new members, 45 years and under. Maybe they're just a coincidence.

[Bob Safian]

Maybe.

[Scott O'Neill]

I don't think so. We were just in South Africa. 45% of the sports watching audience in South Africa watched our event double who watched the Masters. There we are creating a cultural experience and we do that because we have a local tie with local athletes and because we leverage social media in a different way. We've been batting around about our ratings and I just said we have 5 million people watch our Australia eventually sign me up.

[Bob Safian]

And the trust, the process part is like, and as long as that keeps moving in the right direction, we keep moving.

[Scott O'Neill]

Yes. And so revenue up 108% last year, expenses up 8% this year. We're on track, knock on wood. Revenue up 85%. Expenses up 3%. So like, how many years are we going to stack these big gains on? But listen, it's early. It's a five year old company. I mean, we're building a global business. Changing the tire on a moving car, because we're changing a lot of things on the fly. But if that doesn't pop you out of bed in the morning, it's the wrong business.

[Bob Safian]

So, so in, in your job, you, you engage with two core cohorts that I, that I have to ask you other people are intrigued about. First, I have to ask you about President Trump. Okay. He's, he's talked about trying to partner up Liv and the PGA Tour. He's hosted live events.

[Scott O'Neill]

He's.

[Bob Safian]

What's your relationship with Trump like? Does that association help Live.

[Scott O'Neill]

I think anytime the leader of the free world plays the sport and I run one of the major businesses in it, I think that's a good thing. We played a couple of his courses this year. He's been pretty vocal about trying to help. And it's a pretty simple formula. I mean, you know, in terms of what needs to happen and hopefully something happens there.

[Bob Safian]

But like whatever, having an agreement with PGA Tour, it's not necessarily a priority or necessary for your business model to keep advancing.

[Scott O'Neill]

Maybe, maybe, maybe they are. I mean history will, you know, we'll write the story but, but generally like we're. They are us focused and we are globally focused. There's two different markets. Like are there things we could, should. Would do together? Of course, you know, should we align our global calendar? Of course. Should we maybe be on each other's cap tables? Probably. Can we create content together? Simple and easy? Like it doesn't take a rocket science to do this. And, and over time we'll, we'll find our way to some of that.

[Bob Safian]

So the, the other entity which you mentioned earlier, Saudi Arabia Live, is owned and primarily funded by the, the public investment fund there. Right. Having a country as a backer, this is different than, than, you know, does that. How is that different for you than reporting to public shareholders or to an investment company?

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah, you know, I've worked in the public companies before. I've worked in a refer league that's technically owned by I guess the owners. And I guess the weight of the responsibility might be a little heavier, but it's not too much different. I mean, PIF is a private equity firm.

[Bob Safian]

They're investing in lots of sports, F1, soccer and all kinds of things. Does, does live operate as part of like a portfolio? Like are these things linked? Is there sort of a. Strategically the businesses, the leaders of those

[Scott O'Neill]

businesses and I, we, we stay in contact and touch base and try to help each other along the way. And so if that's connecting partners, if that's exchanging some talent, if that's.

[Bob Safian]

But we're not going to see like an F1 and a live tournament sort of happening in the same place over the same weekend, wouldn't that be wonderful?

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah, that'd be wonderful.

[Bob Safian]

Hopefully someday when folks were less familiar with Saudi Arabia, look at Saudi ownership of teams, they're like, ah, they don't really care about the money. How much of your success is based on the metrics that you were talking about about the finances versus sort of the, the, the larger brand footprint over time?

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah, I guess There's ROI and roi. So the return on investment is real. And we're, we are run, they're set up, they're a private equity company. And so we are managed just like Blackstone and Apollo and I've been in those, those ghost systems. It is no different. And so it is hardcore. We're, we have real KPIs, we're measured weekly. We are managed very tightly. So don't make any mistake about it. Like this is private equity and there's return on image. And I think that's, that's part of the magic of sports. And if you're a country, I don't want to speak specifically about Saudi because I can't speak for them or on their behalf. I'll just speak a country. You know, there's a reason countries bring in the World Cup. There's a reason countries bring in the Olympics. Right. We're in South Africa and, and we brought in $80 million of economic impact in a weekend. And so we filled hotel rooms, we fill airplanes. We also assembled the who's who of South Africa in suites. And we do that everywhere we go. You know, I mentioned we're in Korea. You chairman there now. Now, are those 60 chairmen good candidates to build plants in different places maybe or trade agreements maybe? That's not for me to say. Our job is to make sure that we represent their investment in a way that, that would make everybody proud to be a part of it. And associated with, with live golf.

[Bob Safian]

Comparing the, the golf business to where you've been before to basketball to hockey, now that you're in it, like what's similar and what sort of surprised

[Scott O'Neill]

the business is exactly the same. I mean it's, it is, there is no difference. You can, you can move from NFL to NBA to NHL to Premier League media contract, an arena deal or a course deal, sponsorship, premium tickets, merchandise, the athletes being, being at the forefront of what we do and, and leading our brand. The that you have to actually manage communications that you're in the fishbowl you mentioned. Yeah, exactly the same. The importance of impact and what we're doing to put more kids clubs in kids hands. The fact that we run the most environmentally friendly golf events in the world, fact that we do quite a bit in terms of the refugee front in a partnership in the United Nations. All stuff that's really important and very similar to everywhere I've been, not the actual execution, but this notion that impact matters, that we don't have an opportunity but a responsibility to, to make the world a bit better.

[Bob Safian]

That community aspect. Yeah.

[Scott O'Neill]

What's different here is it's global. Okay. Like you try to name three global sports leagues. F1.

[Bob Safian]

Right.

[Scott O'Neill]

You know, live. So there aren't too many or any of scale. So the, the global nature is, is, is fascinating. The, the interest, you know, by the powers of the world in this business. The, the leaders of the media companies of the world, the leaders of world and the leaders of the governments of the world, all very interested. That's unique and different. And then, and this notion of players as partners, you know, I, I like that notion. And, and in some ways in the NBA and the NHL, you know, they have a collective bargaining agreement and they get 51% or 52% or 49% depending on the league. But these guys are Bryson DeChambeau, John Rom, Cam Smith. They're my Wako Neiman. They're my partners, my business partners. And then the last difference would be like, like year five, you know, NHL I think is over 100 years old. NFL is probably 90 years old. MLB 100 and some odd years old. NBA, 85 years old, five years old. We're doing okay.

[Bob Safian]

So what's next for Liv? Are we going to see a women's tour coming, you know, or am I going to see, you know, sponsors with, with Poly Market and, you know, sports books, which I haven't seen yet, unfortunately,

[Scott O'Neill]

on the sponsor front with Rolex and HSBC and Salesforce and Qualcomm and Ping and Cali. I mean, big global brand. Nice. And, and that, that will continue in terms of women's PIF Public Investment fund and Aramco, they're the largest investors in women's women's golf in the world. Like, period, end of sentence. And so, you know, how we integrate with live or is that separate and run differently? We're not really sure. We have, we have our hands full here and we got plenty to do

[Bob Safian]

and so plenty of Runway still with what you're doing.

[Scott O'Neill]

If it were, if it were my preference, I, I, I'd ask for a few more years to make sure that we're on the right track and have a strong enough foundation. Biggest change is we're gonna have owners, outside owners. And think of how challenging that might be.

[Bob Safian]

I mean, it's complicated.

[Scott O'Neill]

It creates friction.

[Bob Safian]

Yes.

[Scott O'Neill]

And that's okay. That's good friction. It's not bad friction. It's good friction. It's like, okay, well, how am I building my roster? Is there a salary cap? You know, how are we sharing revenue? All this stuff we don't have to deal with now, and we'll have to. And that's. But that's champagne problem. Problem. That's a champagne problem I look forward to have. That's probably the biggest change. And then this transformation from golf to golf and music to golf and music and food to golf and music and food and art to golf and feud, music and art and fashion. And so you're starting to see a cultural experience come through and especially our more advanced and more successful events. And now it's been like, intellectually fun to think about.

[Bob Safian]

I mean, it's a lot of, lot of balls in the air for you, though, and a lot of choices because you can't do everything right.

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah, I think Steve Jobs said it best. He said, you know, I want to know what you're saying no to. You know, and it has to be something that you really care about. That's when you know, you understand what your priorities are and you're sticking to them.

[Bob Safian]

Is there something you said no to recently?

[Scott O'Neill]

I. I'm a yes person.

[Bob Safian]

I know you are. I know you are.

[Scott O'Neill]

It's agonizing for me, especially when there's so much opportunity, I'll give you, that. We're, we're looking at now creating a gaming company online and console. It's like, I know it'll work. I mean, with the stars, we have the Anthony Kim, Bryce Dhambo, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, John Ron. I mean, it's, it's a lock that's somebody's attention and time. Should we do it? How about betting? You know, we have a really small handle. Those are, they're like sizable things that I would love to do now, you know, and.

[Bob Safian]

But if you're going to do them, you really got to have the capacity. You can't do them.

[Scott O'Neill]

Yeah, because that's the key is like, what am I not going to do then? And so that's, that's life. That's priorities. That, by the way, that's in marriage, that's in raising children, and that's in business. And you got to stick to what's. What's most important.

[Bob Safian]

So. So I'm thinking of your book and I want to ask you. So where are your feet right now?

[Scott O'Neill]

Right here. Be where your feet are. Look, I don't often have a problem, problem with that. Okay. I've got other Achilles heels, but I, I'm. I'm. I'm oftentimes present. I take my ringer off. I don't have a buzzer on my phone. And so when I'm connected to you. I'm. I'm 100 connected.

[Bob Safian]

Well. Well, I'm glad you came in to be connected with, with us today.

[Scott O'Neill]

Thanks for doing this. So good to see you.

[Bob Safian]

I'll confess that when Liv golf first came out, I thought really like, like we need another golf league. But after talking with Scott, I'm coming around. Liv is a disruptor in a sport that can use some freshening up, whether he and his team can capitalize on the opportunities they see without overreaching or burning themselves out. It's a fascinating situation to watch. Most of all, I cheer the way Scott talks about sports as a unifying force. The spirit of sport is cheering each other on, appreciating even those you compete against and being open to new people and new approaches. And there's no question our world needs more of that in business and everywhere else. I'm Bob Safian. Thanks for listening. Rapid Response is a wait. What? Original. I'm Bob Safian. Our executive producer is Eve Tro. Our producer is Alex Morris. Associate producer is Mashumaku Tonina. Mixing and mastering by Aaron Bastinelli. Our theme music is by Ryan Holiday. Our head of podcasts is Lital Milad. For more, visit rapidresponseshow.com.