{"id":102711,"date":"2025-08-28T19:37:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102711\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T19:37:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:37:22","slug":"why-louisiana-is-paying-liv-golf-5-million-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102711\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Louisiana is paying LIV Golf $5 million next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s officially Lookahead Season for LIV Golf, which just saw its 2025 calendar come to a close but has already started to promote its events for next year. Among their stops: New Orleans, a long-time PGA Tour host that has never hosted the rival league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One major reason why LIV has found a new home in NOLA is \u2026 money. At least $5 million, courtesy of the state of Louisiana, forked over as a \u201chosting fee\u201d for bringing some of the best golfers in the world to the bayou.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It costs a lot of money to produce LIV events \u2014 in the range of $50-60 million \u2014 and unlike the PGA Tour, LIV owns and operates all of them. And lately, in order to guarantee a LIV visit to your area, it requires some up-front funding. In June, Louisiana state senators earmarked more than $7 million tax-payer<\/a> dollars in a 2026 budget proposal for a LIV event, which came to fruition with the tournament announcement this week. $5 million simply to host, and then $2 million to get the host course \u2014 Bayou Oaks, a muni \u2014 in shape ahead of the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

LIV tournament locations have frequently come down to deals like this one, both domestically and abroad. Hosting a LIV event in Australia, for example, has required plenty of negotiations with local officials and state leaders. In that case, it has led to a deal through 2031, the longest of LIV\u2019s annual events. In the case of domestic hosts like New Orleans, the deals are not nearly as long. LIV Golf visited Chicago each of its first four seasons, the last two being held at Bolingbrook Golf Club on the city\u2019s south side. But lacking financial commitment from the state of Illinois, LIV is unlikely to return to Chicago in 2026<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n \"Dean <\/a><\/p>\n

Why LIV Golf is in its most fascinating, complex era<\/a><\/p>\n

By:<\/p>\n


\n Sean Zak <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe only go where we\u2019re welcome with open arms,\u201d LIV CEO Scott O\u2019Neil<\/a> said during the NOLA announcement press conference. It\u2019s not the first time he\u2019s said so. The payoff of such a deal, he argues, is simply an investment in the local economy. \u201cWe fill seats on planes, we fill hotel rooms, we fill restaurants, and we put on some world-class golf,\u201d O\u2019Neil said during the LIV event in Hong Kong earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, anytime taxpayer funds are earmarked for a specific event, tax-paying citizens have the right to an explanation. The LIV funding is similar, though much greater in total, to money payed to lure other sporting events \u2014 like a UFC fight \u2014 to Louisiana. But navigating LIV\u2019s orbit has always been trickier given the controversy surrounding its financial backer, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, and its human rights record.<\/p>\n

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry was quick to respond to questions about state funding landing a rival golf tour \u2014 particularly when the PGA Tour visits New Orleans every April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to try to get something in the city during the summertime,\u201d Landry told reporters this week<\/a>. \u201cWe want New Orleans to be a city where people come January to December.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landry called Bayou Oaks \u201cone of the roughest diamonds that just needs to be polished off,\u201d and dispelled concerns about LIV\u2019s financial backer before complimenting the LIV format for striking a distinct feeling from the PGA Tour\u2019s more traditional Zurich Classic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been to one golf tournament and I can\u2019t go because they hold up those Quiet signs,\u201d Landry said after entering the announcement stage amid a flurry of sparklers. \u201cIt\u2019s just not me. That\u2019s why I love LIV Golf. There are no Quiet signs. It\u2019s a party.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Orleans is the 13th site to be announced, leaving one more stop on the 2026 LIV calendar yet to be announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s officially Lookahead Season for LIV Golf, which just saw its 2025 calendar come to a close but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-102711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}