LIV Golf will hire sports and entertainment leader Scott O'Neil to replace Greg Norman, report says
abcnews.go.comScott O'Neil is set to become the next CEO of Saudi-funded LIV Golf
LIV Golf is hiring Scott O’Neil, former CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, to replace Greg Norman in running the Saudi-backed rival league about to enter its fourth season, The Athletic reported Wednesday.
Sports Business Journal reported last month that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia planned to shift Norman into a new position. Norman has been CEO since LIV Golf launched as a rival league in 2022.
The Athletic cited an anonymous source briefed on the matter saying that O’Neil, who currently is CEO of Merlin Entertainments, would be hired.
Merlin Entertainments, with holdings that include Legoland and the Peppa Pig theme park in Dallas, announced Wednesday that O'Neil was leaving for another opportunity.
O’Neil takes over as PGA Tour Enterprises is negotiating with PIF over becoming a minority investor, a critical deal in helping to repair a golf landscape that has been divided since Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka were among top players who bolted the PGA Tour for a new league that offered team competition, signing bonuses and $20 million purses.
The PGA Tour, European tour and PIF announced an agreement on June 6, 2023, and set a deadline to finalize it by the end of 2023. That was not met, and the PGA Tour since has brought on Strategic Sports Group with its $1.5 billion investment (which could double in size) and the first equity ownership for players.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor and backbone of LIV, played together in the Dunhill Links last month. Monahan recently played golf with President-elect Donald Trump, who is close with Al-Rumayyan and whose golf
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