LIV Golf has identified its new leader and is expected to hand its reins to longtime sports and entertainment executive Scott O’Neil.
O’Neil will replace Greg Norman, the original LIV CEO and architect of the breakaway league that reshaped the professional golf landscape during the last three years, according to a source briefed on the matter, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
In October, Sports Business Journal reported the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s intentions to shift Norman out of the CEO role and into a new position. That same month Norman told Sports Illustrated that his contract with LIV would expire in August 2025.
On Wednesday morning, Sports Business Journal reported O’Neil’s emergence as the likely choice as new CEO. A person briefed on the matter confirmed O’Neil’s selection to The Athletic on Wednesday.
O’Neil has worked as CEO of Merlin Entertainments since 2022, overseeing one of the world’s biggest operators of theme parks and resorts, including Legoland properties. Merlin announced Wednesday morning that O’Neil was departing for “another opportunity” and standing down as CEO effective at the end of 2024.
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With O’Neil expected to be announced as LIV CEO, it’s unclear how much power Norman, 69, will maintain. The two-time Open Championship winner is still a current member of LIV’s board of directors.
O’Neil is most well-known for his time as CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils. In an eight-year run, he oversaw multiple construction projects and expansion opportunities and stewarded the merger of holdings between Sixers and Devils owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer. He oversaw “the process,” the Sixers’ much publicized, often celebrated, occasionally maligned, rebuilding that resulted in a franchise turnaround but, ultimately, limited playoff success.
“I remember what it was like when we first walked in here, and to think we’ve grown this business, over $2 billion in value over six times in eight years, that’s what I do. Hypergrowth, super growth,” O’Neil told the Associated Press at the time of his 2021 departure.
In taking over LIV, O’Neil will steer the league through a cloudy future determined by lengthy negotiations between the PGA Tour and the PIF. The two sides, having first come together in June 2023 to create a new entity with combined assets (including LIV), have yet to finalize a structure. Negotiations blew past the original deadline earmarked for the end of last year.
It is still anticipated that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will ultimately finalize some agreement that will need approval by DOJ antitrust officials. Where LIV will fit in that remains to be seen.
The league has evolved toward an increasingly worldwide schedule that, while growing the brand internationally, creates complications in securing a long-term TV carrier in the United States. With 10 of 14 events scheduled right now for 2025, only three are in the U.S. and none before June.
O’Neil, an alumnus of Villanova and Harvard Business School, also held front-office positions with the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Rangers.
(Top photo: Bradley Collyer / PA Images via Getty Images)
