Li-Ning Signs Curry, PIF Exits Golf
The Five-Billion Balance Sheet
PIF has spent over $5 billion on LIV Golf, the 54-hole breakaway circuit it launched in June 2022, which means Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is now roughly $400 million short of completing the schedule for the league it created.
PIF confirmed in April that direct capital injections end after the 2026 season. Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan has stepped down from the LIV Golf board. LIV CEO Scott O'Neil has put the shortfall on the record: $400 million in jeopardy, with the final two events of 2026 at risk and roughly $250 million sought from outside investors. A new independent board, chaired by Gene Davis and Jon Zinman, is exploring sale options under the governance label "strategic alternatives," the corporate shorthand for a sale, merger, or controlled wind-down. " Nothing was signed. A broadcaster who paid for LIV rights this year has no confirmed schedule past November, leaving sports media companies holding contracts for events that may not happen.
At Shinnecock Hills, where the US Open is being played this week, Jon Rahm, the pre-tournament favourite after two LIV wins in 2026, shot 68 on Thursday and 78 on Friday, missing the cut at six over. Six of LIV's 13 US Open entrants made the weekend; none placed higher than T-35. The broadcaster who paid for LIV rights this year has no confirmed events past November.
Li-Ning's $400 Million Bet
On June 1, Stephen Curry signed a 10-year, $400 million deal with Li-Ning, the Chinese sportswear company, covering basketball, golf apparel, athleisure, and the right to sign other athletes to his brand. ESPN reports it as the largest endorsement deal a Chinese apparel company has signed with an NBA player. The shoes are the footnote; any athlete holding a pending brand negotiation now reads this number first. Li-Ning is buying Curry's ability to recruit talent and expand into golf, the same category PIF spent four years trying to own.
PIF bought a league: the schedule and the player contracts. Li-Ning is buying an athlete who can build those functions from inside a brand, at $40 million per year. At the bar on Lockhart Road in Wan Chai where the Bloomberg terminal runs beside the World Cup feed, this looks like a corporate-structure seminar. The practical difference is concrete: the brand survives a missed cut. The league does not.
PIF is concentrating toward assets Riyadh governs: the 2034 FIFA World Cup and the Saudi Pro League, the domestic football competition Saudi Arabia already controls through club ownership. LIV Golf ran at an estimated $500 to $600 million annual loss inside a sport whose governing economics LIV never controlled. For its contracted players, the PGA Tour is the only circuit with events confirmed past November 2026.
PIF has a date that forces the accounting: June 2034, when Saudi Arabia hosts the World Cup and the LIV Golf capital sits on the ledger against what the host rights and broadcast deals return. Li-Ning's $400 million carries no equivalent deadline. Curry's golf apparel line either reaches Chinese sporting-goods stores before 2034 or it does not. Scott O'Neil is still seeking $400 million. The broadcaster has no confirmed events past November 2026.