LIV Golf is looking elsewhere around sports for inspiration in its attempt to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but its unique attributes and relative youth make comparisons to industry predecessors more difficult.
After LIV Golf filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday, CEO Scott O’Neil issued a letter to fans citing several other sports teams that also went through bankruptcy proceedings.
“Plenty of well-known companies have taken this path before us, including Marvel Entertainment, Delta Airlines, and Caesars Entertainment, along with sports franchises like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Leeds United F.C,” O’Neil wrote.
It’s not surprising that O’Neil would cite companies and teams such as these as examples. Those six entities are each in a vastly stronger position now than they were before. In particular, the Dodgers are MLB’s two-time defending World Series champion, and an economic colossus to the point of impacting ongoing labor negotiations between the league and MLB Players Association. Marvel, meanwhile, is a dominant entity across pop culture in its current existence as a Disney subsidiary and sister company to ESPN.
Along similar lines, O’Neil wrote the filing was “designed to build a stronger and more sustainable future for LIV Golf.”
