Professor Geoff Walters, Director of the University of Liverpool Management School's Centre for Sports Business, appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss the Saudi Arabian government's decision to withdraw its funding of LIV Golf.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia that has funded LIV Golf's operations since the tour was founded in 2021.
However, after only recently proclaiming its commitment to the tour, PIF has now announced that it will no longer fund the LIV Golf League after the 2026 season ends in August.
Speaking on 5 Live's Drive programme, Geoff told host Chris Warburton that the Saudi government is looking for more value on its investments:
"The conflict in the Middle East is obviously impacting on Saudi Arabia as a country, meaning what they're looking to do is look at the investments they've got, particularly in sports, and start to think, does this investment deliver long-term value?
"And I think that's what's driving the decision to look at LIV Golf, and effectively to pull out. LIV Golf is only effectively propped up financially by the money from PIF and it's obviously not sustainable."
When asked about implications for other sports, Geoff suggested that boxing may feel a bigger impact than snooker, which recently had its 10-year contract for the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters cancelled after two years by PIF.
"[Snooker] have got a lot of tournaments elsewhere and so I think snooker will be fine," he said. "There's a lot of money put into boxing from Saudi, so I think there is a lot of uncertainty around what's going on at the moment."
PIF has also invested heavily in football, and is the primary owner of Newcastle United, owning an 85% stake in the Premier League club.
"If I were a Newcastle fan, I would probably be feeling a little bit nervous now about how this is going to play out," continued Geoff. "What's been reported is that they're not looking to divest out of Newcastle in the near future, but we only heard last week reports that the season will continue with LIV Golf, and suddenly that's changed in the space of a week."