TRUMP SPECIAL

Entire Sporting Organization Falls to the Curse of Trump

Five years and $5 billion later, a league closely tied to Donald Trump is throwing in the towel.

LIV Golf is officially shutting down after five years, $5 billion spent, and having close ties to President Donald Trump’s beloved golf clubs.

Lawyers for the disruptive golf league, once flush with Saudi money, announced in bankruptcy court on Thursday that it plans to pivot from restructuring to full liquidation, The Athletic first revealed.

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That makes LIV the latest sporting entity to fall for what fans have dubbed the “curse of Trump,” in which athletes or teams falter when the president becomes involved.

Prior “victims” included the U.S. Men’s National Team after Trump successfully protested a red card from the prior match; the New York Knicks, whose 13-game win streak ended with Trump in attendance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals; and Jaxson Dart, the New York Giants QB who has gone down with a season-ending injury after introducing the president at a rally this year.

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Trump proudly supported LIV Golf even as purists scoffed at the league’s use of massive payouts and bonuses to lure athletes away from the PGA Tour.

Trump’s companies appear to have benefited from the league, too, with his clubs, like Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and Trump National Doral, hosting high-profile tournaments.

Trump even traveled to Sterling, Virginia, in May to attend a LIV Golf event at his club. Multiple experts told CNN after the event that they are troubled by Trump’s clubs staging high-profile tournaments while the public does not now know how much money he and his family stand to make off the events.

Saudi cash bolstered LIV since it was founded in 2021, but it ran dry this year when Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund pulled its investment. The fund said it made the decision in part because of economic strains from regional instability after Trump launched a war with Iran. As a result, some Trump critics have tied the president directly to LIV’s downfall.

“Talk about a butterfly effect,” the progressive commentator Mike Nellis posted on X. “Donald Trump launches an illegal war in Iran → chaos spreads across the Middle East → Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund gets squeezed and starts tightening spending → they pull funding from LIV Golf → and suddenly the PGA Tour is saved. Wild.”

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Josh FialloBreaking News Reporter

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