-
Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
LIV Golf is expected to hire former NBA and NHL executive Scott O’Neil to replace Greg Norman as its CEO and commissioner, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
If a deal is finalized with O’Neil, an announcement could come as early as next week, sources said.
O’Neil worked as CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers starting in 2013 and later oversaw the NBA franchise and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils as CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.
O’Neil was most recently the CEO of London-based Merlin Entertainments, one of the world’s largest operators of amusement parks and resorts. Merlin Entertainments announced Wednesday that O’Neil had informed its board that he is leaving for “another opportunity” and stepping down as CEO at the end of the year.
Norman, 69, had previously said he expects to remain with LIV Golf in some capacity. He told Sports Illustrated that his contract with the circuit ends in August 2025.
A LIV Golf spokesman declined comment when reached by ESPN on Wednesday.
Sports Business Journal first reported that LIV Golf was targeting O’Neil for the position.
Norman, a two-time Open Championship winner, helped reshape men’s professional golf by recruiting PGA Tour players to the breakaway circuit, which has been financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund the past three years.
Norman helped lure major champions Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and others to the new league with guaranteed contracts worth more than $100 million.
O’Neill also worked as the president of Madison Square Garden and was an employee of the NBA.
The PGA Tour and the PIF have been in negotiations for months about a deal that would inject more than $1 billion from the PIF into PGA Tour Enterprises, the new for-profit entity launched by the tour and Strategic Sports Group.
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF signed a framework agreement on June 6, 2023, to form an alliance. That deal expired on Jan. 1 but the sides have continued to work toward a potential deal.