Speaking at CNBC’s CEO Council Forum, the 5-time major champion stated that while golf would benefit from unification, the gap between the two titans, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, has only widened since LIV launched in 2021.

According to McIlroy, LIV’s aggressive approach has already consumed $5–6 billion, driven by enormous guaranteed contracts for stars such as Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Jon Rahm. Entering its 5th season in 2026, the league is now facing the next financial test: renegotiating deals that players expect to match or exceed their original nine-figure payouts.

“A lot of these guys’ contracts are up,” McIlroy said while speaking to CNBC. “They’re going to ask for the same number or an even bigger number. LIV has spent $5 to $6 billion U.S., and they’re going to have to spend another five or six just to maintain where they are.”

Rory emphasized that the league has yet to generate a meaningful return despite its massive outlay across team operations, events, and player guarantees. The concern, he noted, is not just the amount spent, but the willingness to keep spending in a way that defies traditional sports business logic.

“As someone who supports the traditional structure of men’s professional golf,” he added, “we have to realize we were trying to deal with people that were acting, in some ways, irrationally, just in terms of the capital they were allocating and the money they were spending.”

While he has softened his tone compared with his early opposition to LIV, he was direct about the difficulty a merger now faces. He cited boxing’s fragmented sanctioning bodies and the decades-long split between IndyCar and NASCAR as examples of how sports can remain divided for generations.

“You see some of these other sports that have been fractured for so long,” McIlroy said. “I think for golf in general, it would be better if there was unification. But I just think with what’s happened over the last few years, it’s just going to be very difficult to be able to do that.”

The Northern Irish star also made his personal position unmistakably clear. In assessing the economics of both leagues, he delivered one of the sharpest lines of the day: “I’m way more comfortable being on the PGA Tour side than on their side.”

Rory’s comments showed the fundamental divide shaping professional golf’s future: one tour operating under traditional revenue models, and another burning billions to stay afloat.

Whether those worlds can meet in the middle remains, as McIlroy put it, “very difficult.”

Written by

Aditi Singh

Edited by

Joyita Das