The golf circuit backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has been, by its own account, disrupting professional golf since 2022. Less discussed, though perhaps equally notable, is the organization's apparent approach to disrupting accounts payable.

Fresh Tape Media, a Denver-based production company that staged LIV Golf's preseason media days event in West Palm Beach in January, filed suit last month in New York State Supreme Court seeking more than $1.23 million in unpaid invoices and interest. The company, which has roughly 20 full-time employees and brought on 115 workers for the three-day production, says it delivered more than 50,000 images and videos to the league — content that, according to the complaint, continues to appear across LIV's social media and broadcast platforms.

(One imagines the irony is not lost on Fresh Tape's executives, who can watch their unpaid work scroll by on Instagram.)

The lawsuit is the second to emerge in recent weeks from vendors claiming LIV has failed to honor its obligations. Mobii Systems Group Limited, a former technology partner, sued the league last month for more than $1.1 million. Other contractors have told Front Office Sports they are also owed money, though they have not filed suit.

Fresh Tape's chief executive, Jared Sleinstein, said in an interview that the league paid roughly half of the contracted amount before the event and that the company received "great feedback" on its work. Eight invoices, ranging from about $74,000 to $231,000, went unpaid between late January and late March, according to the filing.

What followed was a familiar dance. LIV "never disputed" the invoices, the suit says, and "repeatedly promised that payment was 'approved' and/or would be forthcoming." In May, the league offered to settle for $200,000. By June, that figure had dropped to $150,000, with LIV's legal manager citing "current financial constraints."

The league's constraints became more public last week when it announced the cancellation of its $40 million team championship, scheduled for Michigan. The Saudi Public Investment Fund announced in April that it would end its funding of LIV at the conclusion of this season, and negotiations with BC Partners Credit for replacement financing remain incomplete.

Fresh Tape has obtained an emergency order allowing it to subpoena banks that work with LIV in New York, seeking to freeze assets. As of Monday evening, LIV had not responded to the order.

The league, which has spent the past four years arguing that professional golf needed more money, now finds itself in court over the question of who gets paid.

Original story published in Front Office Sports: "Production Company Sues LIV for $1.2M In Missed Payments"