After months of speculation and questions raised about the future of professional golf with Saudi-backed LIV Golf shaking up its world, the PGA Tour on Wednesday announced it has finalized an agreement with Strategic Sports Group, a group of billionaire sports team owners, to bring in some $3 billion into a new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises.
On Wednesday, embattled PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan conducted a 9:30 a.m. “listen-only’’ conference call with members of the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour to explain the deal.
The crux of the deal is the SSG involvement allowing players to be equity partners in the PGA Tour.
“As part of this new partnership, we are launching a player equity program with current and future players, who will have access to over a billion and a half in interest,’’ Monahan said on the call.
“Members of the PGA Tour will become equity members of PGA Tour Enterprises. This strengthens our players’ connection to the PGA Tour, and also creates a shared vision for organizational unity.
“With this issuance of equity, you are now owners in the PGA Tour. This is historic, novel, transformational and not done at this scale in any other sport.’’
Tiger Woods, one of the six player members of the PGA Tour Policy Board, was on the call as well and addressed his fellow players, thanking SSG “for believing in our sport.’’
“As the tour grows, we grow,’’ Woods said. “The more we invest into the tour, the more we can get out of it, which has never happened in sports history. It’s exciting for me to be a part of that.’’
The Strategic Sports Group (SSG) is comprised of Tom Werner and John Henry (from the Boston Red Sox), Steve Cohen (New York Mets), Mark Attanasio (Milwaukee Brewers), Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons), Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics), Tom Ricketts (Chicago Cubs) and others.
The group will be a minority investor in PGA Tour Enterprises, and the PGA Tour would remain the majority shareholder.
What was not a part of the Monahan call was any information on the anticipated “framework agreement’’ with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the DP World Tour, which is behind LIV Golf.
“This deal with SSG has no impact on our ongoing negotiations with PIF,’’ Monahan said. “SSG is aware of our ongoing dialogue with PIF and is in support of it. We will continue to advance that dialogue as long as it works to favor to our future and our policy board.’’
In other words, Monahan and the PGA Tour seem to be kicking that LIV can down the road for the moment.
This is the next big step the PGA Tour must sort out, having signed that “framework agreement’’ with PIF on June 6 to combine their commercial assets, including LIV Golf.
The agreement initially had a Dec. 31 deadline, but that was extended as the sides continued to sort out final details. Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan reportedly met last week.
The most pressing question awaiting an answer in this “framework agreement’’ has been how the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were going to co-exist, and whether the players who bolted to LIV for tens and hundreds of millions in guaranteed money would be welcomed back to compete in PGA Tour events without repercussions.
The goal of everyone, in theory, was to being the best players back together completing together in as many events as possible.
Rory McIlroy, who’s spent the better part of the past year and a half serving as a mouthpiece for Monahan, denouncing the players who jumped at the LIV dollars, has significantly changed his stance, particularly since Jon Rahm, ranked No. 2 in the world and a friend of McIlroy’s went to LIV for a reported $500 million.
More recently, Tyrrell Hatton, like Rahm another friend and European Ryder Cup teammate of McIlroy’s, joined LIV and Rahm’s team, further softening McIlroy’s stance against the Saudi-backed tour.
“Life is about choices,’’ McIlroy told reporters on Tuesday ahead of the start of this week’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “Guys made choices to go and play LIV, guys made choices to stay here. If people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play, let them come back. It’s hard to punish people. I don’t think there should be a punishment.
“Obviously, I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties. It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game. The faster we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest fields possible I think is great for golf.
“We’re potentially about to do a deal with PIF, who owned the large majority of LIV, and hopefully seeing things come back together here at some point.”
