Active negotiations have been underway between the PGA Tour and Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf, a year after their surprising joint announcement on CNBC, according to an insider.
The source described the ongoing discussions between the tour and LIV Golf’s funder, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), as “extremely active.”
Furthermore, the PGA Tour’s recently formed seven-member transaction committee, which includes professional golfers Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Fenway Sports Group Founder John Henry, has been meeting with PIF representatives both in person and virtually thrice a week for the past month, the source revealed.
The committee will convene in New York on Friday, with McIlroy joining via remote connection.
A representative for the PGA Tour declined to comment, and representatives from LIV and PIF failed to respond.
The unexpected collaboration announcement came last June from PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, following a contentious legal battle between the two rival leagues.
The original deadline for the proposed deal, set for December 31, 2023, has been extended, and the tour has now agreed to include U.S. investors.
While the deal has not yet been finalized, term sheets have been exchanged, and the financial aspect has mostly been agreed upon. The Saudis and a consortium of investors have committed to contribute another $1.5 billion each to the tour, and the agreement will be structured similarly to their deal with the Strategic Sports Group, another investor consortium. The focus is now on product-related decisions, such as players, schedules, tournaments, and media rights.
Despite the ongoing negotiations, a deal is not necessarily imminent, but the pace of the process has increased, with Al-Rumayyan occasionally attending the weekly meetings.
The New York Times’ DealBook was the first to report on the discussions.
Throughout the year, the tour has sought to make itself more attractive to players and deter defections to rival LIV, rewarding them for their loyalty with increased tournament prize money and the creation of PGA Tour Enterprises, a new commercial venture that will distribute over $1.5 billion in equity to players.
“By making PGA TOUR members owners of their league, we strengthen the collective investment of our players in the success of the PGA TOUR,” Monahan said at the time.
In late January, the tour announced new capital from a group of high-profile investors led by Fenway Sports Group. The SSG is injecting $1.5 billion into the tour, and has committed another $1.5 billion if a deal with the Saudis reaches completion.
In May, the tour’s Jimmy Dunne, who was considered one of the architects of the deal, abruptly resigned from his position, expressing his frustration with the lack of progress.
A source revealed that Dunne felt frustrated and unneeded when he was not appointed to the enterprise board.
Before the leagues announced their partnership last June, PIF had been attracting PGA Tour golfers, including star Phil Mickelson, to LIV with deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The slow and turbulent deal process since then has sparked backlash from players, consumers, and American lawmakers, who have also investigated and questioned PGA Tour executives. If the merger is completed, it could dramatically alter the professional golf landscape.
After LIV attracted players from the Tour with lucrative deals, Monahan stated that the tour had considered golf “on a global basis” and concluded that the merger would be beneficial for the sport.
LIV, which was launched in 2022, has been accused by many critics of “sportswashing,” or using sports to distract from Saudi human rights violations. In response to player frustration over the proposed deal, the tour has increased financial incentives for golfers.
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