Potential World Tour Takes Aim At PGA Tour With Lucrative Individual And Team Concept

[tkwilliamson22]

I totally agree with you on that front. More team style events, crossover tour events, shot tracer on every single shot and other things will definitely improve the product.

[NaBUru38]

"BTW the Kerry Packer comparison doesnt hold water to me because the argument for him starting out was always that cricket players could not make a good living playing cricket and thats what he aimed to change. No one would make that argument about the PGA Tour players.

25 years ago this would have been a serious problem for the PGA Tour etc. but now, given the financial landscape in top level golf, I don't see this coming to fruition. Very skeptical when ideas like this are leaked without anything concrete in place."

Exactly. Kerry Packer could hire the best players because they were paid pennies and had little to lose. PGA Tour players are very well paid.

[cdnglf]

 

[Hawkeye77]

Dr. Ruth will buy in and sponsor the "Shanghai Shankers"!

 

[GeorgeHWB]

 

Holy smokes. I had not thought about Don Lapre in over 20 years. I looked him up just now. He killed himself in jail in 2011 while awaiting trial for a litany of fraud charges. Wow.

[Holy Moses]

Could this new league not adopt any changes the USGA and R&A comes out with? I guess not if they want to be given OWGR points, but it’s something to think about.

[Darth Putter]

 

They could, I would imagine the PGL would prioritize entertainment more than anything. The more "bomb and gouge" the better, so I could see them doing quite a few things to differentiate from the PGA Tour. "Hot" clubs and balls, relief from divots in the fairway, OB treated as a lateral hazard, relaxed dress code, mandatory motorized carts, no need to keep score or to sign a scorecard, nickel beer Fridays, etc.

 

[cdnglf]

In the unlikely event this tour becomes more than idle chatter, the PGA and Euro Tours will almost certainly use the OWGR to undermine it. 54 hole tournaments aren’t real golf...

 

[bscinstnct]

 

[Catty]

Someone would probably watch that, but that someone wouldn’t be me.

[bscinstnct]

Rome wasn't build in a day. Or so I have heard ; )

 

Why try to do something with such huge risk and so many moving parts, in the face of adversaries with total control of the key aspects of the market?

They don't need to try to build an entire institution.

 

Start with an event. Look at the Master's. It reportedly earns Augusta $115MM in revenue and a profit of $29MM. Now get this, they *don't even make money on the TV rights. Reportedly, They sell the rights to CBS with the understanding that neither Augusta or CBS makes a profit. It's estimated that Augusta could sell the TV rights for another $100MM!

 

They need to start with thinking of the "product" (lol, to use the parlance of our time) as an event, not a "league". It's really the event that's the "brand". And develop a venue and event that will command interest. Then, you can get some key players. Because, IF enough big name players are interested, they can apply pressure to the PGA Tour to let them play in it.

 

But, I still don't see how the world is big enough for 2 "Major League" golf tours.

[tungstenplug]

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Edited February 26, 2023 by tungstenplug

[puttingmatt]

I think Tiger and Phil would be interested in 10 million dollars,

Same goes for the other players. Seems like the PGA tour

needs to raise the bar on these purses. Maybe the PGA and this new tour will give appearance fees to the players, or independent contractors to play on these two tours, could be profitable for professional golfers.

Highly doubt it will ever happen though.

[bscinstnct]

 

TW ain’t leavin the PGA Tour for 10MM.

 

Last year he made like 63MM. He can get the same potential on course earnings with the PGA Tour plus endorsements.

 

Now, give him a potential stake worth like 300MM and...

 

maybe you can get Steiny on the phone to kick the idea up to him ; )

[puttingmatt]

I don't think any player would leave the pga tour, but, they may certainly entertain the idea of playing on a more lucrative tour

on off weeks or as their schedule allows. They already play at Dubai, and other non sactioned golf events. If the potential winnings are the right dollar amount, can see them going for it.

 

[Holy Moses]

If you win the PGL you get $50 million. No, he isn’t leaving the PGA Tour for $10 million, but almost all pro golfers are loyal to one thing only and that’s a dollar bill.

[GeorgeHWB]

I think the XFL has a greater likelihood of success than this half baked scheme.

[dcmidnight]

Jay Monahan already made it clear he sees this tour as a direct competitor and that the PGA Tour would be strictly enforcing its right to approve or disapprove each players three "competing events" per year that they are allowed.

So the real question should be, are players going to completely give up their PGA cards to play on a new tour? Because Jay made it pretty clear you are not going to play on both.

[bladehunter]

Absolutely agree. This isn’t going anywhere.

 

It only looks like the majority of golf fans are bababooey idiots on TV because they show them. Truth is the majority aren’t about hopped up gimmicky nonsense like this sounds. But. Maybe the drunks will break off and go this way and we can enjoy telecasts minus the separatists.

[the bishop]

Anybody who opted to play this new tour would do so strictly for $$ purposes. There's way too much other stuff tied to the major Tours that no high level player would risk giving up for that money. You want to play the new Tour? Fine. Ryder Cups? Forget it. President's Cups? GTFO. You could always get in the US Open but you'd be forced to play qualifiers. The Player's? LOL, no. The PGA Championship? Ehh...next. The top pros are going to make their money regardless of where they play. But their legacies are built on the major Tours.

[cdnglf]

Do you dream of a less fulfilling career, with lower pay, poorer benefits, less job security, much more travel, and fewer opportunities for advancement?

[dcmidnight]

The only guys who are going to play on this tour will be guys who agree to give up their PGA Tour card.

My guess? Said group of players is not going to be near the group you want to bring in $$ from fans and tv contracts.

Now if the backers dont care about making their money back - I guess thats less of a concern to them.

[bscinstnct]

 

Yes, "if you win" ; ) And by "win", we mean you win all 18 events and the $2MM for each and get the year end bonus. If TW won 18 PGA Tour events (impossible because he doesn't play near that much but...) and the FedEx, he would win like close to $40MM

 

But I don't think TW is even driven by on course earnings and certainly not enough to leave the PGA Tour. He might figure he can win 5-10MM on the course. But most of his income is endorsements, like $60MM. Plus, I could totally speculate that between his other businesses and investments, he makes another 50MM a year.

 

So, the risk reward to just be a player in another league with a little more earning potential doesn't seem to be there.

 

But, if they were to offer him some type of equity and cash and incentives worth like $300MM and maybe call it the "Tiger Woods Premier Golf League", that could get his attention ; )

[kro88]

I think it will all come down to Augusta and what Fred Ridley says in April at his presser. Augusta/Masters will support the tours as a better place for growth on a wide scale. i think it ultimately comes down to what they say

[Holy Moses]

Pretty sure that the top 5 on the PGL as of now would make a lot more than the top 5 on the PGA Tour would

[bscinstnct]

 

"A lot" can mean a lot of things ; )

 

Take Rory. 2nd on the PGA Tour Money list last year at $7.8MM and won the FedEx cup, another $15MM.

 

If we look at just wins, His 3 wins made him 2.25 (Players), 1.4MM (RBC), 15MM (Tour Championship, no individual money for winning the last event). So, that's $18.65MM

If he won 2 PGL events (2MM each) and the 10MM year end that's.....$14MM. $4.65 less.

This is assuming I understand the PGL right.

 

Then, in addition to making less, we have to keep in mind that on course earnings is a smaller portion of his earnings. He makes $30MM in endorsements. Plus, this is assuming he leaves the PGA Tour, goes to the PGL and can't even play in the Masters, US Open, Open, and PGA Champ. He can never win the Master's which he stated is like his mission in life now or a career grand slam.

 

Looks like there is zero upside for him and lot's of downside and risk.

 

I think the only way to get guys like TW and Rory is to basically cut them in on equity and profit sharing on the whole business to the tune of 100s of millions.

 

 

[cdnglf]

Also, the 2021 or 2022 PGA Tour is going to pay a lot more than the 2019 PGA Tour did. The Players purse was $12.5M last year, of which Rory got $2.25M. It is $15M this year, and don’t be surprised if it is $20M when the new TV deals kick in.

[Holy Moses]

Rory would have won $6 million for his wins on the PGL, plus $10 million for winning it all, plus a $3.5 million team bonus. That's more money right there just for the wins, but according to the PGL press release the top player could win $50 milion but I think he would have to win every tournament to do that.

I don't know if the PGL will award OWGR points, but if it does that's a big problem for the PGA Tour because the players could still play in the majors. They could make money playing in those events and the PGL events.

I don't know if the PGL will work, but there's the opportunity to play less golf and make more money. Will the players be loyal to the PGA Tour? Will they lose their retirement? Will they get OWGR points for playing in PGL events? Will enough big name players move to the PGL to make this new tour worthwhile? That has yet to be seen. My personal preference is for the PGL to not work out, but force the Tour to make changes that should have been made years ago.

[dcmidnight]

Part of Jay Monahans comments included the fact that with the new TV deal the PGA would be expecting an increase to $10-12M purses per event in 2022.

So the "money thing" becomes a non-issue.

[mosesgolf]

A possible way to nip this in the bud is to allow appearance fees. This is how you get more money to the stars that really make the Tour exciting.

 

There are barbarians at the gate and JM better wake up.