PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF announce newly formed commercial entity (*** NO POLITICS ***)

[bekgolf]

2 hours ago, Stevens24 said:

The question i have is if the Tour cuts the PIF out, what stops LIV from just overpaying for players? Rory here is 750 Million and so on? And at what point do the Networks begin to say that you are not honoring the agreement of being the best tour we are out? #billion a nice investment, But it still can't compete with 600 Billion

 

Then they will destroy the PGA Tour.  Golf fans still wouldn't watch Liv as an only option.  Going nuclear like that would cause more problems for PIF than it would be worth. 

 

My guess is that the PGA Tour would still get most of the viewers it gets now so I'm not sure how they could be sued since they will still have the same demographic as an audience (we also don't know what is in the contract).

 

PGA fans watch to see great golf being played and the PGA Tour has always delivered it for the viewers.  Nail biting endings like last week at Torry Pines are exciting and are the things that only the PGA Tour can deliver.  In my opinion of course.

[Holy Moses]

Looks like the US has the Ryder Cup in the bag now 😂

[Titleist99]

10 hours ago, bekgolf said:

 

Then they will destroy the PGA Tour.  Golf fans still wouldn't watch Liv as an only option.  Going nuclear like that would cause more problems for PIF than it would be worth. 

 

My guess is that the PGA Tour would still get most of the viewers it gets now so I'm not sure how they could be sued since they will still have the same demographic as an audience (we also don't know what is in the contract).

 

PGA fans watch to see great golf being played and the PGA Tour has always delivered it for the viewers.  Nail biting endings like last week at Torry Pines are exciting and are the things that only the PGA Tour can deliver.  In my opinion of course.

You nailed it!  PGAT core fans will continue to watch.

 

The only tragedy is the fact that the PGAT do not get compensated for the talent being poached. 

[MattC555]

I've tuned into the PGA tour for almost all of my life to watch the greatest of their generation duke it out.  It is getting really frustrating, as a fan, to see more and more of the top talent leave the tour.  I wasn't familiar with most of the top ten finishers this past Sunday.  It was an exciting finish, but so are most weeks on the Korn Ferry tour.  The longer this drags out, the weaker the PGA tour will become. 

[Maine Golfer]

If you are a contractor at company A and you sign with company B, company B doesn't need to pay company A. The players dont work for the PGAT.... 

[Holy Moses]

22 minutes ago, MattC555 said:

I've tuned into the PGA tour for almost all of my life to watch the greatest of their generation duke it out.  It is getting really frustrating, as a fan, to see more and more of the top talent leave the tour.  I wasn't familiar with most of the top ten finishers this past Sunday.  It was an exciting finish, but so are most weeks on the Korn Ferry tour.  The longer this drags out, the weaker the PGA tour will become. 

You won’t really see that once the Signature Events get going and the next 3 events are huge. With that said, the last two weeks have been pretty exciting with finishes down to the wire.

[italianstallion]

38 minutes ago, Titleist99 said:

You nailed it!  PGAT core fans will continue to watch.

 

The only tragedy is the fact that the PGAT do not get compensated for the talent being poached. 

 

I was a core PGAT fan and haven't watched a second of coverage since June's announcement and that will continue to be my status quo. The only way I see myself tuning in again is if the SSG and the PGAT find a way to shut the PIF out of the merger deal completely. The continued acquisitions by the PIF along with not meeting the Dec 31 deadline give me hope that the framework deal might not happen, but I still know realistically it's a snowballs chance in a hot place.

 

I'm still very turned off by Jay's actions and unless the June announcement was some 4-D chess move to shut out the PIF, he has to go.

[jdl]

6 hours ago, Holy Moses said:

Looks like the US has the Ryder Cup in the bag now 😂

Well sure, it's at Bethpage....

[Titleist99]

3 hours ago, italianstallion said:

 

I was a core PGAT fan and haven't watched a second of coverage since June's announcement and that will continue to be my status quo. The only way I see myself tuning in again is if the SSG and the PGAT find a way to shut the PIF out of the merger deal completely. The continued acquisitions by the PIF along with not meeting the Dec 31 deadline give me hope that the framework deal might not happen, but I still know realistically it's a snowballs chance in a hot place.

 

I'm still very turned off by Jay's actions and unless the June announcement was some 4-D chess move to shut out the PIF, he has to go.

The June 6 announcement didn't stop me from watching PGAT events, but it did stop me from caring about what they do going forward. I understand that the agreement was to stop the legal action and the discovery process, but the tour was left with the monumental task of securing PIF revenue while maintaining control. IMO that's where we are now. 

 

Private investment is an added windfall for the PGAT. IMO

[bekgolf]

2 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

The June 6 announcement didn't stop me from watching PGAT events, but it did stop me from caring about what they do going forward. I understand that the agreement was to stop the legal action and the discovery process, but the tour was left with the monumental task of securing PIF revenue while maintaining control. IMO that's where we are now. 

 

Private investment is an added windfall for the PGAT. IMO

 

6 hours ago, italianstallion said:

 

I was a core PGAT fan and haven't watched a second of coverage since June's announcement and that will continue to be my status quo. The only way I see myself tuning in again is if the SSG and the PGAT find a way to shut the PIF out of the merger deal completely. The continued acquisitions by the PIF along with not meeting the Dec 31 deadline give me hope that the framework deal might not happen, but I still know realistically it's a snowballs chance in a hot place.

 

I'm still very turned off by Jay's actions and unless the June announcement was some 4-D chess move to shut out the PIF, he has to go.

 

No matter what else happens viewership goes down if Liv/pif is involved in the PGA Tour.  Fans don't really care about purse sizes.  They are a poison pill that will turn off some of the core audience of the PGA Tour.

 

I'm not watching if there is a co-branded event, I'm certainly not watching a Liv vs PGA type of competition.

 

I think Jay is doing the right thing by not telling everyone what's going on right now.  He's going to make the decision and he will accept the fallout if it's bad.  I don't think this is a group decision.  I'm probably in the minority but I trust Jay more than Jimmy.  The Liv folks always seem to be putting Jay down, I can imagine they are upset with him not rolling over.

 

 

[italianstallion]

1 hour ago, bekgolf said:

 

 

No matter what else happens viewership goes down if Liv/pif is involved in the PGA Tour.  Fans don't really care about purse sizes.  They are a poison pill that will turn off some of the core audience of the PGA Tour.

 

I'm not watching if there is a co-branded event, I'm certainly not watching a Liv vs PGA type of competition.

 

I think Jay is doing the right thing by not telling everyone what's going on right now.  He's going to make the decision and he will accept the fallout if it's bad.  I don't think this is a group decision.  I'm probably in the minority but I trust Jay more than Jimmy.  The Liv folks always seem to be putting Jay down, I can imagine they are upset with him not rolling over.

 

 

That’s why I continue to reiterate “I’m not watching anymore.” Normally such statements are about as meaningful to the true movers and shakers as trying to empty the ocean with a spoon, and I wouldn’t bother. But with each LIV announcement it seems to me the level of distain for a Saudi backed league continues to be so strong that it’s hard for me to imagine a world where those performing the market research on this (PGAT, agents, advertisers, etc) just completely ignore what that means for the sort of money that is to be made in a post merger world. So I’ll continue to throw my individually insignificant “I’m not watching” stance into the fray.  After all, waves are just a bunch of individual drops of water. 

[golfortennis]

9 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

You nailed it!  PGAT core fans will continue to watch.

 

The only tragedy is the fact that the PGAT do not get compensated for the talent being poached. 

 

Why should they be compensated?  Those players paid for the opportunity to qualify for the tour.

 

You're making the players sound like they are Tour assets, which, frankly, justifies the whole thing that has gone on.

[Titleist99]

1 hour ago, bekgolf said:

 

 

No matter what else happens viewership goes down if Liv/pif is involved in the PGA Tour.  Fans don't really care about purse sizes.  They are a poison pill that will turn off some of the core audience of the PGA Tour.

 

I'm not watching if there is a co-branded event, I'm certainly not watching a Liv vs PGA type of competition.

 

I think Jay is doing the right thing by not telling everyone what's going on right now.  He's going to make the decision and he will accept the fallout if it's bad.  I don't think this is a group decision.  I'm probably in the minority but I trust Jay more than Jimmy.  The Liv folks always seem to be putting Jay down, I can imagine they are upset with him not rolling over.

 

 

Your view is shared by the bulk of PGAT fans. IMO Some people are pushing the narrative that most fans want to see them play together, but that's not true at all.

 

There's no one that I trust more to find new Sponsors than Jay Monahan, period.

[Titleist99]

47 minutes ago, golfortennis said:

 

Why should they be compensated?  Those players paid for the opportunity to qualify for the tour.

 

You're making the players sound like they are Tour assets, which, frankly, justifies the whole thing that has gone on.

Exactly.

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

[stinger_gc]

Deal is done??

[stinger_gc]

 

Looks like the PIF deal is held up by regulatory reasons 

[Cactus Jack]

SSG details starting to leak.
 

$900M in non-liquid equity divided between 180 players, with better players receiving more. Averages out to about $5M per player. Some players will likely receive some cash compensation, but the equity piece appears to be a paper transaction only. DPWT seems to have missed out.
 

 

 

[golfortennis]

14 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

Exactly.

 So the players are assets of the tour, not independent contractors who can seek the greenest pastures?

[Titleist99]

19 minutes ago, golfortennis said:

 So the players are assets of the tour, not independent contractors who can seek the greenest pastures?

The players are members of an association.

[idrive]

The tour’s policy board approved the investment at a meeting late Tuesday night, and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, was expected to brief golfers on details of the deal on a conference call Wednesday morning. The deal is expected to help the tour create a new for-profit company that will oversee the its commercial interests, with the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) serving as a minority investor.

The tour originally planned to create the new entity alongside the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, which owns LIV Golf, a rival team-based golf circuit, but the two sides have yet to agree to terms nearly eight months after announcing their intention to join forces. Though they faced a Dec. 31 deadline to reach a final deal, the two sides are still negotiating and remain hopeful the PIF will become an investor in the new commercial entity, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

 

[stinger_gc]

😬😬

[golfortennis]

15 minutes ago, Titleist99 said:

The players are members of an association.

 

Right.  Which they spent their own to pursue membership in.  Why should that association receive receive "compensation" for them leaving?  You receive compensation for losing an asset, not a member who voluntary leaves.

[oughtaquit]

Sorry if this is a stupid question and/or has been answered before, but if the players want bigger payouts and sponsors are already balking, how does SSG make money from this?  I understand it's a private equity group and those sometimes profit by stripping a company's assets and tanking it, but would they be able to do that as a minority investor? 

[Holy Moses]

14 minutes ago, stinger_gc said:

😬😬

That’s if the DOJ even approves it

[Maine Golfer]

Well we can have a great product another few years. I'm rooting not to merge with Liv.  This is basically a good move. 

[Peak]

https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/latest/2024/01/31/pga-tour-launches-pga-tour-enterprises-new-program-that-transforms-players-into-equity-holders

[stinger_gc]

6 minutes ago, Holy Moses said:

That’s if the DOJ even approves it

Per the statement from the tour: “The transaction announced today allows for a co-investment from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the future, subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.”

[bscinstnct]

5 minutes ago, Maine Golfer said:

Well we can have a great product another few years. I'm rooting not to merge with Liv.  This is basically a good move. 

 

LIV not being invested in the pga tour gives them every incentive to continue to…

 

aggressively compete with the pga tour. 

[Maine Golfer]

4 minutes ago, bscinstnct said:

 

LIV not being invested in the pga tour gives them every incentive to continue to…

 

aggressively compete with the pga tour. 

so aggressive nobody watches Liv. Let them burn out