OT: PGA and LIV Golf to merge….

[mikemarc1]

Huge news in golf…

Not sure what it means for either side yet…

PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf

The PGA Tour is merging with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf, following months of tensions and mounting lawsuits between the competitors.

www.cnbc.com

 

[mikemarc1]

Will be interesting to see if all the pga players who bad mouthed the liv golfers for joining “the Saudis” will continue to play now that the pga tour had a joined “the Saudis” lol

 

[Roy_Faulker]

Wow. Wonder who blinked first. Guessing it was the PGA.

 

[mikemarc1]

Wow. Wonder who blinked first. Guessing it was the PGA.

I’d say it was definitely PGA..

This is what LIV always wanted.

 

[kupuna133]

Monahan is a joke!

 

[greenknight]

Going to say LIV Monahan is the CEO & LIV Governor Yasir Al- Rumayyan will be chairman. Where does that leave Norman? Kicked to curb maybe?

 

[mikemarc1]

How any golfer can trust Jay Monihan again is beyond me…..what a coward.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Huge news in golf…

Not sure what it means for either side yet…

PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf

The PGA Tour is merging with Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf, following months of tensions and mounting lawsuits between the competitors.

www.cnbc.com

WTF? Seriously, did anyone see this coming today? Wow.

I guess LIV and Phil won. They truly changed the game and won.

 

[jtung230]

Monahan is a joke!

Yes, they just made that joker the CEO.

 

[mikemarc1]

Golf channel just said it…”The Saudis won”….

Crazy…

 

[RUEd]

Phil definitely won. I love Phil, but he’s simply done. Masters was an anomaly but he got supposedly $200M to show up On the LIV tour. Freddie Couples is his friend and said basically, “ $200 million to shoot 75. Pretty good deal”

 

[T2Kplus20]

How any golfer can trust Jay Monihan again is beyond me…..what a coward.

Jay Monihan bowed down to the Saudi money. What a loser.

Other winners = All the players that jumped to LIV for massive paydays and now can have their cake and eat it too.

 

[Section124]

Poor Brandel. Can't wait to listen to his comments on this.

 

[mikemarc1]

Would love to hear Rory too…what a cry baby this past year and a half…

Will he be a hypocrite and be on board??!

 

[Section124]

Would love to hear Rory too…what a cry baby this past year and a half…

Will he be a hypocrite and be on board??!

Rory has been backtracking lately. I assume he knew this was going to happen. With all his crying about how tired he is, he is perfect for LIV.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Would love to hear Rory too…what a cry baby this past year and a half…

Will he be a hypocrite and be on board??!

+1
Jay just stabbed a lot of PGA loyalists in the back. They don't seem to be reacting well today. Can't believe the PGA folded so quickly. I guess they were hurting more than people knew.

 

[Rutgers85]

Sounds like the team idea will continue. I couldn’t care less about teams.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Guessing that LIV just bribed.. uh.. "legally" rewarded.. PGA honchos.. who retained management control of a for-profit organization... bet their compensation skyrockets.

 

[KnightKnight]

Did they do a welfare check on Chamblee yet?

 

[xWVU2010x]

Big Michael Scott Paper Company vibes… I wonder what this means for other sports? Are the Saudis gonna start paying QBs a shit ton of money to join the USFL and force a merge?

 

[mikemarc1]

Trump a year ago:

 

[RUScrew85]

Well this should make the non-majors watchable again. It sucked only having 5 serious golfers at best in some of these tourneys.

 

[Ty Webb]

Wow. Wonder who blinked first. Guessing it was the PGA.

PGA apparently has majority control of the entity and board so........

My guess is PIF made it happen. They were throwing billions at this and they were still getting sparse crowds, limited TV viewership. One of the golf writers opined late last year the PIF may be looking for an exit ramp in the next year or two if ratings didn't improve.

 

[RUScrew85]

PGA apparently has majority control of the entity and board so........

My guess is PIF made it happen. They were throwing billions at this and they were still getting sparse crowds, limited TV viewership. One of the golf writers opined late last year the PIF may be looking for an exit ramp in the next year or two if ratings didn't improve.

PIF?

 

[Ty Webb]

PIF?

PIF is the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi money backing LIV.

People will assume that the PGAT cratered here but my guess is the PIF has been working this long and hard. They needed an exit strategy here to make their investment profitable. LIV was not getting big crowds, especially in the US market, their TV and streaming numbers were below even low level PGA events (to the point LIV announced they'd stop sharing them).

This might not be a popular opinion but it seems to me PIF realized they had to cut a deal with the PGA and figure out how to make things work. Not that the PGA were complete winners here as they obviously had to change and that change was forced by LIV. And Monahan has some egg on his face with the whole Saudis are bad news schtick he pulled. But cash is king and if Monahan can essentially kill a rival and load up the coffers, he was gonna do it.

The question is where is Norman in all of this? Would be hilarious if the Saudis just cut him out to work with Pelley and Monahan.

 

[WhiteBus]

Poor Brandel. Can't wait to listen to his comments on this.

I was thinking the same thing!! Also can't wait to hear what the Brandel gang on here has to say.

 

[mikemarc1]

PIF is the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi money backing LIV.

People will assume that the PGAT cratered here but my guess is the PIF has been working this long and hard. They needed an exit strategy here to make their investment profitable. LIV was not getting big crowds, especially in the US market, their TV and streaming numbers were below even low level PGA events (to the point LIV announced they'd stop sharing them).

This might not be a popular opinion but it seems to me PIF realized they had to cut a deal with the PGA and figure out how to make things work. Not that the PGA were complete winners here as they obviously had to change and that change was forced by LIV. And Monahan has some egg on his face with the whole Saudis are bad news schtick he pulled. But cash is king and if Monahan can essentially kill a rival and load up the coffers, he was gonna do it.

The question is where is Norman in all of this? Would be hilarious if the Saudis just cut him out to work with Pelley and Monahan.

I disagree completely. I don’t think this was desperation by LIV (PIF)…I think this was ALWAYS the goal of PIF. As I posted above, a year ago, Trump called this….he’s close to PIF and has info. This was PIF’s ultimate goal.

 

[Ty Webb]

+1
Jay just stabbed a lot of PGA loyalists in the back. They don't seem to be reacting well today. Can't believe the PGA folded so quickly. I guess they were hurting more than people knew.

For all intents and purposes LIV was stuck in the mud. Attendance, especially in the important US market, was ehhh, often below even low level PGA events. They stopped reporting viewership numbers because they were so low and again even lower than low level PGA events. If no one is watching, there was no chance they could get sponsors and sell off their 75% of each team to recoup some investment.

IMO, I think the PIF simply went to the PGA and made a cash offer that Monahan couldn't turn down. The PIF wants a return on their money and they knew it wasn't going to come from LIV alone at this point.

The issue with the PGA is they now look like hypocrites. Monahan used the blood money angle himself, including just recently turning down a big sponsorship from Raytheon over their sale of missiles to the Saudis. Now he's fully in bed with them a month later.

 

[Ty Webb]

Monahan looks like a LIV golfer now taking the big handout. After this thing closes, he should be shitcanned.

Maybe he and Norman can start a mini-tour somewhere. Or a miniature golf circuit.

 

[RuSnp]

PIF is the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi money backing LIV.

People will assume that the PGAT cratered here but my guess is the PIF has been working this long and hard. They needed an exit strategy here to make their investment profitable. LIV was not getting big crowds, especially in the US market, their TV and streaming numbers were below even low level PGA events (to the point LIV announced they'd stop sharing them).

This might not be a popular opinion but it seems to me PIF realized they had to cut a deal with the PGA and figure out how to make things work. Not that the PGA were complete winners here as they obviously had to change and that change was forced by LIV. And Monahan has some egg on his face with the whole Saudis are bad news schtick he pulled. But cash is king and if Monahan can essentially kill a rival and load up the coffers, he was gonna do it.

The question is where is Norman in all of this? Would be hilarious if the Saudis just cut him out to work with Pelley and Monahan.

Norman is irrelevant where he ends up (nowhere my guess) doesn't really impact anything.

A couple of other thoughts:
1) pretty clear Rory was given a wink "Hey man you might want to stop talking about LIV" a few weeks ago. His change in addressing this topic was notably weird when it happened. That said - I question whether he knew any real details beyond things were in motion (he's a golfer not a financial professional afterall).
2) Anybody that loudly spoke about not associating with PIF money now will look like hypocrites when they inevitably agree.
3) The folks that jumped to LIV are the huge winners here obviously. Phil especially. But certainly the guys that won tourneys with crazy payouts already.
4) Have to think Koepka winning the PGA gave more fuel to the fire - but I'd imagine convos were going on before then.
5) We don't know the financials obviously but if you are in the camp of "I like the way things are" you should hope the PIF lost a fortune. Otherwise this is the roadmap going forward - disrupt established leagues/brands by overpaying for talent and then force the bigger brand to be open to merging.

 

[Ty Webb]

Norman is irrelevant where he ends up (nowhere my guess) doesn't really impact anything.

A couple of other thoughts:
1) pretty clear Rory was given a wink "Hey man you might want to stop talking about LIV" a few weeks ago. His change in addressing this topic was notably weird when it happened. That said - I question whether he knew any real details beyond things were in motion (he's a golfer not a financial professional afterall).
2) Anybody that loudly spoke about not associating with PIF money now will look like hypocrites when they inevitably agree.
3) The folks that jumped to LIV are the huge winners here obviously. Phil especially. But certainly the guys that won tourneys with crazy payouts already.
4) Have to think Koepka winning the PGA gave more fuel to the fire - but I'd imagine convos were going on before then.
5) We don't know the financials obviously but if you are in the camp of "I like the way things are" you should hope the PIF lost a fortune. Otherwise this is the roadmap going forward - disrupt established leagues/brands by overpaying for talent and then force the bigger brand to be open to merging.

Good points. I don't think there is any doubt that at least the bigger names on the PGAT like a Rory and Scheffler and Rahm and Speith and those guys were kept in the loop to some extent.

You are dead one about the hypocritical angle. Monahan in particular given just last month he turned down Raytheon as a major sponsor because they did business with the Saudis.

I don't think there is any doubt that LIV is in the red at this point. They were spending hundreds of millions and their own attorneys admitted last year they were generating minimal revenues. But as someone pointed out, they have the cash and what if they want to take on the NFL or NBA next?

 

[mikemarc1]

Also wonder if the feds…during their investigation..found anti trust violations by the PGA TOUR and they had no choice but to merge.

 

[jtung230]

One thing is certain, Greg Norman is the loser here. No mention of him at all.

 

[WhiteBus]

And poof, just like that there is nothing wrong with the Saudi money!!

Some of you made complete fools of yourself over LIV.

 

[Ty Webb]

One thing is certain, Greg Norman is the loser here. No mention of him at all.

I thought I read he's going to be involved at some level still. What that is? Who knows.

 

[mikemarc1]

One thing is certain, Greg Norman is the loser here. No mention of him at all.

Is he? He’s still a partner in LIV…

 

[RuSnp]

One thing is certain, Greg Norman is the loser here. No mention of him at all.

Except.... what was he paid? He might be the highest paid "consultant" in world history lmao.

 

[RUScrew85]

PIF is the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi money backing LIV.

People will assume that the PGAT cratered here but my guess is the PIF has been working this long and hard. They needed an exit strategy here to make their investment profitable. LIV was not getting big crowds, especially in the US market, their TV and streaming numbers were below even low level PGA events (to the point LIV announced they'd stop sharing them).

This might not be a popular opinion but it seems to me PIF realized they had to cut a deal with the PGA and figure out how to make things work. Not that the PGA were complete winners here as they obviously had to change and that change was forced by LIV. And Monahan has some egg on his face with the whole Saudis are bad news schtick he pulled. But cash is king and if Monahan can essentially kill a rival and load up the coffers, he was gonna do it.

The question is where is Norman in all of this? Would be hilarious if the Saudis just cut him out to work with Pelley and Monahan.

Ah. Thanks.

 

[jtung230]

Except.... what was he paid? He might be the highest paid "consultant" in world history lmao.

None of these guys are “hurt” by this.

 

[Ty Webb]

The more you read, the more Monahan and the PGAT management look like shit heels here. They are literally praising the PIF now when 12 months ago they they thought they were hell on earth. LOL. Money talks, no matter who is spending it.