2023 PGA tour thread

[DoubleK]

Not a peep from Brandel and Eamon so far.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Greg Norman also a big loser in all of this, he wanted to destroy the PGA Tour and instead he'll be kicked to the curb by the Saudis while they buy the Tour.

[Jason14h]

A lot of PGA board members woke up to big envelopes of money from the Saudis in their mailboxes today

[DoubleK]

I don't see how Jay Monahan survives this.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I mean Monahan is literally the CEO of this new entity lol, he is the biggest sellout here, but he won pretty bigly. Ironically if Rory and Tiger and some others broke away and started their own tour now, then Monahan would be in trouble.

[Flabbibulin]

I didn't consider that the golfers that turned down the LIV money are going to be super pissed now.

Starting to sound like virtually no one was aware this was happening.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

A lot of PGA board members woke up to big envelopes of money from the Saudis in their mailboxes today

or barrel loads of fuel on their driveway.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

I didn't consider that the golfers that turned down the LIV money are going to be super pissed now.



Starting to sound like virtually no one was aware this was happening.

That's what I'm trying to wrap my head around. I thought the players ran the tour. How can Jay just go and do this, without consulting them?

[Derek Sutton]

This is just like when Vince McMahon bought WCW.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I would imagine those who passed on LIV money will get a massive payout from this, like the Saudis care about paying out another billion or two.

[Johnny Makarov]

I'll watch more golf if they televise live hangings and beheadings of dissenters!

[Winsor_Pilates]

Money over everything I guess.
Only a matter of time before Saudis control all the major soccer teams too.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

This is just like when Vince McMahon bought WCW.

I prefer the comparison of Dunder Mifflin buying the Michael Scott Paper Company that someone made!

[flames_fan_down_under]

Do the guys who signed the contracts with LIV have those contracts honored still?

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Slava

I prefer the comparison of Dunder Mifflin buying the Michael Scott Paper Company that someone made!

While funny the issue is Michael Scott didn’t have endless money backing him where he could afford to lose money forever

[Senator Clay Davis]

The thing is the Saudis weren't going to lose money forever. That they could afford to doesn't mean they were just going to. I think the two biggest factors to this merger were:

- The Saudis still wanted golf as part of their sportswashing portfolio, but realized LIV was never going to succeed, so they came back with an over the top offer the PGA would never refuse, even if it meant selling players out.

- The PGA Tour did not want to go through discovery on their lawsuit.

In the end this resolution is a win-win for both.

[jayswin]

I'm in a rush and was blown away hearing about this. Is the gist of this that the Saudis now own golf, basically?

[GirlySports]

yup, it's all about money. Always is.

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Do the guys who signed the contracts with LIV have those contracts honored still?

I would think so, with a possible pay off to the PGA tour players? Complete guess, but I would speculate that things will simply operate as they already do between the PGA tour, the DP Euro tour, and the Champions Tour. Each tour will have their own tournaments and schedules, with a selection of players that are primarily devoted to a single tour. So Liv and the PGA will continue to have their own separate tournaments. What will be allowed now though is for players to cross over once in a while and play tournaments on both. And more importantly, the LIV golfers will likely start getting world golf ranking points and be able to qualify for majors (beyond just past winners exemptions)- although for this to happen, I really think they need to move LIV to 72 holes.

I really don't think the tours are being totally blended into one new rebranded super league with a single schedule- that would be completely stunning.

edit- here is the letter from Jay Monahan to PGA Tour players, with some of the details. Seems like this means the PGA tour is moving away from non-profilt status? Doesn't really dispute the format I speculated on, but if does eventually result in the complete dissolution of LIV, then it all boils down to the PIF spending a lot of time, money, and resources just to get its foot in the door.

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/pga...ld-tour-merger

[Strange Brew]

Looks like it will be a complex structure, but the Saudis will be an investor.

It’s not so much that the tour is an NFP (they are for tax purposes which isn’t that meaningful) but they didn’t have shareholders. They existed to serve their members.

I’m frankly surprised Monahan has the authority to sell an ownership interest in the Tour. Bettman couldn’t do that for the NHL (or I’d be surprised if he could).

But LIV is dead as a tour at least.