The PGA Tour has narrowed its choice of potential investors to a new consortium led by Fenway Sports Group and said it would continue negotiations with Saudi Arabia's national wealth fund in its race to meet the Dec. 31 deadline.
The PGA Tour board of directors – six players and five independent directors – sent an email to players on Sunday afternoon to say Strategic Sports Group was the unanimous choice to continue negotiating a potential partnership in the new PGA Tour Enterprises.
The new for-profit company was at the center of a framework agreement announced June 6 between the PGA Tour, the European tour and the Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf's Saudi financial backer.
“We also expect to continue our negotiations with PIF in the coming weeks,” the board said in the email to the tour's membership.
“Please know that while we cannot go into more detail at this time, we are very confident in an eventual, positive outcome for all players and the PGA Tour as a whole.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has a fast-approaching deadline to make a deal
The framework for a deal with Saudi PIF should be agreed by the end of this year
The update came three days after Masters champion Jon Rahm, a consistent voice against the 54-hole, no-cut rival competition for two years, left for LIV Golf in a deal that several reports estimated was in the neighborhood of $500 million.
The agreement includes a December 31 deadline to complete the deal, and Rahm's departure from the PGA Tour was an indication that without Saudi involvement in the new commercial venture, the PIF has more than enough money to lure away whoever they want. want to.
“It's a really nice game by them,” Jordan Spieth said Friday. “I think we have the best hand, but they know what our hand is. It's a nice leverage with everything that's going on.”
Several private equity groups have expressed interest in investing in recent months, and the tour board last month narrowed the group to five, including Fenway Sports Group, Acorn Growth and Liberty Strategic Capital.
The group the board unanimously selected was described as a consortium of American-based professional sports teams, led by Fenway Sports Group.
Strategic Sports Group consists of owners Marc Attanasio (Milwaukee Brewers); Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons); Cohen Private Ventures (New York Mets); Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics); Tom Werner and John Henry (Boston Red Sox); Tom Ricketts (Chicago Cubs); and Marc Lasry (Milwaukee Bucks). Others in the group include Gerry Cardinale, managing partner of Redbird Capital, which owns AC Milan.
Lasry, Blank, Cohen and Werner are also team owners in the TGL league, founded by Tiger Woods, who sits on the PGA Tour board, and Rory McIlroy, who recently left the board.
It was believed to include Randall Stephenson, the retired AT&T chairman who resigned from the PGA Tour board in July over objections to the Saudi Arabia deal.
A merger with SSG, a group led by FSG owner John Henry, could be an alternative option
SSG also includes Atlanta Sports owner Arthur Blank (L) and Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck (R)
This week, John Rahm defected from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf in a mega deal
However, Stephenson wrote to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan last Tuesday to say he has no interest in Acorn or its proposal, only that he has responded to Acorn's questions about putting together an attractive proposal. The Associated Press has obtained a copy of the letter.
Stephenson said he also provided similar input to Liberty Media, but that “I felt it would be inappropriate to engage directly as an investor or event-paid advisor.”
Monahan had said last week that he would meet Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, until it was postponed. It was unclear whether they would meet this week. PIF is this week's presenting sponsor of the Saudi Open, which concludes the Asian Tour season.
Sports Illustrated reported last week that PIF was originally prepared to pump $2 billion into the new commercial venture, with another $1 billion for an equalization pool to reward PGA Tour players who turned down Saudi riches to join LIV.
Rahm's signing now gives LIV seven of the last fourteen major championship winners, including three of the last five: Rahm, Brooks Koepka (PGA Championship) and Cameron Smith (2022 British Open).
Rahm will likely get his own four-man team, and there will likely be more renegades.