LIV Golf Wanted Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy to Have League Franchises
- 7 months ago
LIV Golf Wanted Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy to Have League Franchises.
Among ideas proposed by the LIV Golf League in the time leading up to the shocking framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia was giving Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy LIV Golf League franchises and seeing them compete in LIV Golf events.
Two of the biggest names in the game were staunchly opposed to the rival Saudi Arabia-funded circuit but were kept in the dark when negotiations took place between PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, policy board members Ed Hirlihy and Jimmy Dunne and the PIF’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
This was just one of the ideas that was discussed by the parties as part of documents released Tuesday by a Senate subcommittee during a hearing in Washington, D.C., led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut). The PGA Tour rejected it as part of the negotiation.
The committee is concerned about the foreign involvement in an American sports league as well as possible anti-trust violations.
Some of the ideas included having a “World Golf Series’’ team event that would be played in Saudi Arabia; LIV operating as it is but being played in the fall or with the idea of LIV co-existing along with the PGA Tour; two of the PGA Tour’s designated events to be branded by the PIF or the Saudi Arabia oil company, Aramco; and a membership at Augusta National for Al-Rumayyan, who is the governor of the PIF and also an avid golfer who has called LIV Golf ‘’my baby.’’
Also discussed was removing Greg Norman as commissioner of LIV Golf as well as Performance 54, the UK-based agency that has a big role behind the scenes in running LIV Golf.
The Washington Post reported that two people familiar with the negotiations rejected the proposal to remove Norman.
None of those details were cited in the framework agreement, signed May 30.
The agreement announced on June 6 was lacking considerable detail but basically outlined a plan that would see the PGA Tour as we know it – including this week’s Genesis Scottish Open and the Barbabsol Championship – remain as is as part of a non-profit 601c-6 structure known as PGA Tour Inc.
A new entity called PGA Tour Enterprises is to be formed that would be a for-profit LLC and include PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf assets. The PIF would be a minority investor in the new enterprise by the Tour, according to the agreement, would hold the most board seats, with Al-Rumayyan being chairman and Monahan CEO.
Tuesday’s document release gives more an idea of what the sides were discussing and hoping to achieve.
Blumenthal, chair of the subcommittee, shared a 10-page document along with 265 pages of emails that were submitted in advance of the hearings.
None of the communication appears to reveal how much of an investment there would be from the PIF or give guidance on how LIV golfers might return to the PGA Tour. One proposal said that Al-Rumayyan noted the players w
Among ideas proposed by the LIV Golf League in the time leading up to the shocking framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia was giving Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy LIV Golf League franchises and seeing them compete in LIV Golf events.
Two of the biggest names in the game were staunchly opposed to the rival Saudi Arabia-funded circuit but were kept in the dark when negotiations took place between PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, policy board members Ed Hirlihy and Jimmy Dunne and the PIF’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
This was just one of the ideas that was discussed by the parties as part of documents released Tuesday by a Senate subcommittee during a hearing in Washington, D.C., led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut). The PGA Tour rejected it as part of the negotiation.
The committee is concerned about the foreign involvement in an American sports league as well as possible anti-trust violations.
Some of the ideas included having a “World Golf Series’’ team event that would be played in Saudi Arabia; LIV operating as it is but being played in the fall or with the idea of LIV co-existing along with the PGA Tour; two of the PGA Tour’s designated events to be branded by the PIF or the Saudi Arabia oil company, Aramco; and a membership at Augusta National for Al-Rumayyan, who is the governor of the PIF and also an avid golfer who has called LIV Golf ‘’my baby.’’
Also discussed was removing Greg Norman as commissioner of LIV Golf as well as Performance 54, the UK-based agency that has a big role behind the scenes in running LIV Golf.
The Washington Post reported that two people familiar with the negotiations rejected the proposal to remove Norman.
None of those details were cited in the framework agreement, signed May 30.
The agreement announced on June 6 was lacking considerable detail but basically outlined a plan that would see the PGA Tour as we know it – including this week’s Genesis Scottish Open and the Barbabsol Championship – remain as is as part of a non-profit 601c-6 structure known as PGA Tour Inc.
A new entity called PGA Tour Enterprises is to be formed that would be a for-profit LLC and include PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf assets. The PIF would be a minority investor in the new enterprise by the Tour, according to the agreement, would hold the most board seats, with Al-Rumayyan being chairman and Monahan CEO.
Tuesday’s document release gives more an idea of what the sides were discussing and hoping to achieve.
Blumenthal, chair of the subcommittee, shared a 10-page document along with 265 pages of emails that were submitted in advance of the hearings.
None of the communication appears to reveal how much of an investment there would be from the PIF or give guidance on how LIV golfers might return to the PGA Tour. One proposal said that Al-Rumayyan noted the players w