PGA Tour-PIF Deal

Golf world in limbo with lingering merger questions

SBJ Newsletters / Wednesday, June 21, 2023

When William Hulbert assembled a group of business leaders to form the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs in 1876, it was an entrepreneurial venture. It wasn’t for the love of baseball, the purity of competition or a noble statement about embracing heart. It was to make money. The sports business is about...

LIV's branding, team concept still in question amid PGA Tour-PIF merger

Daily / Monday, June 12, 2023

It is "appearing bleak for the LIV brand and maybe its players as well" ahead of the planned merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, according to James Corrigan of the London TELEGRAPH. A high-ranking PGA Tour official said that if Commissioner Jay Monahan "does include...

PGA Tour's Jimmy Dunne profiled as well-respected power broker

Daily / Monday, June 12, 2023

PGA Tour Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne has "advised in some of the financial industry’s largest mergers," but “nothing was like the talks with” PIF Chair Yasir Al-Rumayyan, according to a profile by Tom D’Angelo of the PALM BEACH POST. Dunne said, “The difference is confidentiality and speed are...

ICYMI: How PGA Tour-PIF deal came together

Morning Buzz / Monday, June 12, 2023

The N.Y. TIMES looks at the “seven weeks of clandestine negotiations” under the headline “Secrecy, Cigars and a Venetian Wedding: How the PGA Tour Made a Deal with Saudi Arabia.” The account is based on interviews with nine people with knowledge of the negotiations. A few of the high...

U.S. Senator opens probe into PGA Tour-PIF deal

Daily / Monday, June 12, 2023

The U.S. Senate has "opened an inquiry" into the proposed arrangement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, according to Draper & Blinder of the N.Y. TIMES. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is also the chairman of the chamber’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and...

PIF Gov. Yasir Al-Rumayyan to become power player in golf

Daily / Monday, June 12, 2023

Following the framework merger agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabian PIF, its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan "appears poised to become the most powerful person in the professional game,” according to Kilgore, Maese & Strauss of the WASHINGTON POST. Prior to becoming the head...

The stunning planned merger of the PGA Tour and PIF leaves much to answer

Weekly / Monday, June 12, 2023

It’s not a stretch to say that June 6, 2023, may go down as one of the most consequential days in the history of professional golf, and while some details emerged in the first few hours afterward about the merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour...

Columnists give thoughts on Monahan, PGA Tour following deal

Daily / Friday, June 9, 2023

Reaction to the PGA Tour-DP World Tour-PIF alliance continues to generate columns across the globe. Here is a sampling of what people are still writing about more than 72 hours after the deal was first announced: MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND : In Honolulu,...

Scant details emerge around 'heated' player meeting with Jay Monahan

Daily / Friday, June 9, 2023

PGA Tour player Dylan Wu was in Tuesday's player meeting with Commissioner Jay Monahan following the merger announcement, and he said it is "probably the most outspoken I’ve seen the players." There were between 25-30 players talking during the meeting, and he said: "I can tell you there was a...

PGA Tour's Jimmy Dunne lays out initial PIF merger framework

Daily / Friday, June 9, 2023

The agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabian PIF has been “largely misunderstood” since news of the deal broke on Tuesday, and Jimmy Dunne, the PGA Tour Policy Board member who helped negotiate it, has “laid out the parameters” of the arrangement, according...

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