PGA, LIV Golf pushed back merger deadline
New Year's Eve came and went without a long-awaited agreement in place between the biggest organizations in golf.
The PGA, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund were unable to come to terms on a "definitive agreement" on their proposed merger by Dec. 31. However, according to media reports, all parties agreed to extend their discussions into 2024, though that comes without another defined deadline.
Golf.com's James Colgan published an excerpt of a letter from PGA commissioner Jay Monahan to the players explaining where the parties stand at the self-imposed deadline:
“While we had initially set a deadline of December 31, 2023, to reach an agreement, we are working to extend our negotiations into next year based on the progress we have made to date,” Monahan wrote in a letter to PGA Tour membership late Sunday evening. “Our goal for 2024 is to reach agreements with SSG, PIF and the DP World Tour, bringing them on board as minority co-investors.”
Colgan's column delves into what the combined entity is set to become, which would include a for-profit organization called PGA Tour Enterprises that would ideally attract investors in the same manner as other professional sports leagues.
Yet, he also looks at what appears to be the primary hurdle in coming to an agreement, the consortium called the Strategic Sports Group that includes current and former owners of professional teams.
There are concerns that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which operates the PIF, sees the SSG as a backdoor of sorts for the PGA to create negotiating leverage against them. Colgan also said that reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm's decision to sign with LIV has been a sign of the complicated talks.
The Dec. 31 deadline seemed fairly ambitious from the start. Mergers of multibillion-dollar corporations don't happen within a single calendar year due to lengthy regulatory approval processes, large public and political debates and infighting within the companies planning to join.
It shouldn't be a surprise that the PGA, LIV and others are still in the process of coming together with so many entities involved.
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