PGA, LIV Golf could miss deadline for merger

The most anticipated union in sports, for better or worse, could be delayed as both sides contend with legal issues and player demands.

According to a report from Bloomberg's Malathi Nayak and Giles Turner, the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund – the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia – may miss their Dec. 31 deadline as they are responding to a Department of Justice probe over antitrust concerns. The PGA would be merging with the DP World Tour (also known as the European Tour) and LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed disruptor that was born from much controversy.

Nayak and Turner also state that players on the PGA want a stake in the new business entity set to form if and once the merger is approved.

While the antitrust review was expected from the onset of the June announcement, the PGA players' involvement seems to be creating its own set of issues for PGA boss Jay Monahan, PIF leader Yasir Al-Rumayyan and others who negotiated the deal:

"PGA Tour players, who are being advised by investment bank Raine Group, are driving negotiations, the people said. That’s in stark contrast to the tentative pact that came together after secret talks between a small group of high-ranking PGA Tour officials and PIF’s chief, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, without player participation.

"The discussions are not over compensation, the people said. Granting equity isn’t being considered to necessarily reward players, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who spurned lucrative offers to switch allegiances to LIV, but to ensure the PGA Tour player members at large have a share in the new entity, they said."

The PGA players, as independent contractors, may have never been more unified. This may not have the look of the player empowerment movement that we've seen in the NBA in recent years, but their collective anger over this once-unlikely union forced the leaders to give them a legitimate seat at the table.

The players' involvement could also be a reason why the PGA is hedging its bets against the merger it negotiated for. In late September, Bloomberg also reported that the golf organization had spoken with Endeavor and Fenway Sports Group about potential investments in the chance that the merger with LIV and DP fall through. At least with those two groups, there may not be as many red flags regarding antitrust concerns, since neither are competing golf tours, though there could be questions about Endeavor's ever-growing market share in the sports market.