PGA Tour faces £800bn LIV Golf problem despite agreement with Liverpool owners FSG
The potential deal between the PGA Tour and the FSG-backed Strategic Sports Group (SSG) could strengthen the American tour’s hand in negotiations with LIV Golf.
The deadline for a binding agreement between the PGA Tour, the DP Tour and LIV Golf over their proposed merger is fast approaching. Despite outlining plans to establish a new for-profit entity in June, the PGA Tour may bolster its own finances by entering into a partnership with Strategic Sports Group (SSG).
The civil war within the game appeared to be heading towards a truce in the summer, when the America-based circuit’s commissioner Jay Monahan announced a shock agreement. However, all parties have been locked in negotiations in the time since, with no tangible details regarding progress having emerged in the interim period.
Meanwhile, the announcement of an agreement to advance negotiations over a £43 billion ($54bn) partnership between the PGA Tour and SSG came this month and could see some of sport’s most prominent business figures coming on board as investors. Among those will be Fenway Sports Group chiefs John W. Henry, Mike Gordon and Tom Werner – all of whom are best known for their involvement at storied sporting institutions Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox.
That agreement arrived in the wake of LIV Golf’s most pronounced power play to date, though, after the Saudi Arabian tour lured Masters champion Jon Rahm to their circuit. The world number three sealed a £450m payday to head to the Gulf State circuit from 2024 onwards.
