How are things progressing in the PGA Tour’s efforts to move forward on the framework agreement it signed in June with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund? It depends who you ask.ESPN reported “that while the negotiations with PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and other officials with the country’s sovereign wealth fund are ongoing, the proposed deal is far from getting done for a variety of reasons, including PIF officials wanting more control of the new for-profit enterprise. Sources said the Saudis are also digging in their heels on incorporating team golf into the sport’s future global ecosystem.”
Wow, who coulda seen that one coming, although I suspect they'll want to control of more than just the for-profit entity. People wring checks in the billions can be funny that way...
That Golfweek piece comes under this neutral header:
Report: PGA Tour evaluating alternative sources of capital beyond current framework agreement with PIF
But, how is one to know when the Tour is lying to us? Yeah, those moving lips are as good a proxy as any, so you might want to shut off your BS detector, otherwise the constant buzzing will get tedious:
Earlier this week, PGA Tour executive Jason Gore sent a memo to players providing an update. As first reported by ESPN, Gore wrote, “We remain focused on reaching a Definitive Agreement with PIF and the DP World Tour, but not surprisingly, these negotiations have resulted in unsolicited outreach and proposals from a number of other interested investors. All of this activity reinforces the Tour’s strong position and our potential for growth.”
Unsolicited? These guys aren't very good liars, because that's laugh-out-loud hilarious.... We at this point have exactly zero clue as to what this for-profit entity will be doing, but the Wolves of Wall Street are showring them with unsolicited offer? Yeah, that's not how any of this works....
And there may well be a tortious interference claim hanging over Jay:
Bloomberg previously named three bidders last month, including Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. In May, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said on the Freakonomics podcast that, at the behest of LIV’s Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, the company had been considering investing a billion dollars in LIV until Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan persuaded him to reconsider.Speaking at a Bloomberg conference this week, Emanuel confirmed the company is interested in buying a stake in the Tour.“We put in a bid. It’s one of the great sports. I love it. You know, I think we could add to it what we’ve added to all of our sports.”
Ari Emanuel? In case you were wondering about the header, this is the payoff:
Ari's character is based in part on the real-life Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel,[1] who broke away from mega-agency ICM to form the Endeavor Talent Agency, which represents such stars as Vin Diesel and Larry David, both of whom are represented on the show by the fictional Ari Gold. Likewise, both Emanuel and Gold represent series producer Mark Wahlberg, upon whose experiences in Hollywood the series is loosely based. Ari Emanuel also once represented Jeremy Piven himself, and in an interview on the special features of the Season 3 Part 2 DVD, Entourage creator Doug Ellin says that Ari Emanuel demanded the "Ari Gold" part be cast to Piven and wouldn't accept anyone else to play him. Ari Gold, in the episode 'Playin with Fire' says that director Peter Berg was his roommate in college, as was Emanuel's.Ari Emanuel is the brother of Ezekiel Emanuel—a bioethicist—and Rahm Emanuel—former mayor of Chicago, former White House Chief of Staff, and member of the U.S.House of Representatives.
I'm just relieved that he thinks we're one of the great sports....
Although this Forbes header seems to capture the moment more accurately:
The PGA Tour Wants U.S. Money As Insurance For Opposition Of Saudi LIV Golf Takeover
The Forbes piece has this on the political background, which might capture the current moment:
U.S. politicians are probing the merger because LIV Golf is financed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and some view the deal as a takeover of an American institution by dirty, foreign money. In July, the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a three-hour hearing on the PGA Tour’s planned merger with Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who chaired the panel, was most critical of the deal, repeatedly urging PGA Tour officials not to go through with it. Republicans, led by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, were more supportive. If green-lit by politicians, PGA tour players would still have to approve the merger.
But quite obviously fails to anticipate how that might change in the course of a election campaign. Mr. Blumenthal is quite the poser, even by the elevated standards of his institution, but how do we imagine his principled opposition might be affected by a President running for reelection who needs lower prices at the gas pump? Any recent events, say on October 7th, that might increase the chances of an oil spike?
But I'm not sure this makes much sense at all:
Now the PGA Tour is looking at taking on U.S. investors. Bloomberg reported yesterday that “high-profile U.S. investors are being considered to help finance the PGA Tour’s transaction with Saudi-backed LIV Golf in an effort to ease political opposition to the deal.” The article noted that the interest from U.S. investors was unsolicited. But an American investor with interests in a few sports teams tells Forbes that the PGA is seeking U.S. money in case the PGA players vote down the merger with LIV Golf. “The PGA needs the money,” he said.As I wrote a year ago, the PGA has behaved like a stale monopoly for many years. It has caused some of its players to grumble about a lack of financial disclosure, paid its executives too much and failed to deliver for its customers, who often don’t even know where their favorite golfers are going to play. In short, LIV Golf exposed the PGA Tour as an undervalued asset that could be significantly more valuable if it were run properly.
Months since learning the framework agreement “events of June 6th agreement” only had three-or-so weeks of negotiation remaining, there are signs of an impending deal collapse and pro golf division for years to come.One of the two key protagonists in the weird June 6th rollout teed it up in the recent Alfred Dunhill Links. He was the guest of tournament chairman Johan Rupert who nobly is trying to bring all parties onto the same page and to get the endless money talk out of the news. But just days after “His Excellency” Yasir Al-Rumayyan presumably made a final pitch to key Official World Golf Ranking power players over rounds at Carnoustie and the Old Course, LIV Golf was denied the legitimizing points. But at least H.E. received encouragement via the disapproval letter from OWGR President And Old Course Hotel GM Peter Dawson, whose bizarro message was for LIV to keep being you. Blast that music, wear those shorts no matter how unflattering, peddle Torque merch and grow that game! However, we don’t give GTG points here at the OWGR.The other figurehead in the June 6th announcement who also did not want to be deposed and therefore agreed to a rushed deal who wanted to bring game-growing harmony and keep his free jet rides to every elite hideaway imaginable, has disappeared again.
Thank you for that, Geoff, because where the hell is Jay (and I haven't seen anyone else notice that he's gone to ground again)? Has he given in to his depression again, or is he off playing his own brand of 34D chess. If I were a PGA Tour member, I'd be awfully curious as to who is really running this show.
Amusingly, Geoff picks up on the one known entry on Jay's calendar:
But we do know PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will be turning up at next month’s Dealbook summit, his name screaming “outlier” at a conference including chats with the world’s richest man, the Vice President, the recently ousted Speaker of the House, and multiple respected CEO’s who will all be of more interest to the audience.
It is an outlier, though I think Geoff perhaps misses a more interesting point. His presence on that Dealbook panel implies that he'll have a deal done by that point, which is the interesting bit for us all to ponder in the current moment.
But where Geoff senses deal collapse, I have to add the question of whether this deal was ever meant to get done.
Let me also remind you of the accounts we've heard of the efforts of the Hatless Wonder, a/k/a the "terrific penis." What is being discussed here is using other financial sources to somehow help get the deal done with the Saudis, which makes no sense to me as noted above. But Cantlay was going down a different path entirely, desiring to keep the Saudis as competitors for leverage, while using other financing sources to fund Saudi-level compensation. It's quite it's own beautiful thing, Patrick desiring a check with just as many zeros as Phil got, just without that pesky human rights issue rearing its ugly (big) head. Remember Eamon Lynch's piece yesterday about excessive entitlement? Yup, he was over the target for sure.
More from Geoff on Ari:
“It’s one of the great sports, I love it,” the longtime Riviera member said before confirming his company “put in our bid” a week ago with plans of invoking the Endeavor “flywheel” to make the Tour product sing.
(B-speak translation: flywheel is the new cross-platform synergy.)
Pressed on whether the Endeavor bid encompassed the same for-profit PGA Tour entity that the PIF planned to invest in to make those pesky lawsuits go away, Emmanuel played coy regarding His Excellency’s options. The longtime superagent, powerbroker and shrewd businessman confirmed the seven bidders “can’t buy the majority” of the Tour holdings.
Yeah, we just have no idea why they're bidding on. But how would Ari know what he's bidding on? Because he had to have received some sort of RFP from the Tour, so when they call these bids unsolicited....
But Geoff also touches on a point I've tried to make, that Tiger going on the Tour's Advisory Board should be treated with some skepticism:
We also know Tiger Woods has been involved in the deal. Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson said he has “a lot on his plate” and was sitting out text chains and lineup discussions during the event in Rome. No one assumed Johnson was linking Tiger busy schedule with 2024’s game show golf league rollout.
Tiger almost assuredly an equity stake of whatever it is the PGA Tour is selling, as evidenced by his unprecedented Policy Board appointment. Tiger does not work for free. So he’s likely been a huge part of schmoozing money types in hopes of helping the PGA Tour tell His Excellency to go away.
Yup. Tiger and Rory have spent the last two years utilizing the LIV threat to take care of Tiger and Rory. And even that isn't enough to sate them, as we'll see Tiger parlay this into something even bigger for himself. He didn't go on the Policy Board to sweat policy, he's there because there's something big in it for him.
There's just little in it for us, as they remake the PGA Tour in the image of LIV, and as all of professional golf is driven by entitlement and avarice. Good thing it's ski season. Catch you later in the week.
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