More than 18 months after the initial framework agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf's financial backers was announced, the two parties are appearing to make headway towards a deal.Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is nearing a deal to acquire a minority stake in PGA Tour Enterprises, according to Bloomberg.
The PIF's investment is expected to encompass 6% of the PGA Tour's for-profit entity, valuing PGA Tour Enterprises at roughly $12 billion. That valuation falls in line with the initial $1.5 billion investment PGA Tour Enterprises received from the Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of U.S. investors and sports team owners that has also made available another $1.5 billion for future use.
Discussions between the parties to combine commercial operations under the PGA Tour Enterprises umbrella have slogged as the initial year-end deadline passed and hearings in front of U.S. Senate subcommittees have taken place. If a deal is to be finalized between the two sides, regulators will still have the final say in the approval process.
"All of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this," Tiger Woods said at the Hero World Challenge. "Even if it did, we're still at the regulations of the [Department of Justice] ... that it will go through. Even if we had gotten a deal done by now, it's still in the DOJ's hands, but we wish we would have had something more concrete and further along than we are right now. But things are very fluid, we're still working through it, it's happening daily. From a policy-board standpoint -- or from an enterprise standpoint -- things are moving and they're constructive. But yes, definitely moving."
Reports of the PIF seeking a separate investment into the DP World Tour emerged last month leaving some to wonder what such an agreement would mean for the deal between the PGA Tour and sovereign wealth fund.Â
Unlike the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour has not completely shut the door on LIV Golf players being eligible for its tournaments. Levying fines against players for participating in non-sanctioned events, the DP World Tour has allowed those who settled their debts to tee it up on its circuit. An agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf would likely mean the creation of some sort of pathway between leagues.
"I think something will get done," Woods said last week. "In what form or shape, I don't know yet."
In terms of what this means for LIV Golf and the ability for its players to participate in PGA Tour events, that remains to be seen. There are a number of complicating factors going in both directions that have yet to be determined by the parties.
