Representatives from the PGA Tour, including 15-time major champion Tiger Woods, and officials from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the financial backers of LIV Golf, are meeting this week in New York, according to ESPN. The goal of the multi-day meeting is to conclude long-held discussions between the parties with a funding agreement.
The PGA Tour and PIF have discussed an injection of more than $1 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit arm of the PGA Tour which was established last summer following the June 6 announcement of a framework agreement between the two parties. The originally stated goal of negotiations was to effectively bring both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf under the same banner in an effort to reunite professional golf.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who doubles as CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises, is spearheading a seven-person transaction subcommittee tasked with negotiations. Among the other members of the committee are John Henry (principal at Strategic Sports Group, PGA Tour Enterprises' main investor), Woods (PGA Tour Enterprises board member) and Rory McIlroy.
Aircrafts belonging to Woods, the PGA Tour and Aramco (Saudi Arabia's oil and natural gas company) were all tracked to the New York City area Tuesday morning.
🚨Tiger Woods's airplane #N517TW, Saudi Aramco's #N650XA, and PGA's Tour Air #N795HG all flew to the NYC area yesterday 9/9/24. Tiger's and Aramco's are both at Newark #KEWR and PGA's landed at Morristown #KMMU pic.twitter.com/rQyW7IBMaT
— radaratlas2 (@radaratlas2) September 10, 2024
Monahan provided vague answers when peppered with questions regarding the status of negotiations last month at his annual Tour Championship press conference. The commissioner instead utilized standard talking points, though he did state that progress was being made.
"We have the right people at the table with the right mindset," Monahan said. "I see that in all of these conversations, and that's both sides. That creates optimism about the future and our ability to come together. But at the same time, these conversations are complex. They're going to take time. They have taken time, and they will continue to take time.
"As I sit here today, I think the most important thing for us and our obligations to our fans, our players and our partners is to focus on what we control, which we're doing, as I outlined, and to continue to carry this momentum forward. But I'm not going to negotiate details in public or disclose details or specifics. All I can say is that conversations continue, and they're productive."
The PGA Tour and the PIF created a framework agreement on June 6, 2023, to combine commercial operations under a new for-profit entity later dubbed PGA Tour Enterprises. The parties created a deadline of Dec. 31, 2023, to finalize agreements, but that window has long since expired without a completed deal. The two sides have since continued to hold conversations behind closed doors.
