If his taciturn tone at The Players was any indication, Jay Monahan’s bargaining stance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is inching toward one summarized by his fellow Bostonian, John F. Kennedy: “We cannot negotiate with those who say, ‘What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.” That sentiment is becoming more popular in the PGA Tour’s boardroom as folks who know they own the winning product — far from flawless, but indisputably stronger — question why they’re entertaining ransom demands from a man who has torched $5 billion on a flaccid venture that can boast not a single metric pointing upward.
A month has passed since the White House meeting that was expected to deliver a deal, but which instead produced a barely civil face-off. The Tour presented a proposal valuing LIV at $500 million, a comically generous grant for an entity that spends cash faster than a returning submarine crew in a brothel (though at least the sailors get something in return). PIF’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, was insulted by that assessment and the summit resulted in a setback rather than a settlement.
There are several possible reasons for Al-Rumayyan’s obstinacy. Perhaps he felt ambushed in Washington. Maybe he’s facing pressure at home and is desperate to show a win. Or pride got the better of him. Or he believes the fee-taking leeches who assure him that he’s created a revolutionary product with a lucrative future. Or he knows that entering LIV into any kind of investment partnership will crystalize his multi-billion dollar folly.
The other day, I asked an insider about Al-Rumayyan’s stiff-arming proposal after proposal from the Tour (PIF hasn’t submitted a single overture of its own during the negotiation process). “Will there ever be a day of reckoning?” came the reply. “Really, I can’t think of anyone who’s been lied to more than him. That the idea was good. That the product is good. That it’s going really well. He needs someone he trusts to tell him the truth, that it’s just not working.”
Whatever governs the governor’s attitude, sentiment has hardened across the table. Rising broadcast ratings and a run of sponsors re-upping have restored a little swagger to the formerly defensive PGA Tour. Fear of Al-Rumayyan’s checkbook is lessened too. LIV hasn’t signed any major talent since Jon Rahm 16 months ago, and the only three players who could impact things — Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler — are not only staying put, but have made public comments that were at best lukewarm about the prospect of a deal. A year ago the foremost question for the Tour was how to stem the erosion of its product, now that question is what can actually be gained from a PIF deal at all?
The answer, of course, is money and power, which is what executives really mean when they talk about the “reunification” of golf, even as they frame it as something fans demand. Both tours — PGA and DP World — want Saudi investment dollars and they don’t want the major championships to hold all the influence, which has been the by-product of the best players only competing against each other four times a year. Comrades Monahan and Kinnings can’t be thrilled to see assets developed on their circuits largely being used to benefit four other organizations.
The crux of reunification though is less about financials than how much the PGA Tour can or should bastardize its core product in pursuit of that goal. Should it clear the schedule for Al-Rumayyan’s team golf fetish and hope an audience materializes? That’s akin to a blind man searching a dark room for a black cat that doesn’t exist. How about eliminating established tournaments to accommodate an international series that will struggle to gain (a) domestic U.S. viewership; (b) unsubsidized commercial support in the host nation; and (c) participation from several star golfers who’ve said they’re not keen to travel?
Why should the PGA Tour do that as part of an agreement?
The value of LIV’s player-hostages diminishes every week they spend on their couches, or competing before galleries that could fit on their couches. A deal has appeal if you think Al-Rumayyan has untrammeled support in the court of the Crown Prince to keep doubling down, including renewing the enormous contracts nearing expiration. But if you believe his runway isn’t limitless, or just that LIV is doomed regardless, then it’s not as enticing to compromise your tour to build Al-Rumayyan a gold-plated off-ramp that he doesn’t deserve. The most obvious path to reunification in men’s professional golf — one that doesn’t involve undermining the PGA Tour’s product or business — is to wait. Eventually, the handful of relevant LIV players will come cap in hand when their contracts expire, offers shrink and competitive avenues narrow.
The PGA Tour needs to be less insular, to move toward a global presence in concert with the DP World Tour. That would be for the betterment of the game, even if elite players have to be cajoled along. That doesn’t require a piece of parchment signed by PIF. It doesn’t need the Saudis at all. Nor must it be a plan in perpetuity, merely enough to bridge this moment without sabotaging what works in order to accommodate what has clearly failed.
A deal with PIF may be pleasing to the Tour’s investors, but it isn’t essential. Another Bostonian, Ben Franklin, wrote that “necessity never made a good bargain.” Monahan must know by now that his Tour is not in a situation of necessity.
Read the full article here
