PGA Tour and LIV Golf Seek Merger Deal under Trump
Since the start of secret negotiations in April 2023 PGA Tour executives have been weighing up how they can blend the premier American circuit with the Saudis LIV Golf operation. But negotiators have struggled to design a deal that would satisfy regulators along with players, investors and executives.
Mr. The details of any potential agreement, including LIV’s fate, are still in flux. The two sides are considering more than a simple cash deal, but it is unclear exactly how the deal would be structured. The PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, has said they are looking at a “reunification,” but there are many complicating factors, including how to value both ventures.
There is also the matter of how to handle any deal alongside a separate $1.5 billion investment in the PGA Tour by a band of American sports magnates.
The people familiar with the deal talks spoke on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations are confidential. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Before Mr. Trump returned to power on Jan. 20, Mr. Biden’s Justice Department had been reviewing term sheets that called for the Saudis to invest $1.5 billion in a new commercial arm created by the PGA Tour. Regulators sat for months poring over reams of documents, but talks were at an effective standstill.
The chance now to explore potentially cozier terms is a remarkable turnabout and underscores how the legal and political realities of deal-making can quickly change under Mr. Trump, especially when he acts as mediator.
The Saudi-backed LIV league roared into the golf world in 2022 with huge contracts for established stars and a shorter, livelier tournament format that challenged the PGA Tour. It split the golf stars between two circuits and weakened the business prospects of both leagues. Mr. Trump spoke with Yasir al-Rumayyan in the Oval Office two weeks ago. Trump’s love of golf and his family’s ownership of more than a dozen properties around the globe suggest that his involvement could create conflicts of interest. His courses have hosted LIV events, and a tournament is planned for Trump National Doral near Miami in April. Mr. Trump has appeared at LIV events many times. Both Mr. Trump and al-Rumayyan are expected to attend this week a meeting of Saudi wealth fund investors and executives in Miami Beach. It is unclear if they will try to close a golf deal during the conference. The conference is about more than just sports. But Tiger Woods, the greatest player of his generation, sounded a broadly optimistic note over the weekend.
“We’re going to get this game going in the right direction,” Mr. Woods, a member of the PGA Tour’s board, told CBS on Sunday. Mr. Woods said, “It has been going in the wrong direction for many years. The fans want us to all play together. All the top players to play together. And we’re going make that happen.” Two people familiar with the talks said that the Justice Department’s review period for the original agreement expired in this month. Ordinarily, that would have meant the parties could just proceed with the agreement.
Instead, they have turned toward the possibility of better options.
Even the possibility that golf’s turmoil could end with an antitrust whimper, rather than a regulatory thunderclap, shows how much the environment has shifted over the last two years.
In 2023, LIV officials encouraged a federal inquiry into professional golf, arguing that the PGA Tour’s efforts to stem defections to other leagues threatened the labor market’s integrity. Investigators interviewed LIV players including Bryson deChambeau and Phil Mickelson to study the tight-knit structure of men’s pro golf. Monahan shocked observers when he said publicly that a deal would “take the competition off the board,” which antitrust experts viewed as a red flag. The Justice Department pressed the two parties to drop the no-poach provision they had included in their initial agreement. The LIV and tour players usually only meet at the four major events: the Masters, P.G.A. Monahan did not directly answer the question of whether the talks could lead to the end of LIV. )
Asked whether the talks could lead to the end of LIV, Mr. Monahan did not answer directly.
“What it means is the reunification of the game, which is what we have been and are focused on,” he said.
Mr. Monahan said that he “certainly could see a day when we add Trump venues to our calendar.”
