‘It will always be that way’: PGA Tour has no plans to renounce non-profit status

ATLANTA – PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday that the organization has no plans to renounce its non-profit status.

The Tour operates as a tax-exempt non-profit 501(c)6 organization, and that status has been the source of much speculation following the players-only meeting that was held last week ahead of the BMW Championship. Monahan confirmed Wednesday at the Tour Championship that the Tour would not seek to privatize the business, which would have allowed major private equity firms to invest millions of dollars into the Tour.

“The 501(c)6 status and the integrity of that and all it does for us, that’s always going to be a central fabric to who we are as an organization,” he said. “It will always be that way.”

Monahan said, however, that the Tour will look to create for-profit subsidiaries that can create additional value for the members. One of those avenues is the TGL, a primetime, tech-driven league concept that will debut in January 2024. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are the first players committed to compete in the inaugural season.

“But that status, if you think about our impact in the communities where we play, our history, our legacy,” he said, “that’s a point of differentiation for our sport, that’s a point of differentiation for the Tour, and that will continue to be that way.”