PGA Tour officials send to senators ‘framework’ agreement deal with PIF
The “framework” agreement that united professional golf following the most tumultuous divide the game had seen in decades was, as officials have explained, a broad stroke.
PGA Tour officials turned the agreement over to lawmakers late Monday as part of a review of the deal by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.). A copy of the five-page agreement obtained by GolfChannel.com outlines the “long-term strategic partnership” between the Tour, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and the DP World Tour.
According to the agreement, the for-profit assets of the Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF (LIV Golf) will be combined into what is tentatively being called NewCo. After an evaluation of those assets, the PIF, which owns 93 percent of LIV Golf, will make a minority investment into the new entity.
Per the agreement, the Tour’s for-profit assets will include “contracts/agreements and equity interests” but do not include player retirement plans, corporate reserves or any of the circuit’s tax-exempt assets.
The agreement also outlines control of NewCo. Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will be CEO of NewCo while PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will serve as chairman of the new entity’s board of directors.
“The PGA Tour will at all times maintain a controlling voting interest in NewCo and PIF will continue to hold a non-controlling voting interest, notwithstanding any incremental investment by PIF or exercise of its right of first refusal,” the agreement read.
After the evaluation of NewCo, “the parties will work in good faith to enter into the definitive agreements as expeditiously as possible.”
The agreement also calls for the creation of a communications committee, “to help facilitate a smooth business transition.” That committee will include Tour policy board members Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne, who by many accounts were the architects of the agreement.
The deal calls for “the parties [to] cooperate in good faith and use best efforts to secure [world ranking] recognition for LIV events and players under the [world ranking] criteria for considering LIV’s pending application [for world ranking points].” LIV Golf events requested admission to the world ranking last year but that application remains pending.
As previously announced, the agreement ended the ongoing litigation between the Tour, LIV Golf and PIF with prejudice, which means the lawsuits cannot be reinitiated, and also provided a unspecified path back to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour following the 2023 season for players who had violated those circuit’s policy by joining LIV Golf.
Blumenthal and Johnson, who are members of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, requested Monahan, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman and Al-Rumayyan attend a hearing July 11 in Washington, D.C., to review the agreement for possible antitrust concerns.