Player reactions to SSG deal range from celebratory to skeptical

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Reactions from players to the PGA Tour’s announcement on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement to make Strategic Sports Group an investor into the circuit’s new for-profit arm were predictably mixed.

For those who have been involved in the negotiations with SSG, which is led by Fenway Sports, the news of a $1.5 billion investment was historic and a reason to celebrate.

“Obviously having some big guns behind us, some backup and the strategy that this group offers was actually something that was very important when we were looking at it,” said Jordan Spieth, a player director on the Tour policy board, which unanimously approved the deal with SSG Tuesday evening. “To have 200 years of sports owning experience, the idea they can help navigate in our future how content will be consumed when our next media deals are up, stuff like that, to have these partners in perpetuity, I don’t think that can be overlooked.”

The long-anticipated announcement came with more questions than answers, with particular interest in how the Tour plans to dole equity shares of the new, for-profit entity, called PGA Tour Enterprises, to members.

“The Tour is a meritocracy, no one is subjectively looking at you and deciding how high you can go and how good you can be, there’s a number you get to and that determines your outlook for the next year, that’s my favorite thing about how the Tour is structured,” Maverick McNealy said. “We’re all competitive guys and I always say that if things are allocated guys will be upset, but if it’s something you play for and it’s performance-based no one can be upset. It’s an eat-what-you-kill business and we all signed up for that.”

There were also those who were concerned with the lack of details as well as lingering distrust towards the Tour’s leadership following last June’s framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which was negotiated in private.

“All we want to know is, how it works? What [does] it means for each of us? I could care less about how some players think it’s great. I want to know how it’s going to benefit me, because I don’t see it,” said one player who requested anonymity.

Most players, however, were willing to take a wait-and-see approach to the deal with SSG as well as a potential deal with the PIF and the likelihood of intensified scrutiny from federal regulators.

“At this point, if the PIF were interested in coming in on terms that our members like and/or the economic terms are at or not beyond SSGs and they feel it would be a good idea, I think that’s where the discussions will start,” explained Spieth, who stepped in to fill Rory McIlroy’s seat on the policy board following the Northern Irishman’s resignation last fall. “I understand it could take some time to even come to those kind of terms [with the PIF] and then beyond that the Department of Justice and a regulatory review would be intact.”