PGA Tour, Strategic Sports Group Finalize 3 Billion Dollar Deal I CBS Sports

Kyle Porter joins CBS Sports HQ to discuss the PGA Tour and Strategic Sports Group finalizing a deal.

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And some big news in Gulf the PGA Tour announced an agreement with a strategic Sports Group that will invest up to three billion dollars into the tour’s new for-profit entity so that will be PJ tour Enterprises which will run the tour’s commercial efforts and remain under tour control now very important

Here this is not to be confused with the negotiations with the Saudi public investment fund that financially backs live golf those discussions continue after the sides extended the deadline from December 31st now getting a look at a statement from the commish of the PGA Tour Jay Monahan saying today marks an important

Moment for the PGA Tour and fans of golf across the world by making PGA Tour member owners of their league we strengthen the collective investment of our players in the success of the PGA Tour and more statements here this is from the PJ Tour player directors which includes tiger Jordan Speed Patrick Klay

Saying in part we were proud to vote and unanimous support of this historic partnership between the PGA Tour Enterprises and SSG it was incredibly important for us to create opportunities for the players of today and in the future to be more invested in their organization both financially and

Strategically let’s welcome in our golf analyst Kyle Porter to break it all down Kyle a lot to take in there but just tell us exactly what this deal is how we got here well we don’t have time for how we got here Jac that would that would be

Like a two-hour show but this has been something that I I think most people have um have thought was coming for a few weeks maybe even a few months now you know it’s been referenced over the last um you know kind of since the end

Of of of last year in December and then on into January and and what happened as of today is that the Strate strategic Sports Group could have chosen a different name that’s a difficult one to say like you said it’s a group of billionaire owners that have had a lot

Of success and a lot of different um Industries baseball and basketball and international soccer and and a lot of different uh places they’ve invested $3 billion into the PGA Tour uh like you said the commercial Enterprise and that’s a that’s going to be a 12 billion

Uh valuation so uh that’s a $3 billion doll that they’ve only given or invested I should say half of it so far so the PG received a billion and a half dollars as an investment from this strategic Sports Group and uh you know this is something that is kind of unprecedented at least

For the PGA Tour which has historically been a nonprofit organization and um you know as as was outlined in that press release the players are going to receive some of that it’s to me the way that I the way that I understand it the way

That I read it is that it’s not that different from you know working at a corporation and receiving stock in that Corporation right whether you’re at a massive company or a smaller company you can receive stock from that company and and that’s what players will receive essentially is equity in the business of

The PGA Tour which really ties them to future success uh of the tour that uh that they that they currently play on and Kyle we mentioned it Off The Top This is not to be confused with the of course tour negotiations with the Saudi public investment fund but what does

This mean for the pif well it that’s the big question right because that’s the question that uh is going to determine what happens with the PGA Tour and and that’s what everybody wants to know you know a lot of the reaction today Jacqueline is listen like get back to me

When these entities merge together right I don’t care about all the money I don’t care about all the business when am I going to see John RAM and Rory mooy playing together again and I think you’re right it’s not to be confused but it might at some point be connected

Because um you know the theory is that if the SSG is is investing $3 billion at a 12 billion valuation that the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia could potentially invest four billion do so you’d have three uh four and then that would leave five billion dollar left uh

For sort of the the equity that the PGA Tour itself uh would hold so I think that’s going to be fascinating you know the the the the language right now the the talk right now is that there’s a lot of legal hangup in the fact that you’ve got probably the two biggest golf

Entities in the world merging back together which creates all sorts of antitrust issues and just a lot of stuff that again sports fans don’t really care about but are pertinent and Paramount to those two leagues live and the PGA Tour eventually merging together now Kyle I want to kind

Of circle back to what it means for the players because you mentioned this is unprecedented for the PGA Tour and it looks like some of the players or the players will get equity in the business but kind of uh take us through again what this means for the players that are

On the PGA tour yeah so the the way that understand it is that the PGA Tour has set aside close to a billion dollars several hundreds of millions of dollars uh for players to earn Equity over time and and the details of that have not

Come out but uh it’s going to be a uh sort of performance base right where where the PJ tour is a meritocracy or that’s how it’s purported over time is that it’s a straight meritocracy and that is seemingly the way this Equity will be distributed over time as well

And so uh the details of that are going to be very interesting because you know I think my question Jacqueline is okay I can sort of understand what that means for a Rory Mary a Scotty Sheffer a Jordan Speed that Justin Thomas what does that mean for the 10-year-old or

The seven-year-old that is going to be on the PGA tour 15 years from now or 20 years from now I I don’t know what that’s going to look like whether the more Equity is created I don’t know how all that’s going to work in the future

Um but in a lot of ways this is to I think kind of make whole the guys that did not go to live and stayed and continue to play on and and provide value for the PGA now Kyle you mentioned you know the average golf viewer is saying hey when

Am I going to see John ROM and Rory battling it out on the weekend and and maybe down the line it could go to a live PGA Tour merge type of situation Roy maroy had some words on Liv and of course whenever he talks about Liv golf

We are all ears this is what he had to say life is about choices guys made choices to go and play Live guys made choices to stay here and you know you if people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try

To do something let them come back I mean I don’t I don’t think I think it’s hard to punish people um I don’t think there should be a punishment for I’m obviously I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished pator and

Having a diminished lived her or anything else is is bad for both parties be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game um and that’s that’s my that’s my opinion of it so you know the to me the faster that we can

All get back together and start to play and you know start to have you know the strongest feels possible I think is great for gol wor making those comments yesterday ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach program um certainly as he said Kyle a little bit of a different tune than he’s

Had previously when it comes to live golf what were your thoughts when you heard Rory say that yeah it’s it’s definitely a flip-flop and when you when you talk about all this as much as Rory there’s going to be some stuff that uh you’re eventually going to have to go

Back on or say hey based on the information that I had at the time I I said this and I was wrong about that and I thought he owned it pretty well I think what’s interesting about this Jackin I mean he’s right you know in a

Lot of ways it’s not two tours but it’s really three tours that have kind of been um divested and and and fractured and spread out it’s the EUR it’s the DP World Tour it’s live and and it’s the PGA Tour and if you were to somehow to combine all those Jacqueline that would

Be a really strong product I think so I think he’s right for the good at the game and I think what’s really interesting about what Rory said is he’s got the most to gain from guys being punished that are coming back from live right because he’s probably the biggest

Name the biggest player the biggest star that did not go so guys like him speed JT Sheffer havland Mor how players like that they’ve got a lot to gain from guys like Dustin Johnson Bryson Des Shambo Brooks Kea John ROM being punished if there is an eventual merger and so I

Think for him to say that is is actually a little bit of an admirable thing because again he’s incentivized to say the opposite hey punish those guys I don’t I don’t want them to come back I don’t you you know whatever and I think it’s pretty admirable because I think

He’s putting the the sport the game the the entire entity above maybe his personal preferences KY Porter joining us here on HQ we certainly appreciate breaking down that big news and golf with the PGA Tour finalizing a deal with the Strategic Sports Group thanks so

Much KP and of course you can hear Kyle Porter on the first cut podcast alongside Rick Aon Patrick McDonald and mark imman the crew always breaking down the latest in the world of golf you can scan that QR code to listen right now or wherever find your pods