Matt Adams Reacts: Spieth and Homa On LIV/SSG/PIF Drama

Matt Adams reacts to answers given in the press area at the 2024 PGA Championship by two big name players on the PGA Tour: Max Homa and Jordan Spieth.

kind of sick of talking about like the policy board and the future of golf and it just seems like every day there’s more of this stuff coming out but I think there’s nuggets and I think there’s value and I think there’s interest around it and the players keep feeding that beast that’s one and two the people who are talking at least in my opinion have tremendous value like their opinion has a lot of weight uh we can start with Jordan spe whose opinion has a ton of weight he’s on the board he’s one of the directors he’s in the meetings okay these are just I’m just going to read a couple he talked for a long time about this stuff in his press conference you can find all these pressers online I would recommend you watch them if you’re interested in this stuff it’s fascinating but this from Jordan spe I’ll read a couple different things quote it’s just balanced it’s not player driven he’s discussing the board the way of the board now having more players versus independent directors it’s not player driven so we got you guys have got to stop saying that that it’s player driven it’s not the case it’s balanced in a way that at least from what I’ve heard from investors tour management and Independence they feel it should be I think we’re in a place where that’s the case we’re being told that this is how it should be as well he continues quote I think things are unfortunately put in a really bad light right now and I think things are actually in a really really good place right now based on what I know which is quite a lot in this situation I want to read that last sentence one more time I think things are actually in a really really good place based on what I know which is actually quite a lot in this situation I think that’s interesting I think things are moving forward at a speed that both sides are probably frustrated at each other different times when they’re trying to get a hold of each other I mean there’s a lot of other things is going on as well but in general everyone on our side I believe are rowing the boat in the same direction together the same direction together and I believe we’re going to end up in a really good place end quote those were thoughts from Jordan spe Matt any reaction to those comments a couple reactions off the top of my head the the first one is is that in Jimmy Dunn’s resignation letter right this is a person that’s going out the door so this person presumably at that point is not trying to play any political cards it’s it’s is not utilizing any platitudes but just going peace out I’m gone and he did not give any indication that things are Rosy on the upside but at the same time in Balance to that he also said they’re not soliciting my opinion so maybe there’s things that that he doesn’t know In fairness to to Jordan’s comments and but he did say was well now because the players have there’s more players it was almost as if and I talked about this yesterday was was almost as if somehow that’s been presented as a problem and then Jordan’s coming out going whoa whoa whoa whoa It’s not players driven you guys got to stop saying that it’s balanced okay here’s my question what’s wrong with it being player driven what’s wrong with the question that I asked of Carney earlier where I said Carney we were always told that the PGA Tour belongs to the PGA tour players now we’re being told that a new commercial entity exists and that new commercial entity exists that has stripped all of the commercial Revenue out of the PGA Tour which includes presumably television rights are now in this new entity but the players who owned the PGA Tour so we were told are being granted ownership as they say for the first time ever we’re told this is historic first time ever what mean first time ever we’ve been told forever that you already owned it but first time ever they’re being given grants of ownership that will vest over some period and those grants are based upon a criteria of which we don’t know fully or who are determining such okay well when the Music Stops who doesn’t have a chair where do you stand it’s very confusing right now having said all that I’m an Optimist and I still believe that you know when it when the dust settles we’ll be told what all this means and maybe these questions will be answered because honestly I haven’t heard anybody else ask the question that I just asked how do you get granted ownership in something that I thought you already had ownership of but this is a new entity but the new entity had to take assets from the old one right so there are some big questions there I’m glad to hear that Jordon thinks that it’s moving in a direction that everyone’s moving in the in the same direction or the the correct way uh it’s odd given the things that we we’ve now heard from Jimmy on the outside with his way out from what we heard from Rory mroy talking about some old scars and and etc etc not being put put back on that board governance being used as the excuse for not putting him back on that it’s more complicated than what you think now that it’s governance but if that’s the case how to tiger get on that board because there was there was we don’t even know what his term is do we need to know is it our business maybe not so it’s the the comments are interesting the the one thing that I’m taking away from it personally is I’m glad to hear that Jordan is optimistic that they’re moving in the right direction what’s unclear is what exactly that direction is and who are the minds that currently are shaping it anything else Don yeah two more quick ones the first one Max Homa also spoke interesting comments semi-related to what you’re talking about this from maxom yeah it’s been tricky talking about the situation that we’re in I do feel like the internet probably makes it worse than it really is it’s a very small community and they’re incredibly loud so I think if you spend a lot of time on the internet it does feel like professional golf is crumbling it’s tough to decipher because when you’re on the grounds of events it’s amazing last week at qu Hollow was awesome felt no different at Bay Hill felt no different at the Players felt no different so it’s odd it doesn’t feel like it’s dying yet you hear a lot of very valid complaints on the internet so I think it’s been it’s been very troubling I don’t I don’t like where it’s going it’s got to be exhausting to be a casual golf fan at this point in time I don’t know why you would want to hear about the business side of this game end quote he went on to say Matt essentially that he doesn’t think that fans should even know who’s on the policy board why is that public and why does it matter thoughts I think I think Max is wrong I love Max I think he’s a cool guy but I think I think he’s misreading this thing I think he’s incorrect to to state that social media skews negative is something that we all know right it’s more than exuse negative it is negative that’s the nature of social media it’s a nature of you know kind of of a keyboard Warriors it is what it is however in this case we’re not talking about the dialogue being shaped by the opinions of people who may be negative towards it for one reason or another for or against we’re talking about the way every every step along the way everyone the comments that are made publicly are the most important thing to us are the fans the most important things to us are the fans so as fans how does a fan register their vote how does a fan show their reaction you can’t compare the body of fans against those that show up at an event it’s not a bad measure but it’s nowhere near in comparison right those that show up have a vested interest of being there you can look at people that show up as a sample survey and go well it shows me that there’s interest in what we’re doing and that we’re moving in a in a a good direction for example you can use it that way you can look that way with what Liv did in Australia for example and the crowds that they’re bringing in good sign really good sign by their by their measure was 93,000 people that’s good especially when you compare it to a PGA Tour event the signature event the week after the Masters had 115,000 people on site and you go GE that’s that’s a comparable number that’s pretty good that’s pretty good it’s moving in the right direction but it’s still a sample survey compared to the fans at large right people in the United States in some way shape or form that have touched the game of golf in a given year is a 100 million people now not all those people are are are golf PJ tour or Li fans or or DP World Tour fans or or corn tour or whatever I’m not saying that what I’m saying is is that the pool that you were choosing from that in some way are touched by the game of golf is almost one out of three Americans it’s 100 million people just over now it’s defined by a lot of different ways and I won’t waste your time by getting into all those definitions because they do vary but if you look at okay well what is our best measure for the masses in terms of impact and that’s ratings it goes back to what I was just telling you how do you as a fan vote you vote by Passion you vote by interest and those that have a v vested interest in what you like and dislike hope that you react to the advertising and the products and services that surround it so up until last week when as I said Rory maroy he is the only thing right now that has moved the needle to that extent even a major championship just a few short weeks ago was down considerably in ratings but not at shark Charlotte it was up 34% surrounding all of that it has been down and it’s been down throughout the course of the Season there’s plenty of reasons given to us as to why most notably the reasons why are that people are just tired of the drama and the politics and the fighting that’s going on outside the ropes but when their imagination is captured their ratings have gone up by 34% in the last week surrounded by all these other weeks in which the ratings were down and they were down considerably so I don’t think that it’s opinions of social media that are skewing the true picture I think the true picture is actual action that people take and right now when you’re talking about mass media Mass numbers Mass reaction the best way to judge it is where are you investing your passion where are you investing your time and by the vast majority of what we’re seeing there is a diminishment of that investment of time and passion and now you can get into what are the reasons why so I don’t think it’s people being influenced by negative voices on social media notwithstanding the fact that there are plenty of those admittedly I think it’s because the direction that people are taking this right now has been wrong for so long they’re trying to correct the path but it’s still always seems to be tainted with being reactionary we know what the people want I’m not talking about we like it’s some secret cabal I’m talking about all of us right now they want to see the best players play they want to see the best players compete they want to see it more often they don’t want to see just a division they don’t want to see just the fighting they don’t want to know about all the greed and all the all the rest that is surrounding each of the parties on on either side that’s what I think’s going on here