Things get complicated when the U.S. government gets involved.
It’s no surprise, then, that a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf hasn’t been finalized. The U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) has held three separate hearings on the PGA Tour’s pending deal with LIV Golf’s beneficiary, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Congress wants to know why the PGA Tour would sign a deal with its biggest competitor, which also happens to be a foreign government’s sovereign wealth fund. Congress also wants to know what PIF wants out of it. Do they want more influence in the United States? A bigger return on their investment? Or, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman hinted in a September 2023 interview with Fox News, do they want to whitewash their atrocities through sports? Hence, Congress’s subpoenas to both parties.
However, the complications do not end there. The problems have only just begun.
Thousands of families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks are frustrated, anxious and, frankly, disdainful of the PGA Tour for its deal with Saudi Arabia. The PGA Tour relied on the support of the 9/11 families until June 6, 2023, when the PGA Tour shockingly unveiled its framework agreement with the PIF. Then, on that Tuesday, the 9/11 families felt betrayed and betrayed — and they were saddened that the PGA Tour had ignored their cause.
The U.S. Department of Justice has also weighed in on the deal because it could violate antitrust regulations, with Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee even predicting the department will block the deal outright.
So yes, these are very complex negotiations, something Rory McIlroy reiterated on Wednesday ahead of this week’s BMW PGA Championship in the UK.
“I think one of the stumbling blocks is the Department of Justice,” McElroy said.
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“I think approaching this from a collaborative standpoint seems to be the best way forward. I think the people who actually make the decisions seem to be pulling in the same direction, in my opinion, which is a very good thing. Even if they’re all pulling in the same direction, it doesn’t mean that a deal can be made because it’s a very complex situation. But yes, from what I’ve heard, there is optimism there, which is pleasing.”
Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the stickiest detail between the two sides was players agreeing on who gets to keep their millions. PIF loaned hundreds of millions of dollars to top players to join their startup league. No one got more than Jon Rahn, who accepted a deal to jump to LIV in December 2023 for more than $400 million.
However, the report also pointed out that the two sides may not be able to reach an agreement and failure is still possible.
As such, McIlroy painted a potential vision if that goal were to come to fruition.
“If the PGA Tour doesn’t achieve that, I think the European Tour could revert to the level of the big two tours of the 1980s and 1990s,” McIlroy said.
“But it would divide the game and I don't like that. You know, I really want the game to be united again. This would be Plan B. This would be an alternative to the best solution. And, selfishly, as a European, it would be great to get that investment and use that money in the right way for this tour. But it would still divide the game and I don't really like that and I'd like to see everything and everybody united again.”
If the PIF reaches an investment agreement with the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour), it could ease some of the concerns that the U.S. government and the families of 9/11 victims have about the sport of golf. After all, the PGA Tour just received a $1.5 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of billionaire businessmen with large stakes in various professional sports teams.
However, the situation remains complicated, and the biggest obstacles to such an agreement are lawmakers and bureaucracy in Washington.
Jack Milko is SB Nation's Playing Through golf columnist. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @JackMilco Same here.
