PGA and LIV agree to merge
- Thread starter MrHotDice
- Start date
And if they get to keep the tax exempt status, then Saudi Arabia is going to add billions more to their riches while never paying a dime of US taxes from all the money they make from the new business.
Well I’m not really for taxes and think the US govt is bloated enough so I don’t really give a shit about that tbh
If I was china and you owed me 30 trillion dollars I’d tell everyone not to pay a penny till they get theirs.
That being said, eff you china, come and get your money.
That being said, eff you china, come and get your money.
I thought it was going to be exactly like the NFL-AFL and the NBA—ABA mergers after the initial rivalries.
It’s all about the money and combining stars.
Koepka winning the Masters pushed it along
It’s all about the money and combining stars.
Koepka winning the Masters pushed it along
Part of the agreement is the PGA controls holes 1 - 8 and 12 - 18.
The Saudis do 9-11
The Saudis do 9-11
So many dudes literally missed out on 100 million, not that they’re struggling but shit man, give us a heads up and let’s all take Saudi money before they know what happened.
Jack Nicklaus on board with historic PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger: 'Good for the game of golf'
Golf legend Jack Nicklaus appears to be on board with the historic merger between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour, which came unexpectedly on Tuesday.
Impressed how quiet they kept it. PGA was either scared of Saudi money or just wanted Saudi money.
PGA Tour-LIV merger: 10 most shocking revelations we learned so far
While it's hard to top the shock-value of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger itself, here are 10 other astonishing revelations from the deal.
golf.com
Hideki passed up a reported 300 Million, lol. 75M for Ricky, etc. They said Tiger was somewhere around 800M and I'm sure Rory was over 500M. Those guys have to be pissed at the PGA for taking a dump on their loyalty. They should have known that you can't trust ANYBODY.
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I’m sorry but they’re complete dipshits to pass up that money to continue playing golf. I mean that’s completely insane. Tiger I actually get and understand but the rest are dumbasses. Who the hell would turn down NINE FIGURES as a golfer to just simply continue playing. Just madness.
LIV's Greg Norman 'NOT expected to have a role in the PGA Tour merger'
It appears 'The Shark' has lost his teeth as reports emerge that Greg Norman, the CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf, will not have a role going forward in the merged PGA-LIV league.
www.dailymail.co.uk
Totally agree. Tiger already has a billion so who cares, he didn’t. These other dudes got completely sniped by the PGA. Imagine having an extra 75-100 million in the back without having to win a tournament.
Norman being out is amazing.
They passed on the money because everyone's perception was LIV would fail and those that left would be ostracized forever. They were playing the smart long gang.
I don't think any of them thought this would happen. The PGA/Saudis certainly have considered how pissed Tiger and Rory/ other big stars will be. If these teams are gonna be that valuable maybe the big names will all get their own team far surpassing anything offered before.
They passed on the money because everyone's perception was LIV would fail and those that left would be ostracized forever. They were playing the smart long gang.
I don't think any of them thought this would happen. The PGA/Saudis certainly have considered how pissed Tiger and Rory/ other big stars will be. If these teams are gonna be that valuable maybe the big names will all get their own team far surpassing anything offered before.
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I get being pissed at the CEO but be pissed at the board too. Without their vote this merger could not happen.
It gets better. Most of them have antitrust exemption too.
In first lines of the letter, it mentions PGA tour is tax exempt. I never knew this about pro sports. After a quick google, looks like many pro sports like nfl are tax exempt. So they have avoided paying billions in taxes over the years. Are these pro sports leagues included when people say the “rich, tax cheating corporations that make too much money need to start paying their fair share “? I figure this thread already went to politics so I added to the political conversation.
2013 article:
OTL: PGA Tour giving fueled by tax breaks
The PGA Tour's nonprofit business model has allowed it to avoid paying up to $200 million in taxes over 20 years, and its tournaments -- designed to benefit local charities -- operate short of acceptable charitable practices.www.espn.com
It gets better. Most of them have antitrust exemption too.
Don't think this went to a vote because it's not really a merger and it's more of a new league being formed with the Saudis.
Yeah, sounds like only 2 board member's were involved.
Hopefully, we start hearing from the golfers today.
Yes but the board presumably has to vote on the leasing or transfer of the valuable media deals and other licensing. Without that thrown in, the deal doesn't happen.
All that said, the pga couldn't afford a no deal. They were up against too much money. Way too much. It's pretty amazing anyone said no to those offers. Hopefully there was consideration for them in the deal.
It looks like this is just an agreement to the framework and the details will have to be voted on by the board later.
Going to be interesting to hear what Rory has to say when he is interviewed today at the Canadian Open.
That's definitely what it says but you don't make this announcement without the votes. Anyone can change their mind and I suspect some will point out this is essentially just a delayed takeover since the deal precludes any other investment in pga golf that isn't from the liv group.
So all they have to do is wait it out and slowly gobble up more in return for cash infusions. Eventually they'll own it all
Watched the Golf Channel a lot last night, and read a lot this morning. My initial take is that the PGA did something I always advised my clients never to do if you can avoid it: NEVER engage in litigation with someone who has a lot more money than you do.
Of course, sometimes you have no choice, but in this instance, the PGA just could not afford to fight the Saudis in court for years on end. Rich Lerner said he spoke to a LIV insider (who did not know about the merger in advance) that told him his impression was that LIV was in trouble, and might not even be around in 2024, but he also said that the PGA was not in strong financial position to begin with due to Covid, needing to increase purses substantially, and way over spending on a palatial new office in Ponte Vedra.
Of course, sometimes you have no choice, but in this instance, the PGA just could not afford to fight the Saudis in court for years on end. Rich Lerner said he spoke to a LIV insider (who did not know about the merger in advance) that told him his impression was that LIV was in trouble, and might not even be around in 2024, but he also said that the PGA was not in strong financial position to begin with due to Covid, needing to increase purses substantially, and way over spending on a palatial new office in Ponte Vedra.
They were in a quandary. While the liv existing and poaching high level people is great proof in the pga favor, the revocation of cards and rights were a blow against.
All they had to do was probably cancel the forfeiture of the memberships but then the gates would open for players to leave.
They were always going to lose one way or another because you just can't fight Saudi money. This is a little more controlled losing because they will lose in stages rather than just collapse which conveniently keeps the power players involved wit seats on the board....for now
Lots of questions still to be resolved in this but one thing for sure is that Monahan made sure to take care of himself.
For Monahan to seemingly unilaterally make this move, alienating himself from all the PGA Tour players he’s depended on, crushing any trust he ever earned, making himself one of the great villains in the sports world, something had to change. A source within the professional golf industry believed Monahan and the tour didn’t want to open up their financial records or didn’t want to continue going through the multiple lawsuits that suddenly ceased because of this merger. Maybe the PGA Tour was in much more trouble than anyone was led to believe. But for it to merge like this, to essentially give the power and influence to PIF and vindicate all those who left for LIV, Monahan must have lost leverage somehow and somewhere along the way.
theathletic.com
Miller: Money won the PGA Tour, LIV Golf battle. Morality was just always good PR
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will fuel the new venture with billions.
theathletic.com
More power to ya, I’m super impressed you walk everywhere and don’t drive your vehicle or fly anywhere as well, super impressive. Or maybe you just like paying them but don’t want them to pay you, which is great as well!
My WAG on this is he's been miserable ever since the litigation started and he worked out a deal to be bought out and fall on the sword.
Most of Elon's financial backing to buy Twitter came from the Saudis.
I imagine when they Rory, Tiger and some of those guys who were loyal to the PGA found out about it on Twitter they felt like they had received a Stone Cold Stunner.
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