REVEALED: PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan wrote to Senators telling them that Congress left the traditional circuit ‘on our own’ – forcing him to agree to controversial LIV merger
- Jay Monahan said PGA Tour met with ‘several members of Congress’ recently
- He says the Tour isn’t merging with the PIF, rather they’ll control a new entity
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PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan attempted to calm the nerves of those in Congress who are investigating the traditional circuit’s deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund while saying this was partially their doing.
He blamed congressional inaction for the decision to join forces with LIV Golf but did not specifically say what help was required from lawmakers.
In a letter first obtained by Politico, Monahan explained that leaders of pro golf’s top circuit had reached out to and met with members of Congress last year – when the war between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour was at its peak.
Days after Monahan sent this letter, Senate Investigations subcommittee chair Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced a probe into the proposed deal.
‘During this intense battle, we met with several Members of Congress and policy experts to discuss the PIF’s attempt to take over the game of golf in the United States, and suggested ways that Congress could support us in these efforts,’ Monahan said in the letter.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan says that Congress did not help them when representatives from the Tour met with them last summer over issues with LIV Golf
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has opened an investigation into the LIV-PGA merger
‘While we are grateful for the written declarations of support we received from certain members, we were largely left on our own to fend off the attacks, ostensibly due to the United States’ complex geopolitical alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.’
‘This left the very real prospect of another decade of expensive and distracting litigation and the PGA TOUR’s long-term existence under threat.
‘The difficult negotiations we have undertaken with the Saudis and the agreement in principle we have reached will accomplish important goals that protect the game and the important work of the PGA TOUR in the United States.
‘Rather than a foreign funded entity taking over an American sport, the end result is that the PIF has agreed to work within the existing golf ecosystem as a minority investor with the PGA TOUR in full control.
‘The PGA TOUR is, and will remain, an American institution dedicated to its players and generating charity in the communities where we play.’
In addition to this, Monahan made sure to stress that, ‘despite numerous reports, this arrangement is not a merger between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the PIF’.
Monahan said that this new company will be a subsidiary of the PGA Tour and that the Tour ‘will at all times hold the majority of the board seats and be in control of this new company, regardless of the size of PIF’s investment’.
The letter also said that the PIF would be a minority investor in the entity, ‘while the PGA will be the majority equity investor’.
Monahan insists the Tour is not merging with the PIF, rather they are forming a separate entity and that the PGA Tour will be a majority owner and hold most of the seats on the board
This seems to differ slightly from the initial announcement – which said the PIF ‘will initially be the exclusive investor in the new entity’ alongside the three tours and that the PIF ‘will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal’.
Senator Blumenthal asked for relevant documents and information to be shared by June 26 in letters sent to Monahan and LIV commissioner Greg Norman.
He noted in both letters that the announcement last Tuesday marked ‘a sudden and and drastic reversal of position’ from the PGA Tour towards LIV Golf which raised ‘serious questions’.
The PGA Tour operates as a tax-exempt organization, while the PIF and LIV lured multiple PGA veterans with guaranteed contracts over $200million.
The gray areas in the merger appear to be significant from a legal and operational perspective. Monahan said the PGA will continue to ‘operate as its own entity,’ but Saudi Arabia’s PIF and governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan would hold a seat on the Tour board.
Blumenthal sent letters to Monahan (L) & Greg Norman (R) requesting documents by June 26
A key motive for the alliance is dissolving existing litigation between the rivals, which likely would end the discovery phase of any trial either side faced.
However, the US Department of Justice is in the midst of an investigation of the PGA Tour’s alleged monopolistic business practices and discovery could be possible in the US Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations review that was just launched to study the out-of-nowhere pact.
This agreement is a bi-partisan issue that seemingly both Democrats and Republicans agree could pose problems.
Last summer, Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) asked United States attorney general Merrick Garland to investigate whether the Saudi-backed league violated law by failing to register as a foreign agent of Saudi Arabia.
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PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan wrote to Senators telling them that Congress left the traditional circuit ‘on our own’ just days before probe into controversial LIV merger
