PGA Tour announces $3 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group | Golf Central | Golf Channel [Video]

0:00 | and hello again and welcome I’m rich

0:02 | learner at 10:30 a.m. eastern time the

0:05 | PGA Tour announced a partnership with

0:07 | the Strategic Sports Group otherwise

0:09 | known as SSG to form PGA Tour

0:12 | Enterprises a new commercial Venture

0:14 | under the PGA Tours control the deal

0:17 | voted on unanimously last night by the

0:19 | PG tour policy board here now the terms

0:22 | of the deal a new for profit Venture

0:25 | launched by PG tour and strategic Sports

0:28 | Group SSG investment in PGH Enterprises

0:32 | is worth up to $3 billion PGH membership

0:36 | will gain access to $1.5 billion dollar

0:39 | in equity in PGH

0:42 | Enterprises player grants which vest

0:44 | over time will be based on Career

0:46 | achievements think tiger and future

0:49 | participation the deal does leave room

0:51 | for a future co-investment from the

0:53 | public investment fund of Saudi Arabia

0:56 | notable members now of the Strategic

0:58 | Sports Group you’ll Rec recognize some

1:00 | of these names Arthur Blank the owner of

1:02 | the Atlanta Falcons and the soccer team

1:04 | in Atlanta Steve Cohen the owner of the

1:06 | New York Mets John Henry who’s the

1:09 | principal owner of the Fenway Sports

1:11 | Group Mark atanasio owner of the

1:13 | Milwaukee Brewers M grpe the owner of

1:16 | the Boston Celtics Fenway Sports Group

1:18 | Holdings include Boston Red Sox

1:22 | Liverpool FC of the Premier League they

1:25 | are well represented across the World of

1:28 | Sports and the NHL’s Pitts B

1:31 | Penguins according to the PGA Tour press

1:34 | release today the transaction allows for

1:36 | a co-investment from the public

1:39 | investment fund from piff in the future

1:41 | that will be subject to all necessary

1:44 | regulatory approvals in addition today

1:46 | the PGA Tour confirmed progress in its

1:49 | ongoing negotiations with piff on a

1:51 | potential future investment and both

1:53 | parties are working towards an ultimate

1:55 | agreement in a conversation today with

1:57 | Golf Channel PGA Tour stressed a deal

2:00 | with the piff is important in hopes of

2:03 | reunifying the game for more on today’s

2:06 | news we welcome Todd Lewis Todd what

2:08 | more can you tell

2:10 | us well hi that rich the PJ tour has

2:13 | been negotiating with SSG for the last

2:16 | couple of months exclusively they had an

2:18 | internal deadline to get this deal done

2:20 | on January 25th which was last week but

2:23 | there were still some details that

2:24 | needed to be ironed out members of SSG

2:27 | actually flew to ponderer Beach Florida

2:29 | where the Head Quarters of the PGA Tours

2:31 | located to continue negotiations and

2:33 | working out this deal they hoped to vote

2:35 | on this this past Monday but there were

2:37 | still some things to need to be ironed

2:39 | out and Tuesday afternoon the PGA Tour

2:42 | policy board unanimously approved the

2:45 | deal with SSG now web Simpson is on that

2:48 | PGA Tour policy board he is one of five

2:50 | player directors on that board that are

2:52 | competing here at the AT&T Pebble Beach

2:54 | program I had a chance to catch up with

2:56 | him after the news was released today

2:58 | and I asked him what this deal does for

3:00 | the Health and Longevity of the PGA

3:04 | Tour well I think it’s first and

3:06 | foremost I’m a player it’s exciting for

3:08 | us players um you know we with the help

3:12 | of a lot of people have created an

3:13 | opportunity where some

3:16 | 200 uh PJ tour players will be Equity

3:19 | shareholders of their sport Equity

3:20 | owners and um first professional sport

3:23 | to get there so I think that that’s very

3:25 | exciting today that’s a huge headline um

3:28 | and honestly as a player on the board I

3:30 | have wanted to I I’ve wanted for a long

3:34 | time to give the players something to be

3:35 | excited about in the midst of a two-year

3:38 | up and down tumultuous time in the game

3:41 | of golf and the uncertainties of the

3:43 | future today is a day where PJ tour

3:46 | players can be excited um about a lot of

3:49 | things and that’s that’s one of them to

3:51 | be able to say you know we own part of

3:53 | our sport is really cool yeah it’s

3:55 | interesting this has been a challenging

3:57 | time not only for the PJ tour but in in

3:59 | the game of golf it’s been on a fault

4:01 | line it seems like do you feel like this

4:02 | adds stability I do um we’ve brought in

4:05 | an incredible partner in SSG who

4:08 | has years and years of experience in

4:10 | franchise ownership um you know

4:14 | Sports all across the the Spectrum um

4:18 | and they are are going to be an

4:20 | incredible partner to us they want to

4:22 | grow the game they want to grow the PJ

4:23 | tour they love the game and golf um they

4:26 | want to see it profitable and and

4:27 | they’re going to do everything they can

4:29 | and you know they’re probably getting

4:30 | started today getting going on on all

4:33 | they can do to help us and uh we’re

4:35 | really excited about the partners at SSG

4:37 | you mentioned what they’re trying to do

4:38 | how would you describe the energy and

4:39 | excitement from SSG it’s incredible um

4:43 | they have shown enthusiasm and

4:45 | excitement from day one the first time

4:47 | we met with them uh I think it was uh a

4:50 | few months ago I can’t remember the date

4:52 | um but they were you know very upfront

4:55 | and telling us that they’re not wanting

4:58 | to be involved just cuz they love the

4:59 | game game of golf but they see an

5:01 | opportunity to grow the PJ tour to make

5:03 | it more profitable um and they bring

5:06 | their expertise uh all across the board

5:09 | to us and they’re offering their

5:11 | services to us um and they’re successful

5:14 | so they’re going to they’re going to see

5:16 | that the PJ tour gets to a better place

5:18 | and continues to get to a better place

5:20 | do you get a sense of this $3 billion in

5:23 | total what they’re investing with the

5:25 | PGA tour in what they see because this

5:28 | is a business decision as you said this

5:29 | is not charitable case for them on how

5:31 | they want to get a return on that

5:32 | investment from from uh by putting all

5:34 | this money into the tour yes and those

5:36 | details are still getting worked out the

5:38 | the the plans of how we can grow the

5:40 | tour are still ongoing but um they are

5:44 | are very confident that that’s what’s

5:45 | going to happen that that will be the

5:47 | result um and look the PJ tour has

5:49 | always been the greatest place to play

5:50 | on the planet uh it still is and we want

5:53 | to show the world the golf fans the

5:56 | players the future players um that the

5:59 | PJ tour long term is by far the the

6:02 | greatest Tour on the planet finally this

6:05 | is a deal that you’ve worked with SSG

6:07 | but there’s still the framework

6:08 | agreement going on with piff and the in

6:11 | the Saudis just to make sure that the

6:14 | fans are clear on this that that is

6:16 | still something that the PGA Tour and

6:17 | now SSG and the DP World Tour are

6:19 | optimistic that they still want to do

6:21 | and continue to work with the Saudis and

6:23 | get a deal done right yes I think uh

6:26 | like you said those those deals are

6:28 | ongoing uh we’re we’re we see a future

6:31 | where they could be a partner as well um

6:35 | but I think today we just wanted to you

6:38 | know be excited about our new partner

6:40 | SSG um and you know the ongoing growth

6:43 | of the PJ tour and that’s where we are

6:45 | uh but the future as you asked we’re not

6:47 | sure yet um but we’re optimistic that

6:49 | there could be a place uh for everyone

6:51 | to be uh happy with this deal bringing

6:54 | SSG in does

6:55 | that give a give it better opportunity

6:58 | that the Saudi deal could could happen

7:00 | now I think that’s fair to say um you

7:03 | know we we were so focused on getting to

7:07 | last night that um you know that hasn’t

7:10 | been the ultimate priority right now the

7:13 | ultimate priority was making sure the

7:16 | board the players the Tour all involved

7:19 | felt great at about SSG and we all did

7:22 | it was unanimous um so that was kind of

7:24 | our Focus up until now but uh now we’ll

7:27 | we’ll we’ll grow we’ll continue to look

7:29 | at options and we’ll

7:31 | see and I’m joined Now by Rex hoger golf

7:34 | channel.com senior riter we’ve been

7:35 | following this story these negotiations

7:37 | with SSG and the PGA Tour and you heard

7:40 | web say that they are still working out

7:42 | the details in regards to this deal and

7:45 | a lot of questions in regards to players

7:46 | out here is the player Equity program

7:48 | that component of this deal what have

7:50 | you learned this is such a big part of

7:52 | this deal and the deal going forward if

7:54 | piff is involved if they’re not involved

7:55 | because what essentially What’s

7:57 | Happening Here is historic it’s never

7:58 | happened in another sport where the

8:00 | players actually earned equity in the

8:02 | product itself and so there’s a lot of

8:04 | steps in this process I spoke with

8:05 | another player director this morning

8:07 | they pointed out that the SEC and the

8:08 | federal government will have a say in

8:10 | exactly what this looks like but to give

8:12 | you an idea of what they’re thinking as

8:13 | far as the equity shares go it’s going

8:15 | to be very very similar to what the PGA

8:17 | Tour does with their retirement program

8:19 | essentially it’s going to be a point

8:20 | system and to give you an idea you’ll

8:22 | get a point for a PGA Tour Victory

8:23 | you’ll get a point for qualifying for

8:25 | the Tour Championship and on down the

8:27 | line and the way it looks right now now

8:29 | is about 36 players qualified for a

8:32 | certain threshold they would receive the

8:34 | Lion Share of that roughly $750 million

8:37 | an equity share after that list there’s

8:39 | another roughly 72 players who earned x

8:42 | amount of points that would also be

8:43 | involved in the program and I was told

8:45 | by this one player director that they’re

8:46 | also looking at ways to reward past

8:49 | Legends like Jack Nicholas and Tiger

8:51 | Woods and they’re also looking to reward

8:53 | players who were just coming on to the

8:54 | PGA Tour one of the names that came up

8:57 | was uh luk lud oar as far as making sure

9:00 | that they understand that they too will

9:02 | have equity in the tour yeah like Nick

9:04 | Dunlap he was making his PJ tour debut

9:06 | here this week but that’s interesting

9:07 | that they are rewarding those who have

9:09 | built the PGA T like Jack Nicholas as

9:12 | well um and then there is the

9:13 | announcement to the players uh they’ve

9:15 | heard rumors about this deal U becoming

9:18 | a reality for a couple of weeks now um

9:20 | but they found out this morning too give

9:22 | us the details on how that went down

9:23 | there was the level of expectations that

9:25 | this should have happened already I

9:26 | actually asked Roy maroy about what his

9:29 | expectations were and he told me

9:30 | yesterday that it could have been done

9:31 | weeks ago and that these have been

9:33 | ongoing you pointed out it’s been

9:34 | exclusive with SSG for over 2 months

9:37 | right now and to give you an idea last

9:39 | night’s policy board meeting where I’m

9:41 | I’m sorry where policy board meeting

9:42 | where it was approved was about 90

9:44 | minutes that was nothing compared to

9:46 | Monday’s meeting which went over four

9:47 | hours and that’s when they kind of

9:48 | hashed out all of these details and

9:51 | there was another element that came up

9:52 | that I think needs to be pointed out

9:54 | that it was SSG who actually recommended

9:56 | how the board will be made up for this

9:58 | new PGA Tour Enterprise it’ll be 13

10:01 | members seven of those will be PGA Tour

10:03 | players they will have the majority of

10:05 | the say yeah and the PGA Tour membership

10:08 | was uh the news was given to them via a

10:10 | call this morning that included members

10:12 | of SSG included J Monahan the

10:14 | commissioner of the PGA Tour included

10:16 | Tiger Woods and others who were involved

10:18 | and it was a celebration and I talked to

10:19 | several players out here and they said

10:21 | they’re still trying to digest all this

10:23 | information like all of us but they they

10:24 | see this as a positive for sure and of

10:27 | course there is these Saud the framework

10:29 | agreement with piff what what do you

10:31 | think this does in regards to making

10:34 | that happen it probably makes it a

10:35 | little bit easier from what I’ve been

10:37 | told and the reason behind that it’s

10:38 | pretty clear we know now that it’s going

10:40 | to be a $1.5 billion uh investment

10:43 | that’s the initial investment by SSG

10:45 | that’s about 11% valuation stake in

10:47 | whatever PGA toy Enterprises is going to

10:49 | be so that gives them a starting point

10:51 | that they can now go to piff and say

10:53 | this is the way we want to go as far as

10:55 | your minority investment goes yeah so a

10:57 | few questions for the players and the

10:59 | membership they will get into all the

11:00 | literature and and everything that was

11:02 | announced today uh after practice that

11:04 | you see behind us but all in all a very

11:07 | positive day for the PGA Tour and its

11:09 | members

11:13 | guys

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PGA Tour announces $3 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group | Golf Central | Golf Channel [Video]

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