What the PGA Tour’s partnership with SSG means for the future of golf | Golf Central | Golf Channel [Video]

0:01 | golf Central on YouTube is brought to

0:03 | you by the Paradigm AI smoke woods and

0:05 | irons from

0:07 | Callaway and hello again and welcome I’m

0:09 | rich learner from the AT&T Pebble Beach

0:12 | proam well the Winds of Change roaring

0:15 | not just across Pebble Beach going to be

0:17 | a rough weather week but the entire

0:19 | landscape of professional golf big news

0:21 | today with the announcement of a

0:24 | partnership between the PGA Tour and the

0:26 | private Equity Group strategic Sports

0:29 | Group s SG this is a for-profit venture

0:32 | ssg’s investment in what is called PGH

0:36 | or Enterprises worth up to 3 billion

0:38 | dollar PGH members gaining access to a

0:41 | billion and a half in equity in PGH

0:43 | Enterprises they will be owners this is

0:46 | unprecedented in sport player grants

0:49 | which vest over time will be based on

0:51 | Career achievements think about Tiger

0:53 | Woods and future participation and the

0:56 | deal does leave room for a future

0:58 | co-investment from the s Arabian public

1:01 | investment

1:03 | fund wondering about SSG these are power

1:07 | players in American team sports Arthur

1:09 | Blank of the Atlanta Falcons Steve Cohen

1:11 | New York Mets John Henry principal owner

1:14 | Fenway Sports Group they own the Boston

1:16 | Red Sox Liverpool FC from the Premier

1:19 | League Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL

1:22 | the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and

1:24 | with grpe as well the owner of the

1:27 | Boston Celtics so an enormous

1:29 | development in professional

1:32 | golf Peter thanks for being with us why

1:35 | in your estimation is this a good deal

1:37 | for you know the likes of Rory Mary the

1:41 | you know the higher end and and guys

1:43 | like you and everybody uh across the

1:45 | board well that’s a great question and

1:48 | um this morning I thought it was so

1:50 | fitting uh we had a full membership call

1:54 | uh where Jay and U John Henry the

1:57 | principal from SSG um

2:00 | they they spoke to the group they

2:02 | revealed that the deal had been uh

2:03 | finalized and approved last night to to

2:06 | the entire membership of all three PJ

2:08 | Wars um and it was cool after after J

2:12 | Monahan spoke John Henry and Sam Kennedy

2:16 | um spoke from uh from SSG then tiger

2:20 | spoke to his excitement about this deal

2:21 | and how he thinks this Shores up you

2:24 | know the PJ tour uh for today and the

2:27 | future and one thing that tiger has been

2:28 | adamant about that he and I have talked

2:30 | about that he’s talked about with the

2:31 | player uh directors as a whole is he’s

2:34 | he’s thinking about the PJ tour that

2:35 | Charlie Woods is going to play on one

2:36 | day that he hopes Charlie Woods will

2:37 | plan he that that’s that’s where his

2:39 | legacy goes now it’s not just the you

2:42 | know the all he’s accomplished on the

2:43 | course it’s what he’s going to leave for

2:44 | these other guys but for Tiger to then

2:46 | say though this is a good deal for me

2:49 | it’s a good deal for what it does for

2:51 | the future of the tour for a player like

2:52 | my son um and then for me to follow that

2:56 | up I was the next one to speak I speak

2:57 | after TI and say yo you you just heard

3:00 | from tiger that he’s genuinely excited

3:01 | about this deal as as you know arguably

3:04 | the greatest player in the history of

3:05 | our sport I am uh I’m in my 10th year on

3:09 | the PGA tour and my best finish in the

3:11 | feds cup ever is 86th and this is a

3:14 | great deal for me as well why because it

3:16 | Shores up the uh it provides an

3:19 | incredible amount of Financial Security

3:21 | for the PJ tour immediately right now in

3:24 | a very very very tumultuous time you

3:26 | know part of the SSG deal was a

3:28 | commitment to player comp for the next

3:30 | five seasons um which you know that’s a

3:33 | big deal right now with the competitive

3:35 | threat we have and just all the turmoil

3:37 | around professional golf um so

3:39 | immediately that’s the answer um the

3:41 | player directors worked really hard to

3:43 | make sure I’m sure the player Equity

3:44 | program is something that’s been talked

3:45 | about a lot today so far we worked

3:48 | really hard to make sure that that

3:49 | doesn’t just reach the top players it

3:51 | reaches all fully exempt members on the

3:54 | PGA tour so you know while my piece of

3:56 | that and deservedly so won’t be big

4:00 | right now I will have a stake in what

4:03 | the PGA Tour is doing and all all the

4:04 | guys like me who have you know played

4:07 | out here earned the right to be full

4:08 | exempt tour players but maybe haven’t uh

4:11 | you know achieved all they want to um

4:13 | they’re they’re going to have a stake in

4:15 | the PJ tour and be a stakeholder and and

4:16 | be motivated to help build this product

4:18 | to make it better and better and better

4:20 | for all of our constituents our sponsors

4:22 | our fans um our our Media Partners um so

4:25 | I think I think that’s those are the two

4:27 | things it there’s a lot of things but

4:29 | immediately come to mind it Shores up um

4:32 | it provides so much security to the tour

4:34 | right now in a tumultuous time and it

4:36 | gets all players all exempt players on

4:38 | tour aligned um and incentivized to help

4:41 | make this tour even better for for

4:43 | everyone is this Equity piece for

4:45 | players is it something that you have to

4:47 | vest in sort of like the retirement

4:48 | program I know there’s a lot of not not

4:50 | a lot of details yet exactly and you

4:52 | know as it should be that I think that’s

4:54 | that’s pretty uniform across um across

4:56 | Corporate America too you know with with

4:58 | Equity um you you have to invest it’s a

5:00 | retention tool and obviously um you know

5:04 | it’s something that is important to our

5:06 | members it’s going to be valuable for

5:07 | our members um but it also comes with

5:10 | comes with the deal you you’ve got to

5:12 | stick around you’ve got to earn it with

5:14 | uh with loyalty and and you’ve got to

5:16 | perform you got to stay on tour um to to

5:18 | vest those you know those that those

5:20 | shares Peter one of the questions I

5:23 | would have is the 501c3 status that the

5:26 | PGA Tour have this is separate away from

5:29 | that but if the profit that comes from

5:31 | this is going to be fed back in to the

5:33 | PGA Tour is is it is it going to be

5:36 | sustainable to keep that status so um

5:39 | that that question is obviously way

5:41 | above my my pay grade but I have learned

5:44 | a ton about that and um so the you know

5:47 | the tour every every part of this deal

5:49 | that was something that was important

5:50 | both to the leadership of the tour and

5:53 | SSG once they realized our structure

5:56 | that we were able to maintain that

5:57 | because I think there’s a lot of

5:59 | benefits to um the 501 C6 uh status that

6:02 | the tour has and with you know

6:05 | professional tax advisers that are very

6:08 | sophisticated uh both parties feel

6:10 | really confident that we are going to be

6:11 | able to grow the business while

6:13 | maintaining the tax exempt status at the

6:15 | um at the PJ tour incorporated level do

6:18 | you idea that an agreement likely will

6:22 | be forged be between this new entity and

6:25 | the public investment fund of Saudi

6:27 | Arabia do you you have any res

6:29 | reservations at all on that front given

6:33 | how fraught and complex geopolitics are

6:36 | in in this day and age that that if they

6:38 | end up on the wrong side of of something

6:41 | you guys in in a much more public

6:43 | front-facing business than say you know

6:46 | Starbucks or wherever else they’re

6:47 | invested you know you have any

6:49 | reservations at all about that you know

6:51 | so I

6:53 | I I personally of course

6:56 | um when when the announcement of June

6:58 | 6th came

7:00 | I I I did have reservations for sure um

7:03 | and you know to this point I still am

7:05 | very very uncertain of of how those

7:08 | negotiations are going I know both

7:10 | parties um the PGA Tour and our new

7:13 | investment partner uh SSG um feel

7:17 | comfortable with the talks they’re

7:19 | having um and so that process is is

7:22 | going to play out and I’m going to

7:24 | reserve judgment for now for sure um but

7:28 | I I yeah that that there it’s obviously

7:30 | a fraud issue yeah uh Peter uh

7:33 | congratulations I mean I know how hard

7:35 | you and and tiger and everybody else uh

7:37 | worked to get to this

7:39 | point you know everybody feels pretty

7:42 | positive about uh this first step going

7:45 | forward after all of the uncertainty and

7:46 | all the tumult this is actually I mean

7:48 | this is absolutely a day to celebrate

7:50 | like like the the you know the PGA Tour

7:52 | I think I think it has historically been

7:56 | the ultimate place in the world for for

7:58 | professional golfers and and um this is

8:01 | just a step to cement that okay and also

8:04 | hats off you got your hat right there to

8:07 | uh Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T uh

8:10 | for bringing us all together on this

8:12 | momentous day and four good ones are

8:14 | going to be wild with this weather thank

8:16 | you for stopping by wish you the best

8:18 | this week have a great tournament uh and

8:20 | battle it out against Mother Nature hour

8:23 | coverage gets underway tomorrow round

8:25 | one of the AT&T Pebble Beach proam uh

8:29 | 3:00 Eastern time it streams as well on

8:31 | peacock same on Friday and then early

8:33 | round coverage Saturday and Sunday at

8:35 | 1:00 Eastern and as well on peacock a

8:39 | great thanks to Peter Mady all of our

8:42 | guests our hardworking crew up here that

8:44 | had to scramble to put it all together

8:45 | for Paul McGinley and Johnson Wagner I’m

8:48 | rich learner so long for now from Pebble

8:52 | [Music]

8:58 | Beach

9:00 | [Music]

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What the PGA Tour’s partnership with SSG means for the future of golf | Golf Central | Golf Channel [Video]

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