PGA Tour And Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Agree To Merge, Ending Bitter Legal Feud
06.06.2023 - 18:10
/ deadline.com
Ending years of rancor and legal disputes, the PGA Tour has agreed to merge with Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
In a joint statement, the two organizations declared it “a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis.”
That’s a sharp turn from the rhetoric after the two had filed dueling antitrust suits, with the upstart LIV maintaining that the decades-old PGA had engaged in anticompetitive practices. The PGA had objected to LIV coming into its turf and luring talent away with hefty payouts, describing that behavior as illegal interference.
As a result of the merger agreement, all legal claims have been dropped by the parties.
The merger will have major implications for golf’s TV partners. The CW, now run by Nexstar Media Group, picked up rights to LIV starting this year as its first live sports programming. The PGA is in business with Disney/ESPN, NBCUniversal and Paramount, all of which took a pass on LIV rights when they became available upon the circuit’s launch in 2022.
LIV, whose name is “54” in Roman numerals, indicates the number of holes its tournaments are contested on, compared with 72 for PGA events. In addition to the Friday/Saturday/Sunday format, LIV allowed players to wear shorts and sought to create a party atmosphere at the host courses, with dance music pumping through speakers throughout play.
The yet-to-be-named merged entity is billed as “a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement that the “transformational partnership” brings to an end “two years of disruption and distraction.”
Backed by Saudi