SW AG80 said:
JCA, I agree with what you are saying. What befuddles me is why JM agreed to this deal.
Is the PGAT having financial problems? Were the prospects with the litigation not going well?
I know the "Whys" do not matter, but it makes me very curious.
I still hope this blows up in JM's face. Looking 10-20 years down the road, with the Saudis' bankroll, I can see them owning and running the for-profit entity that is being created with this agreement. And by then the PGAT could be so financially dependent on the Saudis that the Tour would have no other options.
So in the long run, this COULD be really bad for professional golf. And what is bad for them could bleed over to golf in general. Of course that could mean tee times would be easier to get!
Who knows and we may never know the full story.
My best guess is the PGAT were not prepared for the amount of time and money the PIF was willing to throw at this (both through funding LIV and the litigation). I think the PGAT thought the PIF would give up on LIV after a year or two. When they didn't and showed every intention of keeping LIV going for the foreseeable future, I think the Tour took a hard look at their finances and realized they would likely end up on some precarious financial footing.
The COVID years hurt the bottom line and then LIV showed up and they had to both up their purses and pay for costly litigation. I think the Tour was prepared to do that for a year or so and thought the PIF would give up in that timeframe. I think Yasir convinced Jay of how much money they were actually willing to burn to see this thing through and Jay then realized the Tour might not be able to keep up financially. Between litigation costs and having to strongarm sponsors to pony up more money so the Tour's purses could at least stay within shouting distance of LIV purses, the Tour had basically drained every money well it had. The prospect of having to make these numbers work each and every year for the foreseeable future was probably pretty daunting. And that's when Yasir said, "instead of us spending billions trying to break you, why don't you just partner with us and those billions can be used to help you."
Edit - And I'll add, I think LIV's lack of commercial success may have ironically hurt the Tour in some sense. If LIV was financially successful (or even showing any signs of financial success), I think the PIF might not have approached the PGAT. What the PIF wants isn't necessarily LIV, but a foothold in an ongoing, profitable golf organization. If that was LIV, so be it. But he prospects that LIV would provide that were diminishing by the day, so I think Yasir set his sights on trying to buy his way into the PGAT again.
I'll edit one more time to try and be succinct -- It wasn't LIV's success that brought the PGAT to the table, it was the amount of money the PIF was willing to burn, despite LIV's lack of success, that brought the PGAT to the table.