Jay Monahan Confirms Upcoming Saudi PIF Meeting While Asserting That A Co-Investor Will Be Added To The Merger
The PGA Tour and Saudi PIF set a deadline of Dec. 31 to reach an agreement on their proposed merger, and despite that date swiftly approaching, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan still has faith the two sides will make it happen.
The 'it' in this equation is still mostly a mystery, but it appears that the golf world will know much more before the calendar flips to 2024.
Monahan spoke at The New York Times Deal Book Summit on Wednesday afternoon and confirmed he'll be meeting with PIF governor Yasi Al-Rumayyan next week in hopes of coming to terms on the framework agreement originally announced back in June.
Jay Monahan has given a major update on the Saudi PIF merger negotiations and co-investors getting in on the action. (Getty Images)
Co-Investor Appears To Be Getting A Seat At The PGA Tour Table
Over the last few months, the Tour has been open about the fact that other investors have joined in on conversations, which based on Monahan's comments at the Book Summit, that has complicated things, but in a positive way.
“Were having conversations with multiple parties,” Monahan said. “The deadline for our conversations with PIF, as you know, is a firm target. I'll be with Yasir next week. And we continue to advance our conversations. And I think it's pretty well known that there's a large number of other interested parties that we're also pushing to think about.”
“When this gets finalized, the PGA Tour is going to be in a position that I talked about earlier, where again, the athletes are owners in their sport, and you've got not only the PIF, but you've likely got another co-investor, with significant experience in business, in sport and brand that's going to help take the PGA Tour to another level and help us take share from other sports and even be more competitive,” he continued.
Fenway Sports Group, Eldridge Industries, Acorn Growth, and ‘Friends of Golf’ described as “a group of influential individuals” have been reported as interested outside investors.
The Tour sent a memo out to its membership on Nov. 14 with an update on the merger while specifically mentioning "potential investors." This marked the second time the Tour had made it a point to bring the membership's attention towards outside investors joining in on the fray.
Up until Wednesday, it was unclear if these co-investors would be taking the place of the Saudi PIF's investment into the Tour or would simply be grabbing a seat at the table. Monahan's comments make it clear that these outside investors would be working alongside the Tour and PIF.
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