PGA Tour working to extend deadline in talks with Saudi’s PIF, nearing deal with SSG

Saying negotiations were “active and productive,” commissioner Jay Monahan told PGA Tour members in a memo Sunday that the tour was working to extend the deadline to finalise a merger with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The PGA Tour revealed a so-called framework agreement to merge interests with the PIF, which finances LIV Golf, in a surprise announcement on June 6. Sunday marked the deadline the two sides originally set for a final agreement.

Monahan previously called New Year’s Eve a “firm target” to complete the deal, but The Telegraph reported this week that the target had been moved to early April before the Masters is played.

A news release posted to the PGA Tour’s website said the tour’s goal was to bring on the PIF, Strategic Sports Group and the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) as minority co-investors in PGA Tour Enterprises — the tour’s new for-profit organisation — in 2024.

“These partnerships will allow us to unify, innovate and invest in the game for the benefit of the players, fans and sponsors,” Monahan said in the memo.

Monahan told members that the tour had made “meaningful progress” in negotiating with Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of US-based professional sports owners led by Fenway Sports Group and including figures like the New York Mets’ Steve Cohen and the Atlanta Falcons’ Arthur Blank.

“As we move forward in our discussions [with SSG], we are focused on the finalisation of terms and drafts of necessary documents,” Monahan said in the memo, according to ESPN, which obtained a full copy.

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