PGA LIV Golf Tour Merger (2 Viewers)

[Jake14mw]

Surprised there was nothing posted for this yet! Wow, this merger was a huge surprise to me. I guess there is still a lot to be learned, but it seems that the bottom line is that the Saudi money won. The LIV tour seemed to be a disaster. Nobody cared about it, nobody was watching it. But it didn't matter because the Saudis kept throwing a seemingly limitless amount of money at it. And after bashing the Saudis, the PGA tour finally said, wow, that's a lot of money, and took the money. Without consulting with the players. It's fascinating to me.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Pretty gross. Players and sponsors are now in a tough spot. Its tough for average people to imagine the type of money changing hands here to win over the court of public opinion.

 

[jr8719]

Surprised there was nothing posted for this yet! Wow, this merger was a huge surprise to me. I guess there is still a lot to be learned, but it seems that the bottom line is that the Saudi money won. The LIV tour seemed to be a disaster. Nobody cared about it, nobody was watching it. But it didn't matter because the Saudis kept throwing a seemingly limitless amount of money at it. And after bashing the Saudis, the PGA tour finally said, wow, that's a lot of money, and took the money. Without consulting with the players. It's fascinating to me.

Completely shocked by the news yesterday. Definitely a better deal for the LIV Tour - and its players - on the whole.

After all their (rightful) criticism of the regime, the PGA Tour has ended up with serious egg on its face (but what's new, eh?) by jumping into bed with the Saudis. Sadly, money talks — especially Saudi money.

Absolutely hate the LIV's team format; it's not needed in golf, so I'm annoyed that it seems this will be an element of the new merged tours.

My main prediction is that they'll now push for a new, official fifth major — which would be an embarrassment, in my opinion.

 

[JP1984]

Rory is giving an interview in just over an hour, looking forward to seeing how he responds to this shitshow!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/65830431

Sounds like the players meeting didn't go well this morning!

 

[pokerplayingpisces]

I heard the news, just as I was leaving for work. I was completely shocked! I had to find the golf channel on XM, to get the details.

Really shouldn’t be surprised, though. Money always wins. LIV had terrible TV ratings, viewers weren’t buying into the team format, and their players couldn’t earn points and saw their world ranking slip (potentially excluding them from majors and other tournaments). But in the end, the endless money won out.

On the other side, I don’t see how Monahan keeps his job. The players feel betrayed, and many found out about this just like you and me (through social media and breaking network news). My understanding is that even the big names like Tiger and Rory were not kept in the loop. I can’t imagine there’s anyway to regain their trust after they’ve spent the last 2 years vigorously defending you. Only for you to throw in the towel at the first opportunity. Like others have pointed out, those that stuck with the PGA, now look foolish. They missed out on the big money, and the organization they defended bailed on them.

 

[jr8719]

I heard the news, just as I was leaving for work. I was completely shocked! I had to find the golf channel on XM, to get the details.

Really shouldn’t be surprised, though. Money always wins. LIV had terrible TV ratings, viewers weren’t buying into the team format, and their players couldn’t earn points and saw their world ranking slip (potentially excluding them from majors and other tournaments). But in the end, the endless money won out.

On the other side, I don’t see how Monahan keeps his job. The players feel betrayed, and many found out about this just like you and me (through social media and breaking network news). My understanding is that even the big names like Tiger and Rory were not kept in the loop. I can’t imagine there’s anyway to regain their trust after they’ve spent the last 2 years vigorously defending you. Only for you to throw in the towel at the first opportunity. Like others have pointed out, those that stuck with the PGA, now look foolish. They missed out on the big money, and the organization they defended bailed on them.

Jay Gone-ahan.

 

[upNdown]

I’m not a golf fan but that merger seems pretty dirty to me.

 

[Lil Tuna]

Sounds a lot like the chipping hobby last few years.

 

[Colquhoun]

I think the PGA saw the writing on the wall. It appeared that the Saudis were just going to keep throwing money at this until it worked, and worked well. The PGA could sit back and watch it happen, or join in before they became the #2 golf organization.

Now we get to watch as this new merger becomes like FIFA.
Oh joy.

 

[jr8719]

Sounds a lot like the chipping hobby last few years.

 

[mjsil84]

Monahans interview explaining why he switched was more cringeworthy than Kendall Roy telling everyone, “I saw their plan and my dads was better”

 

[inapinch]

 

[BPTDirector]

Two words - Greed Wins.

 

[BarrieJ3]

Saw a great analogy. This played out exactly like a hostile takeover.

I guess the overall result shouldn’t be astounding, this is politics/business 101 - money wins.

What’s surprising to me is the speed at which this occurred. We’re talking just a year after the inaugural season.

 

[Lil Tuna]

Saw a great analogy. This played out exactly like a hostile takeover.

I guess the overall result shouldn’t be astounding, this is politics/business 101 - money wins.

What’s surprising to me is the speed at which this occurred. We’re talking just a year after the inaugural season.

 

[Saoliver]

I'll refrain from posting anything political here. I'll wait until this inevitably gets moved to Politics. But the Dan Patrick clip below is great.

Rory turned down $300,000,000. Tiger turned down $800,000,000 and equity in LIV.

 

[ATLarchip]

I think it’s a combination of money, but also lawsuits that made the PGA fold. LIV could just keep throwing money at the low ratings golf to keep it going, and fund all the players’ lawsuits against the PGA. Lawsuits take money, and I don’t think the PGA has the deep pockets to sustain the long lawsuits.

I feel bad for the players that were offered a lot of money to go to LIV, but decided to stay at the PGA because of principle, honor, etc. The players that did take the money, now has a path to get back on the PGA. They’re the ‘winners’ that got paid money AND can now get back to the PGA. That’s what makes me the most angry about all this.

 

[Lil Tuna]

I'll refrain from posting anything political here. I'll wait until this inevitably gets moved to Politics. But the Dan Patrick clip below is great.

Rory turned down $300,000,000. Tiger turned down $800,000,000 and equity in LIV.

 

[FDLmold]

I saw the news and LOLed. One, Donald Trump was right. Two, everybody who took the LIV money is vindicated and looks very smart. Three, The PGA sitting on its "won't take Saudi money" high horse was always hypocrisy (since most of their big sponsors do business in Saudi Arabia). Four, Brandel and Rory got left hanging out TO DRY, big time. Especially Rory (and Tiger) with his stadium video game golf tour that will go absolutely nowhere. Five, as much as the PGA just tried to absolutely bury international golf and the WGC, they failed.

The PGA turned down Saudi money over and over, because they wanted full control and all the $$ for themselves. They failed the players, and opened the money spigot a little too late. The Saudis want to divest from oil and buy into sports entertainment. They have been doing that successfully, and have done it again.

 

[upNdown]

I'll refrain from posting anything political here. I'll wait until this inevitably gets moved to Politics. But the Dan Patrick clip below is great.

Rory turned down $300,000,000. Tiger turned down $800,000,000 and equity in LIV.

So gross.