PLAYA DEL CARMEN: In response to the announcement of the Strategic Sports Group’s $3 billion investment in the PGA Tour to establish a new for-profit organization, LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman sent a straightforward message to every member of his staff: move forward.
In a letter to his staff, seen by Golfweek, Norman urged them to downplay any negative effects the SSG investment might have on LIV’s future while simultaneously hyping up the league’s third official season in 2024 at Mayakoba, Mexico’s El Camaleon Golf Course.
An excerpt from the letter:
The PGA Tour announced an investment partner this morning, as you may have seen. I want to be very clear about this: LIV Golf’s positive trajectory and future plans are unaffected by any announcements made by other tours or investment groups.
With the intention of inventing something new, expanding golf’s fan base, and introducing the sport to a broad, international audience, we founded LIV Golf. It is excellent for golf and for us that there is more investment in the game. For our players, our supporters, and the game’s long-term future, this is a good development.
These days, golf is seen as an asset class. We demonstrated that this was feasible, and we are now in a unique position to shape and steer this fantastic growth prospect. Without LIV Golf’s rise to prominence as a creative force in the golf industry, there would not have been this increased passion and interest in the game, nor this investment in its future.
As far as Norman was concerned, the league was “moving full steam ahead” into 2024 and beyond, and he expressed his confidence in the league, its participants, and its global supporters.
The Tour announced just seven months ago that it had reached a framework agreement to establish what is now known as PGA Tour Enterprises, along with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The Tour announced on Wednesday that there has been progress in the ongoing talks about a possible future investment with the PIF, the financial backers of LIV Golf. Additionally, PGA Tour Enterprises permits a future co-investment from the PIF, “subject to all necessary regulatory approvals,” according to the same press release.
The previous deadline of Dec. 31, 2023, to come to an agreement was missed, but both sides have ventured on. The PGA Tour now has more money to spend and LIV has new assets in former Tour players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. As Norman would say, onward they go.
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