Samuel Agini of the Financial Times explores the Saudi efforts to start a golf league and does a nice job reviewing how we got to the point. In the way of original reporting, he gets some comments from Callaway’s Chip Brewer, the R&A’s Martin Slumbers and a strange “statement” from the PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan. So two of the three like the FT and felt it was worth the time to call back.
But I think what I enjoyed most is a reminder that we will get to hear Greg Norman act like he thought of things that are just totally stolen from the Premier Golf League concept. Like this on franchising:
But the structure of golf means teams cannot be bought and sold. Unlike in football and basketball, golfers are individual contractors. They work for themselves, while the tours run competitions, aggregate media rights and monetise the coverage. Despite the apparent independence of players, they typically require permission from their member tour if they are to play on rival circuits. Norman argues that this model is a missed financial opportunity. “You look at that value that’s been generated through other sports, for other players and other franchises,” he says. “Golf has never recognised that or had the ability to capture that market.”
As for quotes, the R&A’s Slumbers tried to distinguish between investment and blowing up the current structure, though he doesn’t make a case for why the current structure is that special.
He distinguishes between LIV proposals for breakaway golf leagues and initiatives such as oil company Saudi Aramco’s sponsorship of the Ladies European Tour, the women’s golf group of which Slumbers is a board member. “I think there is a difference between wanting to invest and support within the current structure and wanting to be a disrupter,” he says.
The writer only got this from Jay Monahan…
“The PGA Tour is stronger than at any time in our history and the game of golf has unprecedented momentum,” Monahan said in an emailed statement. “We are positioned to grow faster in the next 10 years than at any other point in our existence.”
I don’t even think that’s a non-denial, denial. More like a non-answer, answer.
It’s a bold strategy to only pump money to purses and bonus pools without investing fans in an exciting new future that makes them sentimental for the current model. I realize that would require caring about the fans above all else.