The most disruptive year in golf ended Tuesday when the PGA Tour and European tour agreed to a merger with Saudi Arabia's golf interests, creating a commercial operation designed to unify professional golf around the world.
As part of the deal, the sides are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf against each other effective immediately.
Still to be determined is how players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, who defected to Saudi-funded LIV Golf for nine-figure bonuses, can rejoin the PGA Tour after this year.
Also unclear was what form the LIV Golf League would take in 2024. Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a memo to players that a thorough evaluation would determine how to integrate team golf into the game.
The agreement combines the Public Investment Fund's golf-related commercial businesses and rights — including LIV Golf — with those of the PGA and European tours. The new entity has not been named.
“They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
“We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, will join the board of the PGA Tour, which continues to operates its tournaments. Al-Rumayyan will be chairman of the new commercial group, with Monahan as the CEO and the PGA Tour having a majority stake in the new venture.
The PIF will invest in the commercial venture.
Monahan said the decision came together over the last seven weeks.
Jared Smith, sports betting analyst from Pickswise, joins Cheddar Bets to break down the biggest games of the college football weekend, including those that put Ohio State and Oregon's Playoff spots on the line.
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Jill Wagner is joined by Baker to talk about kids and vaccines: we finally know how many young kids are getting vaccinated. Plus, Democrats are working on a Plan B for paid family leave. And the salad chain Sweetgreen goes public.
Beginning Christmas Day, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers, Kings, and Sparks, the Staples Center, will go by the name Crypto.com Arena after a massive $700 million deal with AEG. Steven Kalifowitz, the chief marketing officer at Crypto.com, and Todd Goldstein, the chief revenue officer at AEG, joined Cheddar to talk about the historic changeover in naming rights and what other changes that fans entering the arena might expect.
The iconic Los Angeles Staples Center will sport a new moniker, Crypto.com Arena, beginning Christmas Day. AEG made the naming-rights deal with Crypto for a historic $700 million.
Jill is joined by “Friend of the Pod” Mosheh Oinounou to talk booster shots, and whether “fully vaccinated” will eventually mean three shots, not two. Plus, the latest on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. And the research is in: we know now the perfect way to hug. Also, Jill and Mosheh debate whether Airpods are passé.
The Green Bay Packers are selling shares of their stock for just the sixth time in its 102-year history. The Packers are the only major professional sports team in the U.S. that is publicly owned and not-for-profit. Now, it is offering 300,000 shares at $300 apiece; however, fans who become shareholders will not have much power, as the Packers' stock is not technically a stock. Washington Post sports reporter Des Bieler joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Jill is joined by Baker Machado to talk all things infrastructure: where will the money go and who’s in charge? Plus, Sesame Street has its first Asian-American muppet. And a trailer for the trailer for Spiderman. Huh?
