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.
Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback in NFL history, has retired after winning seven Super Bowls and setting numerous passing records in an unprecedented 22-year-career.
From the environment to income inequality, many issues can be seen through the lens of our favorite athletes and teams. In this episode, we’re exploring the world of sports.
Ariel Epstein, Sports Betting host & analyst at Yahoo! Sports, joins Cheddar Bets to share her favorite prop bets and her best picks in the NFC Wild Card Round.
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Joe Osborne, Sports Betting Analyst for Odds Shark, dishes out his insight for how to approach a week where some teams choose to sit out their star players.
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Retired gymnast Nia Dennis went viral last year after a video of her gymnastics floor routine highlighting Black excellence gained traction on social media. Now the athlete and UCLA graduate is partnering with juice and plant-based foods company Pressed to promote health and wellness in the new year. "They have helped me start this year off strong and start living a healthier lifestyle," she said.
Apple TV+ is in serious talks for the rights to stream MLB games next season, the first foray into sports content for the platform, according to the New York Post. Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Sports, sat down with Cheddar to discuss how such a deal might impact the tech giant and the sports content industry. "Quite often with new media platforms one of the quickest ways to create and implement a programming strategy — and actually one of the most expensive ways — is to offer up sports content," Berke noted. "So, with this package available, it puts Apple literally in the game and gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in offering up a major league sport."
Iain MacMillan, Senior Editor BetSided, joins Cheddar Bets to break down betting underdogs in NCAA Basketball Conference play and the favorites for the Wooden Award.
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COVID-19 continues to impact the world of sports, and most significantly, the NHL. The world's premier hockey league has postponed a total of 104 games so far this season, and a spike in omicron infections has led to a surge in postponements in recent weeks. This comes after the NHL went dark for six days in December because of a COVID-19 outbreak, and after the league decided not to have its players participate in the 2022 Beijing Olympics so it can use the time to reschedule postponed games. Yahoo Sports NHL reporter Justin Cuthbert joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
