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The LIV-PGA merger is far from a done deal.
It took the NFL seven years to merge with the burgeoning AFL. The ABA was nine years old when the NBA took four of its teams in. And both of those consolidations were between U.S. corporations that had co-existed and only conducted bidding wars between players drafted by both leagues.
The merger between the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour and the LIV Tour has been proposed less than one year since the Saudi-backed enterprise launched amidst international publicity and a splintering of the PGA Tour.
Americans who believed Saudi Arabia had a hand in the 9/11 attacks and the assassination of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi were appalled that PGA players were even talking to LIV representatives. Early defectors like Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson were almost universally scorned for taking the enormous guarantees that came with signing bonuses.
A group of nearly 2,500 survivors of family members who perished on 9/11 wrote an open letter to golfers who remained loyal to the PGA Tour, saying, “Thank you for standing up for decency . . . and for the 9/11 families. Thank you for resisting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to cleanse its reputation by buying off professional athletes.”
Some of those who were bought off, like Mickelson, were approaching the end of their careers and took the multi-millions to guarantee the future of their families. Others who balked at first, like four-time Majors champion Brooks Koepka, had suffered injuries they feared might cut short their careers.
But now the “loyal” PGA Tour members are furious that the merger was proposed within a year of when they turned down massive signing bonuses, like Rory McIlroy, who reportedly was offered $300 million. In the first meeting of loyal PGA golfers with their tour commissioner Jay Monahan, they erupted in protest asking for his resignation and demanding to know details of the deal.
In the weeks and months to come, those details will come out, and at the end of those days it will be all about the money, which is the malady that is dividing this country at the seams.
There has already been talk of a class-action lawsuit filed by players who stayed the course yet missed potential payoffs of a lifetime, along with early murmurings of the PGA players breaking off to form their own tour, led by Tiger Woods. It seems that every possibility is on the table now.
If Monahan has taken the biggest payoff to broker the merger, he will be tied up in court battles and potential criminal charges forever. If guilty, he will have gotten what he deserves.
Featured image via Associated Press/Eric Risberg
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