There’s a new stalking horse in the race to invest in the PGA’s deal to merge with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s LIV Golf. Fenway Sports Group has pulled together a list of crazy impressive investors to make an offer that hopefully the PGA can’t refuse.
This investment group led by the Fenway Sports Group includes investors such as the Celtics majority stake owner Wyc Grousbeck, the Chicago Cubs’ Chairman Tom Ricketts and Cohen Private Ventures which is the venture capital firm of New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, Liverpool Football Club owner John Henry, and the Boston Red Sox owner Tom Werner. I feel like we should also mention that LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter are also investors in the deal by way of their 1% stake in the Fenway Sports Group.
Not invited to the party was Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group Holdings, through his majority owned company TKO, which also owns the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and is majority owner of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). They submitted a proposal to invest in the PGA, but were turned down last month.
The clock is ticking on any deal to invest in the PGA before the merger with LIV Golf goes through. The two have set a December 31st deadline to complete any investment deal before they move ahead with their merger.
It remains to be seen if any merged golf leagues would even be approved by regulatory bodies in the U.S, the UK, and elsewhere do anti-competitive and monopolistic factors of merging the two biggest golf leagues in the world. There is also hesitancy from some of golf’s biggest stars, including big-name PGA Tour players like Rory McIlroy who has been quoted saying “I still hate LIV” after the proposed PGA and LIV Golf merger was first announced during the Summer.
Fenway moves forward in final talks to invest in PGA Tour’s Saudi deal