Who do you think will be the new commissioner after the PGA/LIV Golf merger?
Before we get into a debate of who would be a better fit for a merged PGA/LIV Golf tour, let’s discuss a little background.
Jay Monahan has been the PGA commissioner since January 1, 2017, and
Under his leadership he successfully led the golf world through the COVID-19 pandemic, and showed how a sport league could operate in this new era of social distancing and contagion. Jay Monahan has worked predominantly in the golf industry since 2003 when according to Wikipedia he worked at “IMG Worldwide where he played an integral role in the development of the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in Norton, and served as the tournament’s first director at age 32.”
Then in June of 2008, Jay Monahan came to the PGA Tour as the executive director of The Players Championship, and went on to hold a number of different positions before he officially took over as the PGA’s commissioner in January of 2017.
In 2022, Jay Monahan made a cool $18.6 million, which was broken down into a $1.8 million base salary, $9.2 million in bonuses and incentives, and an estimated $7.4 million for non-cash benefits that Monahan will receive when he retires (sign me up for that retirement plan!).
During that time, the PGA Tour reported a record $1.9 billion in revenue, which was up from $1.59 billion in 2021 in the wake of its new TV deals.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the PGA’s TV deal will see them receiving $700 million annually from CBS, NBC, and ESPN under their newest contract that began in 2022 and goes through 2030.
Now let’s talk about Greg Norman. What more can you say about a man who helped to define the sport of Golf in the 20th century? He’s by far one of the biggest GOATs in the world of golf, and has built a phenomenal business empire in the golf industry. He’s also been around the game and leagues long enough to know where all the bodies are buried, if you’ll indulge me for the analogy.
During his playing days in the PGA “Greg Norman won 91 professional tournaments (20 PGA and 71 international), registered 31 second-place finishes on the PGA Tour, and held the ranking of top golfer in the world for a total of 331 weeks; a record broken in 2004 by Tiger Woods.” according to Wikipedia.
These days he passes his time as the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, the official name of the company that LIV Golf Invitational Series that he started in 2022, which “consists of seven regular-season events where players compete both individually for points and as part of a team.” according to Wikipedia.
When news of the PGA Tour/LIV Golf merger was first announced Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced a framework agreement to merge their commercial operations with Jay Monahan appearing to be the future leader of the combined golf tour, and Greg Norman would no longer be running LIV Golf
Then things started to go sideways.
The proposed merger has blown through seemingly arbitrary self-imposed deadlines for negotiations on more than one occasion already. And the scuttlebutt going around in the golf world is some people wouldn’t be all that mad if Jay Monahan found himself without a job and new blood was brought in to lead the combined tour. Greg Norman is on the record saying the LIV Golf will not cease to exist following any merger, and that he would continue to lead the golf league. So make of that what you want, but I’m not betting against Greg Norman.
PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan or LIV Golf’s Greg Norman: Who gets fired first?