The PGA Tour has made an exercise of transparency on the occasion of the meeting with Yasir Al Rumayyan in the Bahamas. Transparency in their own way, but transparency nonetheless. Don’t think that there has been full disclosure and that everything that was said there has been detailed, not at all, but at least it has been communicated to the members that the meeting was going to take place and a written statement has also been sent at the end of the meeting. Not much information is provided, but at least they show willingness to keep everyone informed, so that not everything has to be read in the media.
The person in charge of informing the members about the meeting once it ended this Monday was Jay Monahan. He said the following:
“As you may already know, your representatives at PGA TOUR Enterprises have accompanied me today during a meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The conversation has been constructive and represents an important step in our due diligence process in the selection of potential investors for PGA TOUR Enterprises. This reflects the approach we used earlier this year when we evaluated the investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group.
During the meeting, Yasir had the opportunity to introduce himself to our Player Directors and talk about his vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf. As we continue these conversations with the PIF, we will keep you informed as much as possible, but we ask you to understand that we must maintain our stance of not conducting these negotiations publicly. Therefore, we will not make any further comments to the media at this time”.
As you can see, not much information is provided, beyond the fact that they are obviously already internally evaluating the possible investment of the PIF, something that was already taken for granted, and that Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson have firsthand knowledge of Al Rumayyan’s intentions. Certainly, the mere fact of meeting face to face is a step forward.
As we say, the PGA Tour, through the six players mentioned above, also previously communicated that the meeting was going to take place. However, they did so this very Monday morning, when it was already in all the media.
“We wanted to briefly update you on the situation as you prepare for the first meeting of the PGA TOUR Enterprises Board this Tuesday, March 19. As we wrote in our letter of December 1, in choosing a capitalist partner, we met directly with several of the interested parties who wanted to invest in the TOUR. That process ended with the selection of Strategic Sports Group, and we are delighted to welcome John Henry, Arthur Blank, Andy Cohen and Sam Kennedy to the Board of Directors of PGA TOUR Enterprises. These individuals have great knowledge of how to drive measures to improve fan experiences. Similarly, they have a deep understanding of how to increase the reach of professional sports teams and leagues.
As Jay recently shared, the TOUR continues discussions with the PIF. To that end, we want you to know that we will meet with Yasir Al-Ramayyan later today. This meeting is not a negotiation, but a chat and an opportunity to hear from him directly. Although you are not physically present, you will all be in our minds. We will only get answers to some of the questions, but we trust that this meeting will greatly contribute to answering the most important question: can we reach an agreement?
We are aware that this update is brief, but as we move forward we will do our best to inform directly. If things start to move faster or stall, we will inform you first and explain where we are and why.
Thank you for your time, support and patience in this process. We will keep you informed throughout the process.
Best regards,
Adam, Joe, Jordan, Patrick, Peter, Tiger and Webb
For now, knowing these two statements, they have not answered the big question, at least in the writing after the meeting: can an agreement be reached? It is also striking that the announcement of the meeting is signed by the players and the result of it bears Monahan’s seal.
We must continue to wait.
