What the PGA Tour’s partnership with SSG means for the future of golf | Golf Central | Golf Channel

PGA Tour Policy Board Player Director Peter Malnati sits down with the Golf Central crew to break down the PGA Tour’s partnership with the Strategic Sports Group. Malnati explains how the deal will provide financial stability in a tumultuous time, and the benefits it can have for all players on the PGA Tour. #GolfChannel #GolfCentral #PGATour

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What the PGA Tour’s partnership with SSG means for the future of golf | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the Paradigm AI smoke woods and irons from Callaway and hello again and welcome I’m rich learner from the AT&T Pebble Beach proam well the Winds of Change roaring not just across Pebble Beach going to be a rough weather week but the entire

Landscape of professional golf big news today with the announcement of a partnership between the PGA Tour and the private Equity Group strategic Sports Group s SG this is a for-profit venture ssg’s investment in what is called PGH or Enterprises worth up to 3 billion dollar PGH members gaining access to a

Billion and a half in equity in PGH Enterprises they will be owners this is unprecedented in sport player grants which vest over time will be based on Career achievements think about Tiger Woods and future participation and the deal does leave room for a future co-investment from the s Arabian public investment

Fund wondering about SSG these are power players in American team sports Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons Steve Cohen New York Mets John Henry principal owner Fenway Sports Group they own the Boston Red Sox Liverpool FC from the Premier League Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and

With grpe as well the owner of the Boston Celtics so an enormous development in professional golf Peter thanks for being with us why in your estimation is this a good deal for you know the likes of Rory Mary the you know the higher end and and guys

Like you and everybody uh across the board well that’s a great question and um this morning I thought it was so fitting uh we had a full membership call uh where Jay and U John Henry the principal from SSG um they they spoke to the group they

Revealed that the deal had been uh finalized and approved last night to to the entire membership of all three PJ Wars um and it was cool after after J Monahan spoke John Henry and Sam Kennedy um spoke from uh from SSG then tiger spoke to his excitement about this deal

And how he thinks this Shores up you know the PJ tour uh for today and the future and one thing that tiger has been adamant about that he and I have talked about that he’s talked about with the player uh directors as a whole is he’s he’s thinking about the PJ tour that

Charlie Woods is going to play on one day that he hopes Charlie Woods will plan he that that’s that’s where his legacy goes now it’s not just the you know the all he’s accomplished on the course it’s what he’s going to leave for these other guys but for Tiger to then

Say though this is a good deal for me it’s a good deal for what it does for the future of the tour for a player like my son um and then for me to follow that up I was the next one to speak I speak

After TI and say yo you you just heard from tiger that he’s genuinely excited about this deal as as you know arguably the greatest player in the history of our sport I am uh I’m in my 10th year on the PGA tour and my best finish in the

Feds cup ever is 86th and this is a great deal for me as well why because it Shores up the uh it provides an incredible amount of Financial Security for the PJ tour immediately right now in a very very very tumultuous time you know part of the SSG deal was a

Commitment to player comp for the next five seasons um which you know that’s a big deal right now with the competitive threat we have and just all the turmoil around professional golf um so immediately that’s the answer um the player directors worked really hard to make sure I’m sure the player Equity

Program is something that’s been talked about a lot today so far we worked really hard to make sure that that doesn’t just reach the top players it reaches all fully exempt members on the PGA tour so you know while my piece of that and deservedly so won’t be big

Right now I will have a stake in what the PGA Tour is doing and all all the guys like me who have you know played out here earned the right to be full exempt tour players but maybe haven’t uh you know achieved all they want to um

They’re they’re going to have a stake in the PJ tour and be a stakeholder and and be motivated to help build this product to make it better and better and better for all of our constituents our sponsors our fans um our our Media Partners um so

I think I think that’s those are the two things it there’s a lot of things but those are the two things that immediately come to mind it Shores up um it provides so much security to the tour right now in a tumultuous time and it gets all players all exempt players on

Tour aligned um and incentivized to help make this tour even better for for everyone is this Equity piece for players is it something that you have to vest in sort of like the retirement program I know there’s a lot of not not a lot of details yet exactly and you

Know as it should be that I think that’s that’s pretty uniform across um across Corporate America too you know with with Equity um you you have to invest it’s a retention tool and obviously um you know it’s something that is important to our members it’s going to be valuable for

Our members um but it also comes with comes with the deal you you’ve got to stick around you’ve got to earn it with uh with loyalty and and you’ve got to perform you got to stay on tour um to to vest those you know those that those

Shares Peter one of the questions I would have is the 501c3 status that the PGA Tour have this is separate away from that but if the profit that comes from this is going to be fed back in to the PGA Tour is is it is it going to be

Sustainable to keep that status so um that that question is obviously way above my my pay grade but I have learned a ton about that and um so the you know the tour every every part of this deal that was something that was important both to the leadership of the tour and

SSG once they realized our structure that we were able to maintain that because I think there’s a lot of benefits to um the 501 C6 uh status that the tour has and with you know professional tax advisers that are very sophisticated uh both parties feel really confident that we are going to be

Able to grow the business while maintaining the tax exempt status at the um at the PJ tour incorporated level do you idea that an agreement likely will be forged be between this new entity and the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia do you you have any res

Reservations at all on that front given how fraught and complex geopolitics are in in this day and age that that if they end up on the wrong side of of something you guys in in a much more public front-facing business than say you know Starbucks or wherever else they’re

Invested you know you have any reservations at all about that you know so I I I personally of course um when when the announcement of June 6th came I I I did have reservations for sure um and you know to this point I still am very very uncertain of of how those

Negotiations are going I know both parties um the PGA Tour and our new investment partner uh SSG um feel comfortable with the talks they’re having um and so that process is is going to play out and I’m going to reserve judgment for now for sure um but

I I yeah that that there it’s obviously a fraud issue yeah uh Peter uh congratulations I mean I know how hard you and and tiger and everybody else uh worked to get to this point you know everybody feels pretty positive about uh this first step going forward after all of the uncertainty and

All the tumult this is actually I mean this is absolutely a day to celebrate like like the the you know the PGA Tour I think I think it has historically been the ultimate place in the world for for professional golfers and and um this is

Just a step to cement that okay and also hats off you got your hat right there to uh Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T uh for bringing us all together on this momentous day and four good ones are going to be wild with this weather thank you for stopping by wish you the best

This week have a great tournament uh and battle it out against Mother Nature hour coverage gets underway tomorrow round one of the AT&T Pebble Beach proam uh 3:00 Eastern time it streams as well on peacock same on Friday and then early round coverage Saturday and Sunday at

1:00 Eastern and as well on peacock a great thanks to Peter Mady all of our guests our hardworking crew up here that had to scramble to put it all together for Paul McGinley and Johnson Wagner I’m rich learner so long for now from Pebble Beach