Tiger Woods wipes his driver grip on the 18th tee field in the course of the first spherical of the PGA TOUR Champions PNC Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Membership on December 17, 2022 in Orlando, Florida.
Ben Jared | PGA Tour | Getty Photos
A coalition of U.S. sports activities traders led by Fenway Sports activities Group have entered the ultimate spherical of negotiations to change into co-investors in a possible deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund, the PGA Tour introduced on Sunday.
The Fenway-led consortium, named Strategic Sports activities Group, consists of a wide range of investor and personal fairness names like Celtics majority stake proprietor Wyc Grousbeck, Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts and Cohen Personal Ventures, a enterprise capital agency of New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen.
The investor record additionally consists of Milwaukee Brewers proprietor Mark Attanasio, House Depot co-founder Arthur Clean, Liverpool Soccer Membership proprietor John Henry and Boston Purple Sox proprietor Tom Werner amongst others.
The announcement famous that Strategic Sports activities Group had been chosen after a rigorous overview of different exterior investor affords. The PGA Tour had beforehand turned down a proposal from TKO majority proprietor Endeavor Group Holdings.
Because it narrows down its investor pool, the PGA Tour mentioned it could goal to additional negotiations with the Saudi PIF within the coming weeks.
The information comes as time is working out for the PGA Tour to safe the long-awaited cope with the PIF, which owns the DP World Tour and LIV Golf. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan beforehand mentioned that the events would goal to complete the deal by Dec. 31.
The PGA Tour and the PIF agreed to the merger in June however have gone forwards and backwards on the precise deal phrases due partially to resistance from big-name PGA Tour gamers like Rory McIlroy. The deal additionally confronted probing from lawmakers who’re skeptical of Saudi Arabia’s intentions, claiming that the nation could be attempting to achieve affect within the U.S. by way of sports activities funding.
– CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.
