‘It’s My Baby’: Head of LIV Golf’s Funding Source to Meet With Team Captains on League’s Future
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund that bankrolls LIV Golf, is on-site at Valderrama at the LIV Golf Andalucía event for a meeting with key captains Thursday.
Al-Rumayyan, who around LIV Golf goes by “HE” for “His Excellency,” has not met with players since the announcement June 6 of the suspension of hostilities and agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF.
Al-Rumayyan has had numerous talks with players before and after the deal was announced on CNBC that Tuesday morning.
One player offered up in one of his discussions about the future of LIV that Al-Rumayyan’s response was “it’s my f---ing baby,” which could be translated to believe LIV is not going anywhere if Al-Rumayyan has a say.
Many players are unsure of the future of a league that just experienced its first birthday, but have expressed a desire to stay where they are. Some said they would like to play an occasional PGA Tour event, but would not want to be bothered to take up membership in the future.
“I don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Joaquin Niemann said Thursday. “I think it’s great for golf to be all on the same page, but yeah, I think it’s too early to tell what’s going to happen. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen, though.”
The framework agreement was clear on the suspension of hostilities that included a dismissal of all legal actions with prejudice between the parties, which in the U.S. occurred June 30 when District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman signed the order of dismissal.
The remainder of the framework agreement is much harder to define as a recently released copy of the five-page agreement between the parties provided little clarity and few answers to either side’s constituency.
The PGA Tour and those that speak on either behalf of the Tour or were involved in the negotiations with Al-Rumayyan and PIF have been adamant that the PGA Tour and its executives will control not only the PGA Tour, a nonprofit entity, but the new company which will be named PGA Tour Enterprises and will be a for-profit company where LIV’s assets will reside and its future.
A logical reading of the document could lead a prudent person to question that if the Tour will run the business, how does the person that controls all the money figure in?
Most LIV players believe that Al-Rumayyan, who has provided assurances to some players he has talked to, will continue to support LIV no matter the results of an objective empirical data evaluation of LIV that is called for in the framework agreement.
LIV players also believe that the money and the source of the money is the key component of what the future looks like.
It’s not likely that anything will be decided in the Thursday meeting in Spain, but it’s a first step to get the key players on the same page about the future.