Details are emerging of how the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf plan to merge their commercial operations and bring the sport's top players back under one new entity.
In a five-page agreement obtained by CNBC, the parties — the PGA Tour, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and Europe's DP World Tour — agreed to create a for-profit subsidiary of the PGA Tour. The new entity will manage commercial assets for all the tours, while the PGA Tour will manage competitions.
Since its launch in 2022, LIV has been mired in controversy and criticism. The PIF is not, in fact, publicly held, as its name might suggest. It is a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and has been accused of "sportswashing," effectively using LIV Golf and other sports investments to improve the image of the oil-rich nation and distract from the kingdom's history of human rights violations.
The tentative agreement also ends player recruitment during the negotiation process and establishes a set of requirements to guide toward the definitive deal, including a nondisparagement clause between all the entities. The entities previously said they would establish "a fair and objective process for any players who want to re-apply for membership with the PGA Tour or DP World Tour" following the end of the 2023 season.
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