PM: One thing that was made pretty clear yesterday was that it’s going to be done creatively, it’s not going to be done, oh, you turned down an offer, here is cash. And some people I think, do want that, but others, including some of our biggest stars and leaders, have said there are other ways that we need to do this to reward guys.
The PIP is not a popular program, I don’t think. There’s been talk of equity shares in the new company that’s being formed, you know, the for-profit entity, which again, all this is still hypothetical. I think guys want to see it done in more creative ways than simply, oh, you had an offer for this much and you turned it down, here’s 50 percent of it back to you. I don’t think that’s necessarily how it’s gonna go.
I won’t attribute this quote, but prior to the board meeting, the majority of the PGA Tour players do feel, if nothing else, a sense of shock and anger over the hypocrisy. But you know, there have been varying speeds at which people have recovered from that initial emotional shock. And there are people on Tour who are really on board with this and think they can see the light and see that it would be good. I heard a great quote from a player who is definitely in that top player group, the Delaware group, and he said, ‘I was shocked, and I was mad but now that I kind of understand what’s going on, we need to get out of the way, let smart people do their jobs, and we’ll all make shitloads.’
There’s certainly truth in that there’s the potential for growth in a big way for the Tour. We just have to wrestle with those questions that our commissioner even asked last year, when he went on CBS and he said, ‘Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?’
The answer to that he was implying is no, and also the people who left for LIV do have to apologize. And so now, even if it’s just a minority investment, you’re partnering with those very same people who we were implying were the people that need to apologize. The hypocrisy of that is challenging. Gotta get my head around it still.
But my thought walking out of the boardroom yesterday was there’s a lot of work to do to show the PGA Tour members that this Tour works for them, they do have a say, they do have control, because that certainly hasn’t been the case to this point. But I left the room optimistic because I feel like the best way for the board and the executive team at the PGA Tour to regain the trust of the players is to either A: turn this deal into something that feels morally acceptable and drives tremendous growth to the PGA Tour, or, B: listen to the players, and the players say there’s no way that this can be morally acceptable to us, and we don’t want to do it.
And I think they’re prepared to do both of those things. I think they’re prepared to turn this deal into massive growth for the PGA Tour. I think they’re also prepared to say if there is enough hesitation among the players, we won’t do this.
I left the board meeting still with tons of questions … One way or the other the players are either going to be the ones that put the stop on this deal, or the players are going to benefit greatly from a really, really good deal.
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