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The boss of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund said he’s still hopeful a deal to combine the Saudi-backed upstart LIV golf tournament with the PGA could still happen, despite more than two years of inconclusive negotiations.
“Hopefully, in the future we will be able to bring the game of golf together,” Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Public Investment Fund and chairman of LIV, said at The Economic Club of Washington DC. He didn’t elaborate further on the status of the talks.
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A merger of the two rival golf tournaments would “increase the size of the pie” by attracting a bigger audience who don’t play the game, similar to the approach of Formula 1 racing and tennis, which both had great commercial success, he said. “The fan base of the sport is mainly golfers [now], we have zero spectators,” he said.
The PGA and LIV announced a ‘framework agreement’ in June 2023 to unify men’s professional golf and halt legal battles over players defecting to the Saudi-backed tour. But progress has since stalled, even after US President Donald Trump met with Al-Rumayyan and PGA officials in February to try to broker a deal.
Separately during his speech in Washington, Al-Rumayyan said PIF would continue its pursuit of big international investments while prioritizing domestic development. The fund has been using its financial muscle to make investments in international firms and bring them to the kingdom to help its economic diversification plan.
Notable
- Talks on the PGA-LIV merger have gone quiet since February’s White House meeting, Adam Scott of the PGA Tour’s player advisory board said in July.