HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The $1.5 billion initial investment into PGA Tour Enterprises, the circuit’s new for-profit arm, also came with a promise of a collective expertise from Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of sports business leaders led by Fenway Sports.
“We welcome key SSG members to the leadership team, whose exceptional track records and achievements in global professional sports will lend a wealth of knowledge into the opportunities ahead for the PGA Tour,” Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement on March 6 announcing the creation of the PGA Tour Enterprises board of directors.
That board of directors met Tuesday at the RBC Heritage for nearly four hours, according to various sources. There was also a Player Advisory Council meeting that featured Theo Epstein, the former Boston Red Sox general manager who joined Fenway Sports as a senior advisor in February.
According to one member of the PAC, Epstein’s presentation lasted more than an hour and he outlined how Major League Baseball was able to attract new fans and a younger demographic with rule changes and initiatives that made the game faster and more appealing.
The PGA Tour Enterprises board of directors includes Monahan, the six player directors (Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth and Peter Malnati), independent director Joe Gorder, the four SSG directors (John Henry, Arthur Blank, Andrew Cohen and Sam Kennedy) and director liaison Joe Ogilvie.
The partnership with SSG was announced Jan. 31 and includes a “strategic investment of up to $3 billion,” with much of that investment earmarked for player equity into PGA Tour Enterprises.
Members of the board of directors met with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan last month in the Bahamas, and at The Players Championship Monahan said the negotiations with the fund were “accelerating” but added that there are “several key issues that we still need to work through.”
