Tiger Woods wipes a driver’s fist on the 18th tee field in the course of the first spherical of the PGA TOUR Champions PNC Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Membership on December 17, 2022 in Orlando, Florida.
Ben Jared | PGA Tour | Getty Photographs
A coalition of American sports activities buyers led by Fenway Sports activities Group has entered the ultimate spherical of negotiations to turn into co-investors in a possible deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Funding Fund, based on an inner memo obtained by CNBC.
The Fenway-led consortium, referred to as Strategic Sports activities Group, contains a wide range of investor and personal fairness names equivalent to Celtics majority proprietor Joik Groesbeck, Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts and Cohen Non-public Ventures, a enterprise capital agency owned by New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen. .
Traders additionally embrace, based on the memo, Milwaukee Brewers proprietor Mark Attanasio, Residence Depot co-founder Arthur Clean, Liverpool FC proprietor John Henry, Boston Pink Sox proprietor Tom Werner and others.
The memo indicated that the strategic sports activities group was chosen after a cautious overview of the proposals of different exterior buyers. The PGA Tour had beforehand rejected a suggestion from TKO’s majority proprietor Endeavor Group Holdings.
With the pool of buyers narrowed, the PGA Tour mentioned it goals to carry additional negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund within the coming weeks.
The information comes as time is operating out for the PGA Tour to safe the long-awaited take care of the Public Funding Fund, which owns the DP World Tour and LIV Golf. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan beforehand mentioned the events aimed to finalize the deal by December 31.
The PGA Tour and PIF agreed to merge in June, however went forwards and backwards over the particular phrases of the deal due partially to resistance from big-name PGA Tour gamers like Rory McIlroy. The deal has additionally confronted an investigation from lawmakers who query Saudi Arabia’s intentions, claiming the nation could also be making an attempt to realize affect in the US by sports activities funding.
– CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.