US Justice Department looking into PGA-LIV deal

The federal agency is investigating whether agreement to merge golf industry breaches antitrust statutes

Players practice on the driving range at an LIV Golf Invitational Series event in St Albans, north of London. AFP

The US Justice Department has begun to examine an agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabian backers of LIV Golf to determine whether it breaches federal antitrust statutes.

The inquiry is in its early stages, and it is not clear yet whether the Justice Department would take any enforcement action, a source said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the Justice Department's involvement.

“We are confident that once all stakeholders learn more about how the PGA Tour will lead this new venture, they will understand how it benefits our players, fans and sport while protecting the American institution of golf,” the PGA Tour said.

The PGA Tour, the European tour and Saudi Arabia's national wealth fund came together in a partnership that was negotiated so privately over two months that none of the players were aware.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had been critical of LIV Golf since the rival circuit began poaching some of golf's biggest names with signing bonuses of $100 million or more, money provided by the Public Investment Fund.

The PGA Tour suspended players who defected to LIV, such as Phil Mickelson, leading to 11 players and eventually LIV to file an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour last August.

The PGA Tour then filed a countersuit, and the case was not expected to go trial until at least 2024.

Part of the agreement is to drop all litigation. One motivation for the PGA Tour joining with the Saudis was the financial drain from legal fees on lawsuits that were nowhere near close to being resolved.

The Justice Department already was looking into antitrust issues since last summer.

Mr Monahan has described the agreement announced June 6 as a “framework” with plenty of details still to be determined.

The agreement was for the PGA Tour, the European tour and the PIF to pool commercial business and rights into a separate for-profit company. The PGA Tour would continue to operate with its tax-exempt 501-c-6 status.

In a letter to various politicians sent last week, Mr Monahan said he would be chief executive of the new commercial entity, which he described as a subsidiary of the PGA Tour.

“The PGA Tour will at all times hold the majority of the board seats and be in control of this new entity, regardless of the size of PIF’s investment,” Mr Monahan said in the letter.

“The PIF will be a minority investor in the new commercial entity while the PGA Tour will be the majority equity investor. At its core, the PIF is investing in the PGA Tour as it has invested in other US-based companies.”

On Wednesday, US senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden asked the Justice Department's antitrust division to scrutinise the agreement.

“Significantly, the deal appears to have a substantial adverse impact on competition, violating several provisions of US antitrust law, regardless of whether the deal is structured as a merger or some sort of joint venture,” the senators wrote.