OBNOXIOUS GREED” PHIL MICKELSON DROPS HUGE BOMBSHELL (!) ON PGA TOUR
Phil Mickelson has dropped yet another bombshell by declaring the PGA Tour had multiple opportunities to avoid division in the world of golf back as far back as October 2021 but “obnoxious greed blinded their judgement”.
Mickelson, who joined LIV Golf in the summer of 2022 for a reported record $200m, took to Twitter on October 27 to reveal the “three opportunities” the PGA Tour had to prevent division in the world of professional golf the past 24 months.
The six-time major champion tweeted in response to an article on ESPN that stated the PGA Tour had recently declined their offer to collaborate because of their framework agreement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (Saudi PIF). Endeavor is the parent company of the WWE, the UFC, and sports agency IMG, among other companies.
It’s understood that Endeavor wanted to add more work to its portfolio with the PGA Tour, which already includes managing events and selling commercial rights.
Mickelson, 53, wanted it to be known “for clarity’s sake” that Endeavor did not try to invest in the PGA Tour two years ago but that it was global private equity firm, Silver Lake.
Scroll down for Mickelson’s bombshell…
Lefty’s lengthy tweet explained how Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel wanted to run eight elevated events back in October 2021 and the players and Silver Lake would own these new elevated events 50/50 in a separate entity.
It is rumored that PGA Tour chairman Ed Herlihy retaliated against these ideas, wanting the PGA Tour to own them outright.
A new Saudi-backed golf league was “going to happen,” Silver Lake informed PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan four months later in February 2022, adding that these eight elite events “could prevent players from leaving” the PGA Tour.
Mickelson quoted Monahan as saying, “The players won’t go, they know what we will do to them.”
Silver Lake then went back to Monahan one last time in May 2022 to have the exact same conversation, but Monahan shook his head once more.
Mickelson then concluded his tweet:
Let’s get the fact straight. All of this is in discovery of the civil case if it can be obtained. If not, I have it too.”
Here’s Mickelson tweet in full:
Mickelson tweeted:
“For clarity’s sake, Endeavor didn’t try to invest 2 years ago, SilverLake did. Ari and Endeavor were to run 8 elevated events and the players and SilverLake would own the new elevated events 50/50 in a separate entity. October 30,2021 Ed Herlihy said the Tour would take a hostile view and shut this down if it’s not 100% owned by the PGA Tour. Then in February of 2022 SilverLake went back to Monahan and said The League was going to happen and these new elevated events could prevent players from leaving and Jay said “the players won’t go, they know what we will do to them” so we won’t be doing this. SilverLake went back to Jay again May of 2022 and the same conversation took place. Jay and Ed had 3 opportunities to have elevated events that would be fully funded and could prevent division but their need to control everything(obnoxious greed) blinded their judgement. Let’s get the facts straight. All of this is in discovery of the civil case if it can be obtained. If not, I have it too.”
Sportico claims that earlier this season, Endeavor CEO Emanuel came dangerously close to investing $1 billion into LIV Golf.
At Emanuel’s friend Monahan’s request, he chose to rescind his offer.
Bloomberg revealed earlier this month that a number of problems are likely to cause the PGA Tour and Saudi PIF to postpone their ongoing framework agreement.
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