Tom Werner, chairman of Fenway Sports Group, acknowledged Monday that the company has held talks with the PGA Tour as the golf organization’s framework agreement with Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf faces new doubts.
“We confirm that we have had conversations,” Werner told CNBC’s Scott Wapner on “Halftime Report.” He declined to comment further.
Werner, speaking alongside PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy, said the players will “determine the direction of the tour.”
Speculation is mounting that Fenway, owner of the Boston Red Sox and the Liverpool FC soccer team, could make a bid that could surpass the Saudis’ offer. The PGA Tour-LIV Golf combination never progressed beyond a framework agreement. Veteran golf journalist Alan Shipnuck last week posted on X that Fenway Sports Group has made a “monstrous attempt to usurp the PIF.”
Monday’s interview with Werner and McIlroy came days after one Endeavor Group Holdings The executive said the PGA Tour has rejected a strategic partnership with the company, which owns a majority stake in WWE and UFC parent company TKO.
The PGA Tour-LIV deal was announced in June. It was a surprising development that came after months of bitter legal wrangling and lobbying. The agreement sparked its own share of anger and criticism, prompting Senate hearings to investigate the deal. Critics claimed the deal was a means for the Saudi Public Investment Fund to gain influence in the US through sports investments. Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman controls the PIF.
McIlroy has been outspoken in his disdain for LIV Golf, saying in July that if LIV Golf was “the last place on earth to play golf, I would retire”.
There was speculation that Mcllory’s efforts to launch the PGA Tour-blessed TGL golf league with Tiger Woods were a response to LIV Golf’s encroachment on the sport. LIV lured PGA Tour players, such as Phil Mickelson, with deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Last month, Disney’s ESPN won the broadcast rights to TGL. Fenway supports McIlroy’s TGL team, Boston Common.
McIlroy sounded friendlier Monday when asked about the potential for a renewed rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
“I feel like we have a fractured competitive landscape right now,” McIlroy told CNBC. “But hopefully, when this is all said and done, I sincerely hope that the PIF is involved and that we can bring the game of golf back together.”