Andy Gardiner, the chief executive officer of the proposed Premier Golf League, believes his group has found a better way forward for the PGA Tour.
Selling the concept – an 18-event schedule of $20 million events blended into a dramatically reconstructed PGA Tour – remains the daunting challenge.
“I’ve never been as confident as I am now,” Gardiner told Global Golf Post. “I’m extraordinarily confident. It just comes down to communication because the logic is incredibly strong.”
Several weeks ago, Gardiner’s group sent the PGA Tour a proposal they called “An Invitation To Discuss,” outlining the far-reaching concept that has been crafted through years of evaluation. To date, the PGA Tour has not responded.
The PGL is different from the as yet unannounced new golf league being led by Greg Norman and LIV Golf Investments.
Under the PGL proposal, the PGA Tour would be converted from a non-profit 501c6 organization into a for-profit operation. The model proposes that PGA Tour members (the players) would remain members of the Tour and have a 50 percent share of ownership in the new league.
Another 10 percent would go to staff and commercial partners as well as members of the Korn Ferry Tour. Ten percent would go to a charitable foundation to grow the amateur game and the remaining 30 percent of net profit would go to the World Golf Group, which owns the PGL.
“We would like to sit down with the executives and/or members of the (PGA Tour’s) Policy Board to explain it,” Gardiner said. “I can understand the apprehension but I believe it will be overcome if we sit down and talk.
“Ultimately if the opportunity is communicated effectively, I do believe a majority if not all the members of the PGA Tour will see that opportunity as a good one.”
At what might otherwise be a relatively quiet time as 2021 winds down, the PGA Tour finds itself facing challenges from two groups. While several top players including Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm have expressed their loyalty to the PGA Tour, others are apparently listening to what is being presented.
According to a tour source, approximately 55 percent of the tour’s consolidated revenue will go to players in 2021.
“There are three models that should be considered,” Gardiner said. “The PGA Tour’s existing model … if you were a member of the PGA Tour, if you were well informed, you would say, ‘Is this the best model there could be? Can it be improved upon?’
“Is that as good as golf gets? Is it as good a vehicle as can be created for the members of the PGA Tour? Obviously our view is there is better.
“There is our model which creates the value, doesn’t create a breakaway, doesn’t create a cliff edge. It really does benefit everybody. I think it’s very good for the sport.
“There is very clearly a third option. That third option hasn’t clearly materialized. I’m not sure what it is.”
Gardiner and his group are selling their concept as “reformation not revolution,” and they see similarities to 1968 when Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were at the forefront of a movement that led the players to break away from the PGA of America, creating the PGA Tour.
“Those 205 or so guys who broke away didn’t do so lightly,” Gardiner said. “If you look back at the comments of the great and the good at the time, they are incredibly similar to the comments about what we are doing.
“History repeating itself. I do think the formation of the (PGA) Tour in 1968 was a good precedent set. This is a modification of that precedent.”
The PGL’s original concept was built around signing a group of the world’s top-ranked players and giving them big signing bonuses in return for their commitment to play every event in the new league. When news of the proposed new concept surfaced, it was reported that the PGA Tour would consider suspending or banning players should they sign with the PGL.
Since then, Gardiner said, the PGL proposal has been restructured to provide value not just to top players but down the line.
“Some (agents) had conversations with me saying this is great for three or four guys. What about the rest?” Gardiner said. “This solves all of the issues we’ve faced. This proposal should benefit all members of the PGA Tour. I believe they could see this being the best thing to happen since Tiger (Woods) emerging in 1996.”
Ron Green Jr.