Looking to significantly bolster its sports portfolio, Endeavour CEO Ari Emanuel confirmed that his company has made a bid for a stake in the PGA Tour.
Revealing the news to Bloomberg TV, Emanuel confirmed that there are seven other bidders vying for a stake in the US golf league.
Emanuel said: “They created an investment profit for the PGA. We put in a bid I think a week ago. I’m an avid golfer. It’s one of the great sports, I love it. I think we can add to it like we’ve added to all of our sports on the flywheel.”
The PGA Tour has recently opened its arms to investment opportunities to the likes of Endeavour and Fenway Sports Group by creating an investment profit arm.
It is unclear what this new investment arm entails for the deal the PGA Tour struck with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour last summer. The details of the PGA-LIV Golf merger revealed that the Saudi-backed golf tournament would be an exclusive partner of the PGA for commercial businesses and rights of all three tours.
LIV Golf investors also were handed the opportunity to veto any external investment. However, with the PGA opening another investment opportunity for external investors, it seems as if the US golf association is looking to maximise its capital.
When Emanuel was asked by Bloomberg TV if Endeavour’s bid had any bearing on LIV Golf’s investment, he replied “we put in our bid”.
The Endeavour CEO was also pushed as to what extent the stake in the PGA entails, with a seemingly reserved response of “you can’t buy the majority”.
Endeavour has become one of the powerhouses of sports ownership and entertainment over the last several years, buying the UFC in 2016 and more recently the WWE in April of this year.
Both entities then merged under the trading title name ‘TKO’, which has a combined value of over $20bn.
