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A partnership between the PGA Tour and the European Tour

The two most powerful world circuits announce this Friday a strategic alliance. This agreement will allow the two entities to work on business opportunities, in particular media rights. While waiting for other more concrete elements.

The European Tour, greatly impacted by the pandemic linked to Covid-19, and the PGA Tour have decided to enter together into a new era. A “strategic alliance”, as underlined in the press release of the European Tour published in the middle of the afternoon this Friday, November 27, 2020, is in fact emerging. This landmark agreement will see “the two channels explore all facets of collaboration, working together on strategic business opportunities, including collaboration on global media rights in certain territories.”

As such, the PGA Tour acquires a minority stake – for the moment – in European Tour Productions (ETP), the European Tour media production company, which produces and distributes content internationally. . They will also collaborate on certain other “files” such as calendars, endowments and playing opportunities for their various members.

»READ ALSO – Grizot: “The FFGolf is ready to organize the first PGA Tour tournament in Europe”

Another important point, and anything but trivial, is the entry into the Board of Directors of the European Tour of the current PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan… “This partnership is a historic moment for golf and a fantastic opportunity for golf. European Tour and the PGA TOUR to explore ways to come together at the top of our sport and work in unison for the benefit of the professional men’s game, said Keith Pelley, Managing Director of the European Tour. Today’s announcement is the formalization of a closer working relationship between the Tours in recent years. This crystallized earlier this year when Jay and I were part of the task force with representatives from the four Majors and the LPGA (the US women’s circuit, editor’s note), a group that helped shape the rest of the golf calendar for 2020 in unprecedented times. We shared the challenges of working for a year neither of us could have imagined and we found definitive synergies in many areas of our respective circuits. This gave us the impetus to move forward together and arrive at this momentous announcement that we are making today. “

FedEx points at certain European Tour tournaments?

This announcement comes somewhere in addition to the proposal put forward by Pascal Grizot, the future president of the French Golf Federation (FFG), at the end of last week at our colleagues from the Golf Journal : “I want to be able to offer in Europe a field of players equivalent to that of a PGA Tour tournament in America. And for that, the European Tour will have to take decisions. If he does not take them, he will himself be taken over by the PGA Tour, or by an investment fund that supports one of the four or five takeover projects (among which a Saudi file is favorite, editor’s note)… I confirmed to Ty Votaw (Deputy Director General in charge of International within the PGA tour) that the French Golf Federation, if the PGA Tour resumed the European Tour, was ready to become the first partner of the new entity. And if the European Tour was not ready to transform, the FFGolf is ready to work live with the PGA Tour and make the first PGA tour tournament on European soil! “

According to Golfweek, the details concerning the agreement reached between the two circuits are still vague but several sources suggest a standardization of the calendars, in particular during the period going from September to November (after the playoffs of the FedEx Cup). Certain European Tour tournaments could thus be awarded FedEx points in order to attract players based in the United States to the Old Continent. Another agreement could also allow “easier” access to the PGA Tour for members of the European Tour. But what about promotions via the Korn Ferry Tour, the second US division, part of the very powerful PGA Tour? In short, many more questions and, for the moment, very few clear answers …

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