Rahm will sign for the Saudi golf ‘Super League’ for 550 million, the largest contract in the history of sport
1. The figures
Rahm will sign an agreement for 550 million euros that will keep him linked to LIV Golf until the end of 2029. Five years in which the Basque will become the image of the Saudi circuit.
2. The agent
Steve Loy He is Jon’s agent and the decisive man in the operation. Loy knows perfectly well the keys to the negotiation and the people who are on the other side of the table because he is also the agent of Phil Mickelson, a good friend of Rahm who has played at LIV Golf since the circuit opened in 2022. Loy has been negotiating the incorporation of the Spanish golfer to the Super League for weeks, but it has been in recent days that the details have become known. The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that the Saudis have offered a contract bonus to the Basque and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has already considered the deal closed.
3. The change of posture
Jon Rahm has gone from being the staunchest defender of the PGA Tour to becoming the star signing of LIV Golf. In between, a change has occurred that has to do with the maneuvers that the PGA Tour leaders have made, among whom stood out the man most closely linked to Rah, Commissioner Jay Monahan. While the Basque was showing his face on the classic circuit, negotiations were taking place between them and LIV Golf to reach a merger. Something that would have bothered Rahm, to the point of considering entering the Super League.
4. Captain of the ‘Fireballs’
The LIV Golf format allows you to compete individually and in teams with purses of 20 million per tournament, with 14 for the champion team and another 20 for the winner of the individual annual classification. The fields have 48 players with three-round tournaments (54 holes). Rahm will enter the circuit as captain of a team and everything indicates that he will be the captain of the ‘Fireballs’, the team he captained until now Sergio Garcia. Thus there will be a 100% Spanish team along with Sergio García, Eugenio Chacarra and David Puig.
5. The ‘seniors’, until 2027
Rahm’s idea is to be able to continue playing the ‘big’ tournaments of the classic circuit, at least until 2027. Although he has earned the right, as a winner, to play at Augusta for life and in the US Open until 2031. In the event that a merger agreement is not reached between PGA and LIV, he will have to wait to find out what sanctions will be imposed. It will mean joining the Super League, which could leave it out of the Ryder Cup.
6. The players, shareholders
The idea being negotiated between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) is merge into a for-profit entity to which the Saudis would provide income, distributing shares among the players as a way of distributing profits. A model that has never existed until now and that seems to satisfy all parties. There has been talk of other interested investors such as Endeavor and the Fenway Sports Group if PGA finally decides not to sign with the Saudis.
2023-12-07 21:44:32
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