Endeavor, Fenway Group considering an investment in the PGA

The world's biggest entertainment company and the owners of the Boston Red Sox may have golf in their sights.

The PGA Tour has begun talks with Endeavor and the Fenway Sports Group about a possible investment in the golf organization, according to Gillian Tan and Lucas Shaw at Bloomberg. Another firm, KKR & Co., has also started exploratory talks with the tour.

This news comes as the PGA is still hoping to bring its planned union with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour (the European Tour) to fruition by the end of the year. The shocking announcement that the rival tours would merge after contentious legal and publicity battles was the biggest sign of intentions from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to diversify its finances through sports outside of its borders. The Saudis have been accused of "sportswashing" to counter its poor human rights record, its alleged role in the September 11th attacks back in 2001 and the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.

Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince, dismissed the "sportswashing" claims in an interview with FOX News last Thursday.

In a statement to Bloomberg, the PGA said:

“Throughout 2023, the PGA Tour has demonstrated its strength, reach and value as an enterprise. Our focus continues to be on finalizing an agreement with the Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour, however, our negotiations have resulted in unsolicited interest from other investors.”

Endeavor recently made waves with a new television deal for WWE Smackdown, the flagship show of its new subsidiary World Wrestling Entertainment, that brings the show back to Comcast's NBCUniversal in 2024 after five years on FOX. WWE is part of the TKO Group, which was formed as a merger of the wrestling promotion and UFC. 

Fenway Sports Group, meanwhile, has also been in acquisition mode for the last few years. It recently acquired the assets of what was formerly the regional sports channel for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the NHL team it owns. FSG also plans to develop the area surrounding its namesake Fenway Park.