WEBVTT - Fire Drill 040: Unintended Consequences 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.119 The golfers who are on the outside decided to unionize 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.079 and say, well, you know what, you thirty guys, you 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.360 forty guys, you sixty guys. You guys do your thing 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.200 Without us, They're gonna find they don't have a PGA Tour. 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.120 So it's gonna be a very fine balancing act of 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:21.640 inclusion and and elitism. I got dots in my head. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:30.160 Can't get John nothing thing what I'm thinking about. Can't 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:43.680 get them out, not to think, but I'm thinking about. Hello, 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.839 and welcome back to another fire Drill podcast. There is 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.160 so much to talk about. Huge day for the PGA 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.479 Tour and professional golf. We're gonna get into all of 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.400 that right quick as they say here in Atlanta. But 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:57.800 let's take a moment to thank our corporate sponsors who 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.880 make this stuff possible. I've got this big asked ad 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.160 read I need to get through. So UM part Points Golf, 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.440 our favorite golf scoring app. You've heard us talk about it. 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.760 It really does make the game more fun. Download the 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.800 app today, you won't regret it. UM and then we 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:18.680 have Dormy Network. They make beautiful artisanal leather goods. If 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.640 you go to UM firepit dot com slash shop. You 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.440 can see what we're selling. Put in fire Drill as 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.119 the promo code, and you can get some very nice 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.680 merchandise which will spiff up your golf bag. I highly 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.480 encourage that. All Right, we paid the bills. Now let's 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.560 have some fun on the line. We have really quickly. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.440 We paid the bills. But uh, we paid the bills. 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.959 But it's fire Pit Collective dot Com. Just start there. 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:48.880 That's fine, almost got it. That's fine. Ryan friends from 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.360 the top. We have Ryan Friends who's always here to 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.520 correct about Alan. Can you just say this about power points? 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.080 As we say in Atlanta, I love him to death. 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.640 Uh indeed, and uh that's Michael Bamberger. Both Ryan and 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.640 Michael are in the fire Pit offices in Oceanside, California, 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.720 as part of a little boondoggle slash junket um and 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.560 um jealous, I'm not there. We also have Macbarnhardt, the 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.520 Jerry McGuire of golf agents on the line. He's gonna 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:24.359 help walk us through, um, the very rapidly shifting landscape. UM. 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.480 Let me just start real quick with some observations. Because 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.040 I was in the room where it happened. I'm here 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.359 at the Tour Championship and for a Wednesday morning press 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.640 conference with Jay Monahan, who is not the most thrilling orator, 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.240 the atmosphere was electric. I mean everyone knew he was 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.960 coming in heavy. To use a Sopranos terminology, like the 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.440 tour is in a fight for its survival and uh Monahan. 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:50.400 Of course, there was a call to action with the 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.720 players only meeting last week in Delaware, which Monahan's said 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:56.200 this only a second time in tour history. You have 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:58.560 to go back to there was a player only meeting. 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:00.120 I don't know if that was fact checked or not, 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.760 but I thought it was cool. And um, he dropped 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.840 a few I don't know. I wouldn't say they were bombs, 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.679 but there was some heavy artillery was was certainly fired. Um. 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.399 As a tour, they've decided they're gonna go to kind 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:16.040 of this twenty super event schedule, big purses. They have 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.679 a commitment from all the top players to play in them. 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.280 In fact, there's now a minimum to play in twenty events. Um, 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.000 there's socialism has come to the PGA Tour. They're going 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.960 to give each player five thousand dollars up front, which 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.680 is interesting because, UM, I'm sure at their dinner tables. 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:35.480 They decry socialism effect on America. But um, that's guaranteed 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:39.120 money as against their winnings. Um, that will make a 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:41.640 lot of rookies and journeymen happy because they get the 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:43.320 money up front, they can pay their bills out having 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:47.320 to worry about it. Um. Those were the two big 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.880 red letter items. There's some other stuff that's also important, 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.560 but that's what we know. There's a lot of questions 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:57.240 that need to be answered. Um, Mac, let's start with you. Um, 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:02.000 you've you've wrapped Superstars, You've you've rep journeyman everything in between. 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.400 How do you see this, uh, this new PGA tour? 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.520 How is it going to play out? I have no idea. Um. 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.680 The one thing we're missing is the field size. How 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.880 do you qualify? Is it just a hundred and fifty 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.520 six people? That? And we know that the top twenty 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:22.039 guys are gonna play in these eighteen events and as 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.640 their cut, And if there is, then what have we 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.240 really done? I mean, there's twenty guys may not benefit 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.680 from this. I don't think these guys have promised to 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.760 play this many events without benefiting financially. So until they 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.240 tell us how many people are playing. How they're going 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.360 to build the field, We're not sure how it affects anything. 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:44.599 It's just it's just more tournaments with bigger purses the same, 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.159 It's just a lot more towards um what would you 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:51.159 call it? More players championships. There will be a cut, 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.960 I know that to be a fact. Um, you know 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.400 the tours. I think the tournament side is going to 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:00.880 be negotiated. At the pack meeting last week, sixty players 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.040 was floated, as as as the field side. That's basically 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.840 a w g C. I'm sure there's pushed back from 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.160 the membership that they want more playing opportunities. And one 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:12.320 of the things that was really discussed is is this 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.320 a closed shop? You know, how how can you go 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.440 from being a young aspiring player or or someone how 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.960 can you elevate yourself into this top player category and 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.479 theme on a hand, and then Rory hammered the point, 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.240 just play better you can. You can play your way 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.320 into that, into that rare fight air. But but to 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:30.800 do that you need to be in the field. So 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:32.560 I think there's gonna it's gonna be happy more than 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.240 sixty spots. But you're right that that was not made public. Um, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.000 Ryan what what are your thoughts because you see things 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:43.560 from from the ground up. I'm curious. Yeah. UM, I 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.359 was surprised actually about the few players I talked to, 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:51.880 you know that are kind of outside looking in at this. UH. 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:55.719 I talked to mostly conditional members. UM. I talked to 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.680 six or seven of them, and one player was like, 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.640 it's a plus over all. Uh. Their biggest concern is 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.960 the field size that we talked about, and definitely that 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.120 they've made it harder for you know, it's easier to 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.200 stay on the tour. It's always been as mcno's and 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.479 my I mean, all of us know, it's harder to 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.479 get to the tour than it is to stay on 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:21.800 the tour, and now they've made that even more. You know, 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.400 that divide even farther. It's going to be even easier 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.880 to stay on the tour, especially to these twenty events, 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.560 and it's going to be even harder to get there. 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:38.480 So um, it's it's uh divided that in UH. Players 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.760 on the bottom, I mean, one player brought up a 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:42.719 very good point that I didn't really think about about 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.480 the five thousand dollars. If you get if you remember 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.120 and you get the five thousand dollars. Um. What this 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:52.039 player said was, I can compete on a level playing 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.680 field from the standpoint of in his playing career, he 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.640 played better, and then he hired physical therapist, then he 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.680 hired a swing coach, then he hired a caddy. He 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:06.400 could afford right that five dollars gives him a more 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:09.200 level playing field from that standpoint. It might not from 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.160 playing opportunities or those kind of things, but I can 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:16.880 immediately hire a nutritionalist or a swing coach or whatever 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.800 and maybe make those opportunities, um a little bit easier. 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.760 But I mean, everybody's concerned about how do you get 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.080 to these twenty events. Um. The PGA Tour has always 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.880 been a clothes shop. It seems to be closing even further. 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:36.280 So that will be interesting how it plays out. Michael, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.080 you've been covering the PGA Tour forever, um that this 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.880 is a pretty seismic shift. What's your take? You know, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.600 right after the US Open, Monahan went to Hartford home 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:47.800 game for him and he said, you know, if this 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.280 fight with the Saudis is over over dollars, we can't compete. 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.880 And here we are in in late August and it's 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.280 been a complete reversal. He's coming in with money. UH, 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.760 He's gonna key his core players. He does not want 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.640 to lose Sam Burns. He does want to lose camp Smith. 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:06.400 He certainly doesn't want to lose Word. He's not gonna 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.640 lose Tiger. And he's competing with dollars, the very thing 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.280 he said that he wasn't going to do so. Obviously, 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.760 a lot has happened between UH, between the US Open 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:17.840 and UH. And here we are at the end of end, 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.360 end of August. It's all it's all about money. It's 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.600 about keeping these star players with money. UH. To Ryan's 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:25.360 point about it's a close shop, and it's always been 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.440 a close shop. It's a very fine balancing act as 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:33.880 Amazon and Starbucks and everybody else is finding out between UM, 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.720 keeping the rich rich, but making sure that the middle class, 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.520 which of course is in quotes here UH, doesn't unionize. Well, 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.959 that happened in baseball once. Once the baseball players unionized, 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.800 even though you know, even the casual fan can't name, 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.080 you know, hundreds and hundreds of baseball players, but that 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.000 baseball union is super powerful. And if the golfers who 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.600 are on the outside decided to unionize and say well, 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.240 you know, you thirty guys, you forty guys, you sixty guys. 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.959 You guys do your thing without us. They're gonna find 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:02.560 they don't have the pH A tour. So it's gonna 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:09.040 be a very fine balancing act of inclusion and and elitism. Well, 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.400 it's just so many questions, like I say, I don't, 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.640 I don't have a lot of answers. I'm gonna ask 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.640 there were twenty two players in the private meeting in Delaware? 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:20.720 Was that correct? It was? Was that the and there's 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.160 gonna be twenty p i P spots paide, So there's 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:24.840 two guys that went to that meeting are not gonna 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.120 get any money. And I'm I'm gonna be it's gonna 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.439 be exciting to me to see if if the twenty 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:33.240 two people in there, that at those at least twenty 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.240 of those get the pr P money, how is that 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.480 going to be distributed. I'm not happy about the pr 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.880 P money. I'll promise you that I think this should be. 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.720 If Rory just said play better, well, how do you 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.240 What has that got to do with the fifteen million 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.360 or a ten million you get for the point system. 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.960 That has got nothing to do with how you play. Um, 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:54.319 so I don't like that. How's it gonna play out? 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.920 I think you just said it once. They tell you 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.480 how the field sizes are, how it benefits of guys, 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.800 how far down the line it benefits. Does it benefit 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.280 enough guys not to keep the other guys from saying 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.560 we're gonna have a union? Um? Does it? How do you? 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.160 How do you keep that going? And you can't really 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.520 say how it's gonna play out. I'll give you an example. 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.120 Will Sala Tourists I think was in the meeting in Delaware? 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:23.200 Is that correct? Um? Or did Okay? Will's now out? 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.560 Where the Will's bound out with a back injury, he 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.840 could be out for the other person. I'm gonna mention 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:30.560 it like Karri's English who was one of the top 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.400 players in the game until he had hip surgery. So 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:38.360 now will does he come back? He? I mean, I 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.360 don't think. Yeah, Harris did not finish Top one and 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.520 FedEx because he couldn't play because of his hips. How 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.280 how do you Okay Will goes into the meeting, but 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:52.120 now Will could fall to d in the world if 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.880 this if you'll say, if he has back surgery, so 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.120 what do you do about these situations to where you 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.600 know your top play there gets injured, like in baseball, 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.800 you put them on reserve, do you bring them back in? 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.320 And again, all that comes down to what are the 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.480 field sizes and how does it play out? Are they cuts? 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.600 And you say there are going to be cuts, um 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.120 the world ranking points. If you put these twenty top 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.160 players into these fields, you're gonna like bunch up these 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:21.760 world ranking points. So now you've got a situation where 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.839 let's say that the last player in the field and 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.240 ninety wins that event with all those world ranking points, 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.360 he's gonna shoot way above some of the guys that 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.520 are your superstars playing in these events. So it's just 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.760 gonna flip flop. And and it's that there's so many 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:45.000 questions about how that around the field sizes, and if 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:46.600 they don't and when they answer that, then I can 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.000 probably tell you how it's gonna play out well. And 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.920 so this is what's interesting to me is that. And 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.120 by the way, just to clarify, you mentioned the Player 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.880 Impact Program the PIP, that that's something I should have 0:11:57.880 --> 0:11:59.880 said at the top. That's doubling from a fifty million 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.440 dollar pool to a hundred million dollars. Winner gets fifteen 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.520 million dollars. And again I asked Monahan and his press comments, 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:11.439 will will be more transparency because no one really understood 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.160 how that was divvied up, and they didn't really make 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.760 the results public. They kind of got leaked out eventually 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.079 and then and then the tour was forced to to clarify. 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.360 But um, that's a lot of money at stake, and 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.400 everyone believes it to be a slush fund that the 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.360 commissioners just using to buy the allegiance of the stars, 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.360 and that's not a great look for you know that 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.480 one of the tours talking points is we're a meritocracy, 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.680 we're hardcore competition and live golf is getting guaranteed money 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.319 and they're devaluing the soul of the sport with his 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.960 guaranteed money. Well, um, you know, if you're Roy McElroy, 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:45.199 you're pretty much guaranteed you're either gonna be ten or 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.000 fifteen million dollars. I'm sure it'll be top two and 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.040 the pif no matter what, because they want to reward 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.480 it for his loyalty and Tiger as well. So, um 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.040 that that talking point of meritocracy took a hit today. 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.920 But um, for me, A big fundamental issue is there's 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.040 now two PGA tour is it? It was always kind 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:03.600 of there, you know, there was there was there was 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.000 the big events, and there was the second tier events. 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:07.960 But they could at least hope that they could attract 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:11.240 some of the great players if if um, if the 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.559 scheduling worked out, or if they wooed the wife and 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.480 the caddy or whatever it was. But you know, there's 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:18.720 there's now going to be more than two dozen second 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.880 tier events where they're not gonna get anybody in UM. 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.199 There was so much talk today. It was clearly a 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.040 talking point because both Jordan's Speed and Rory McIlroy used 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.880 the term improve the product, like we're improving the product. 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.120 We can get the best players together more often, and 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.200 we're going to improve the product. But when more than 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:39.280 half year events UM have no stars, that's a real problem. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.199 And what do you guys think about how the torque 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:43.719 kind of bridge that gap between the halves and the 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:47.880 have mores. Well, my biggest concern and some of the 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:52.880 players I talked to, also uh Alan and Macin and Michael, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:57.080 is how do those second tier events survive? Right? Like 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.920 the corn ferry of tour can't get loses any constantly 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:05.160 can't get sponsors. At what point does Sanderson Farms or 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:10.439 Barracuda or whatever the second tier events? How do they 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.080 commit millions and millions of dollars when they're going to 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.360 get none, not a few like they do now? Not 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:20.680 like oh, you know, Rory's gonna come this year or whatever, 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.040 And I don't know where they like a T and 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.440 T Pebble Beach pro Hum, No one's playing in it. 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:31.120 No one's going to play there. Uh you know, Sanderson Farms, Fortunet, 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:35.720 Napa Valley continue, Like how long do those do? We are? 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.960 Is the PGA tour able to find enough sponsors to 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.880 support an entire another tour? So basically there's corn Ferry Tour, 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.720 this tour, the elite tour. How long can they do that? 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.200 And how long do the members who are supporting it 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.360 and paying for it on the top tour go what 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:57.080 the hell are we doing? Like so that's a very 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:58.880 big concern of a lot of the players. I talked 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.760 to you that this tour within a tour really struggles 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.160 to survive because there's just not enough financial support to 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.240 make it work. That's really well said, Ryan, because you know, 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.320 the underlying purpose of the PGA Tour, by its actual charter, 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.560 is to give playing opportunities to people who want to 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.600 make a living playing golf, and the tour has done 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.560 that very successfully, almost too successfully, because you know, playing 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.040 weekend a week out, as many have said, has gotten 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.840 very dull wares and the time wife Tom Wiscoffe error 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:30.840 it really the count of tour really did end in 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.960 October and October, November, December, and even into January went 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.840 hunting and fishing, and there was there there. It did 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.760 give opportunity for for golf to refresh itself under this scenario. 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.840 You know, these players are are are going to make 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.280 NBA money, NFL money, Major League Baseball money, except for 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.400 the fact that golf is a niche sport. And to 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.920 Ryan's point, no, it's pretty clear for Monahan's Commons today 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.240 they had a slush fund, just like like Phil Mickelson 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.560 has been saying all along, hundreds of millions of dollars 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.600 obvious sleep because this money came from nowhere. It's not 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.040 like Exxon Corps just suddenly wrote a check to the 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.440 PGA Tours. Oh, I've been reading about live. I feel 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.680 so bad for you guys. Let me write a check 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.440 to get you through these next five years. No, so 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.440 that didn't happen. So they're financing this themselves largely. And 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.280 golfs a small business. It looks like a big business, 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.920 but it really isn't, not compared to the NFL, and 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.320 not compared not compared to heavway boxing, even as as 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.600 as diminished that is, so I really don't know how 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:33.000 long term you're gonna pay for all of this. Uh. 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.040 And to that point, this conversation we're having right now, 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.120 no one cares uh and And the reason I say 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.720 it just that way is because the ordinary golf fan 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.520 is going to care about this discussion at all. They 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.240 just want to put on their TV and see players 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.000 they know play good golf shots. And to that point, 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:52.920 I think this is a very positive day for the 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.840 PGA Tour because there will be more events with more 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.760 name players and and and just enough not name players 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.240 who are scratching up that leader board. It's like, oh, 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.640 can this guy knockoff Scottie Sheffler, just like we saw 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.040 last week in Wilmington's so viewed that way, I think 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.960 this is actually a big positive for the PGA Tour 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.399 for now. I think they've really found a way to 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.879 fend off Live, which was of course the impetus for 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.240 this whole thing. So in that regard, you know, my 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.879 hats off, hats off to the PGA Tour and for 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.399 for how they've turned things around in this very tense, 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.560 odd summer and golf the likes of which golf has 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.879 never had. Yeah, I think Matt can probably talk to this. 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.919 But I just see in five to ten years a 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.359 very real possibility that either corn Ferry disappears or this 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.400 second tier becomes the Corn Ferry Tour. I just can 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:42.080 foresee a place where these twenty events or maybe they 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.240 go to twenty five or whatever that is, is the 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:48.199 PGA Tour. I just I just don't see. I just 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.280 don't see this tour within a tour surviving. I just 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.919 can't believe. Again, Michael is a hundred percent spot on. 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.880 No one cares about the Sanderson farms like no one, 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.040 I just is it, and they're going to care I 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.320 mean even less because I mean the players do. I'm 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.760 saying that the hardcore vans do and the local community does, 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:08.919 but it's not enough to put millions and millions and 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.719 millions of dollars up for it. The tour can't afford 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.240 to cut off the pipeline of young players. I mean, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.359 you're gonna see the situation in a couple of years, 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.399 let's say the next tiger Woods. Not that there can 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.399 be a next tiger On pretend in three years, the 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.680 next Tiger Woods is coming out of college, and so 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.639 he hires representation, and representation calls Monahan and any calls 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:32.880 Greg Norman. Alright, I've got player right here. Um, start 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:36.680 the bidding. Do you wanting or not winning? Um? That's 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.320 going to be one of the situations that will come. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.639 But they cannot afford to close the pipeline off. And 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.040 so how do you do that? Do yourself fund that? 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:47.840 I mean, there should be a tour underneath the corntary. 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:52.359 There's that much talent on the rise. But again Michael said, 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:55.880 short term, the tour has now produced a better product 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.880 for at least eighteen events. Okay, um, But the long 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.800 term examples or long term effects or unattended consequences, no 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.320 one can tell yet because you don't know what Live 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.680 Live could respond to this in some way of shape 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.639 or form, And they can't. If you cut the corn 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.080 ferry off and Live comes and creates their corn ferry 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.600 in the US. Then then they then they'll have all 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.840 the young players because the space in five years, how 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.840 old we're gonna have Jordan's speed, Justin Thomas. These guys 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.399 are gonna be getting into their thirties. And we know 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.520 what happens at the thirties. I mean it's there's a 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.800 slow decline. At thirty eight, it's it's more progressive. And 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.520 at forty two, you know, it's so the tour they 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:46.560 can't cut off. They're young superstars. And two years ago 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:51.720 Scottie Scheffler was not even on the radar, and now 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.720 he's the number one player in the world. And who's 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.399 the next Scottie Scheffler setting out there that may go 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.320 out to bid or and that could be two years now. 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:02.400 And I was gonna bring up one point, you guys 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.879 talking about NFL money in Major League Baseball money, The 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.760 one difference in the tour is their careers are much longer. 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.560 I mean, an NFL player's career is so short, so 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:17.160 if he's making but I mean tour players now playing 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.200 for forty years if they want so, it's not really 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.960 apples to apples when you're talking about salaries for those 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:29.920 athletes versus the tour athletes. But it also those guys 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.800 in baseball football don't pay their own they don't pay 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.119 their expenses, and so now the tour has done that 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.359 for them. So they're gonna guarantee their expenses, which is 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:40.199 I mean, which is great. But if you play fifteen 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:44.040 events on tour and you don't make five thousand, that 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.320 will probably the last check you get from the PGA tour. 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.600 I mean, for as much money as they're playing, you 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.320 better be able to make the half a million dollars 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.479 plan I heard. Yeah, so that's I heard some interesting 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.280 scuttle but about that there there's already some talk like, well, 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:00.240 what if you're a say Luke Donalds or even a 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:02.760 Davis Love you have you can cash in your your 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:06.359 career exemptions or whatever. You can play fifteen events, you 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:07.879 know you're gonna make half a million, not you might 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:09.560 not make a cut, and but you get to keep 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.439 the money. Um, And that there's that's gonna be an 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:14.840 interesting scenari if anybody try it goes down that road. 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:18.240 But I do have some insight about sponsorship dollars and 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.360 how this is gonna work because I had a very 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.119