An adult website has offered the PGA Tour "up to $30 million" for streaming rights amid its recent merger with former rival LIV Golf.
In an email addressed to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, CamSoda vice president Daryn Parker offered up to $30 million to serve as the official streaming partner for the merged golf league.
"As a fan of golf, I recognize the need for a platform that best suits this new entityâs needs, so with that said, Iâd like to offer you up to $30 million for CamSoda to serve as the exclusive streaming partner of this new PGA and LIV-driven organization for its inaugural season," Monahan wrote in an email forwarded by CamSoda's communications department. "Despite the PGA airing its tournaments on channels such as CBS and ESPN, we believe this is the perfect opportunity to leverage the boom sports have seen in streaming. In light of other leagues pursuing such deals (NFL and Amazon Prime), weâd like to bring golf into the streaming age, airing select events on the CamSoda website. Our site features hundreds of videos from community members and top models via some of the best webcam and broadband equipment in the industry."
The PGA Tour announced its agreement to merge with the Saudi-funded rival LIV Golf as part of a "newly formed commercial entity to unify golf" in a news release shared on its official website.
"The PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) today announced a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis. The parties have signed an agreement that combines PIFâs golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the gameâs best players," the news release stated.
The Public Investment Fund "will make a capital investment" into the newly merged entity "to facilitate its growth and success," according to the PGA Tour. The name of the new entity has not yet been determined as of Tuesday's announcement.
The merger will also result in both sides agreeing to end all pending litigation, with several LIV Golfers, including six-time major champion Phil Mickelson, having previously dropped out of a lawsuit against the PGA Tour last year.
âAfter two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,â said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. âThis transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOURâs history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV â including the team golf concept â to create an organization that will benefit golfâs players, commercial and charitable partners and fans. Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise weâve always made â to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the gameâs future.
Last month, Brooks Koepka became the first player signed to LIV Golf to win a major with a win at the PGA Championship. Several of golf's biggest names have signed multiyear deals with LIV Golf, which has controversial ties to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and was reported to have offered guaranteed contracts ranging between $100 million and $200 million.
In June 2022, the PGA Tour suspended all LIV Golf members, but allowed players who qualified for major tournaments, such as past winners, to compete.