Sports and entertainment giant Endeavor — the parent company of UFC, Professional Bull Riders, and the IMG and WME agencies — strongly considered a $1 billion investment in LIV Golf before backing away, according to company chief executive Ari Emanuel.

Speaking on Freakonomics Radio, Emanuel said Endeavor was approached by LIV Golf stars Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson about funding the upstart golf property, and the company began internal discussions for a $1 billion investment. Endeavor’s support would have replaced LIV Golf’s backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which started in 2021.

Emanuel claimed Endeavor scuttled the proposed deal, largely at the behest of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, whose organization is currently embroiled in competitive and legal disputes with LIV Golf.

“We’re all connected in golf,” Emanuel said. “And [the PGA Tour] said, ‘Please don’t do it.’ So we stopped. I’m friends with Jay. We have a lot of business with Jay. I don’t want to hurt Jay.”

Emanuel warned Monahan that he would need to respond to the LIV Golf challenge, which the PGA Tour has done through increased tournament purses and schedule adjustments.

“I said to Jay, ‘We’re pulling out. But you have got to figure out an economic solution here because … it’s going to force you.’ And he did,” Emanuel said. “To his credit, I think Jay did an incredible job.”

Emanuel added that he has no moral position on LIV Golf’s backing from Saudi Arabia, a country widely rebuked for its history of human rights abuses.

LIV Golf declined to comment to Front Office Sports.

After years of exorbitant transfer fees and wages, European soccer finally seems serious about limiting how much clubs spend on players.

UEFA is planning on setting a cap on player wages and transfers in a single season, rules which would impact competitions including the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1, according to The Times.

No monetary figures have been seriously discussed, but the potential cap would complement the existing Financial Fair Play regulations that limit European clubs’ operational spending to 90% of revenue this year, 80% next year, and 70% in 2025.

Implementing a cap would require approval from the European Union and agreement from the European Club Association, the European Leagues, and the players union FIFPRO.

UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin previously said a spending cap was necessary for a healthy future of professional soccer. 

“If the budgets go sky high, then the competitive balance is a problem,” he told the Men In Blazers podcast. Čeferin added that all clubs, small and large, were in favor of the salary cap idea.

Real Madrid and Manchester United just became the first two soccer clubs to be valued at more than $6 billion by Forbes, underlining the enormous growth of Europe’s richest teams.

The ongoing decline of the crypto market has left more commercial wreckage in sports — as an affiliate of the NFL Players Association scrambles to recoup nearly $42 million.

The union’s annual report recently filed with the U.S. Department of Labor detailed $41.8 million in accounts receivable through OneTeam Partners — a joint venture involving the NFLPA, several other pro athlete unions and the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, among others — saying there remains “uncertainty” surrounding collection of the money.

According to The Athletic, the unpaid funds look to be connected to sharply declining activity surrounding non-fungible tokens (NFTs), particularly those produced by Dapper Labs and DraftKings, both of whom have already sought to renegotiate licensing deals with the NFLPA. 

The unpaid funds represent roughly a fifth of the union’s annual commercial activity. 

Many individual crypto currencies have lost most of their value following a bull run in 2021. FTX’s collapse was the most notable, leading to an arena name change in Miami and multiple lawsuits.

Other crypto-related companies, however, have faced similar issues including VirtualStax and Crypto Capital. Early this year, Fanatics divested its interest in NFT company Candy Digital, believing that NFTs are “unlikely to be sustainable or profitable as a standalone business.”

The NFLPA nevertheless remains healthy overall as executive director DeMaurice Smith serves in his final term with the union. It boosted its total assets 5% to $1.055 billion in 2022, thanks in part to ongoing strength in core licensing categories such as video games, trading cards, and apparel.

The union hasn’t commented on the NFT contract issue.