As more top-ranked golfers defect for the LIV Golf Series, the PGA Tour is making changes to compete with its well-heeled rival.

The Tour is raising prize purses and adjusting its calendar and the rules of certain tournaments.

• The prize purses of eight tournaments will increase by a total of $53.8 million. The Players Championship’s purse will rise to $25 million, from $20 million this season, and six others will grow to $20 million.
• The Tour will return to a calendar-year schedule in 2024.
• There will be three new no-cut tournaments, a change that partly matches LIV’s system in which each golfer is guaranteed a spot in tournaments for which they’re under contract.

This week, Brooks Koepka became the latest major tournament winner to accept a reported signing bonus of over $100 million to leave the PGA Tour for LIV.

LIV is considering adding a women’s tour or organizing mixed tournaments, sources confirmed to Front Office Sports.

Same Market, Different Goals

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan did not mince words in discussing the challenge of competing with a league with seemingly bottomless resources and in no apparent rush to turn a profit.

“If this is an arms race, and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can’t compete,” said Monahan, calling LIV an “irrational threat.” 

“The PGA Tour, an American institution, can’t compete with a foreign monarchy that is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to buy the game of golf.”

Nike has decided to fully remove itself from the Russian market three months after suspending operations in the region following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In March, Nike cut off online sales to the region, saying it could not “guarantee delivery of goods to customers in Russia.” Now, more than 100 Nike stores in Russia will close their doors. 

Nike joins a growing list of sports-related companies exiting the Russian market. 

• FIFA: Banned Russia from the 2022 World Cup.
• Formula 1: Canceled its 2022 Russian Grand Prix.
• UEFA: Banned Russian teams from the Champions League and Europa League.
• Wimbledon: No players from Russia and Belarus will be able to participate this year. 

Nike won’t skip a beat despite leaving Russia, which makes up less than 1% of its total sales. The world’s largest athletic apparel retailer generated $10.9 billion in revenue in fiscal Q3, a 5% increase year-over-year, beating analysts’ estimates of $10.6 billion in revenue for the quarter. 

Brand Finance’s annual review revealed that Nike’s brand value jumped 9% to $33.2 billion in 2022, making it the most valuable apparel brand in the world. Last year, Nike’s brand value dropped 13% from 2020 to $30.4 billion, but the company still managed to hold the top spot. 

New Opportunity  

Nike is teaming up with Apple to create a series of sports-focused films. Through a multiyear deal, Apple Original Films will work with Nike’s Waffle Iron Entertainment and Makeready.

The two brands have collaborated in the past on products including the Apple Watch.

A new product category is making its way into MLB sponsorships: CBD.

The league and its teams can now link up with brands advertising cannabidiol products, a compound that occurs naturally in cannabis, provided they have non-psychoactive levels of THC.

• MLB requires that any sponsor CBD products will have to be approved by the commissioner’s office and be certified by global health organization NSF to have non-psychoactive THC levels.
• No products have received the latter designation, but three-to-five are in process, according to MLB chief revenue officer Noah Garden.
• Teams will be allowed to sell stadium signage, digital activations, and — starting next year — jersey patches to CBD brands.

“Our fans are very much the kind of customers they are looking for, and we like being first,” said Garden. 

The NFL, NBA, and NHL all prohibit CBD deals. In March 2021, UFC signed a five-year sponsorship deal with U.K.-based hemp and CBD product producer Love Hemp.

“The last few companies that came to see us about this, the process of NSF certification was embraced,” said Garden. “That gave us a comfort level to be able to move forward.”

State of the States

While cannabis remains illegal federally, it is legal for adult use in 19 states, with Rhode Island joining the pack last month.

CBD products are legal in some form in almost every state, but some only allow use under very limited circumstances.

The Arizona Coyotes’ housing saga continues.

The Tempe City Council voted earlier this month to move negotiations forward with the NHL and the Coyotes for a new arena. On Wednesday, the team pitched a $1.7 billion plan for a 46-acre property that includes an arena and an entertainment district.

Coyotes team president and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez told ESPN earlier this week the team would pay for the entirety of a new district.

“We have [been met with] some skepticism about that, but that truly is what we’re proposing,” he said.

Home Rink on Ice

After being cut off from renewing its lease at Gila River Arena in Glendale, the Coyotes decided to play their 2022-23 season at Arizona State University’s multipurpose arena. 

The $115 million facility is expected to be completed in October, but the Coyotes have to follow certain NHL arena rules if they want to compete there. 

• The team is paying more than $20 million for a 15,000-square-foot structure on the edge of the ASU arena.
• It will include locker rooms, training areas, equipment rooms, and more.

The Phoenix Business Journal reported that modifications to the building won’t be finished until December, well after the NHL season starts in October.

Instead of playing away games for the first two months of the season, the team is reportedly working with Oak View Group and the NHL to get the team into the arena before December.