PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan reportedly earned over $23m in regular and deferred compensation in 2023.
Sportico reports that it has obtained a copy of PGA Tour Inc.’s 2023 tax return upon request, and it breaks down Monahan’s compensation. That includes a base salary of $1,887,096, bonuses and incentives of $12.1m, $2.5m in estimated benefits to come after he retires and $6.7 million in post-2023 long-term incentive compensation.
As the report points out, though, the overall figure is approximate because around $9m is deferred to future years and could change. Still, as things stand that’s an increase of around $4.4m on Monahan’s 2022 compensation after the regular and deferred figure in 2022 came to $18.6m.
The period covered the bombshell announcement of June 2023 that the PGA Tour had opened discussions with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) behind LIV Golf over a way for the two entities to coexist.
Not surprisingly given a deal has still not been signed off, the tax return also outlines hefty legal fees, although they weren’t as high as 2022. Overall, the PGA Tour spent $18.7m in legal expenditures, a reduction from just under $21 million the year before.
The tax return also details the compensation over the same period for the PGA Tour’s chief operating officer, Ronald Price. He earned over $13m in regular and deferred compensation, among it bonuses and incentives of $7.8m. The report also states that the PGA Tour generated revenue of $1.82bn in 2023 as well as $2.52bn in sales of non-inventory assets.
Following the period covered by the tax return, the PGA Tour announced a $3bn investment with Strategic Sports Group (SSG) through its new commercial venture PGA Tour Enterprises.
Meanwhile, talks with the PIF are ongoing. In October, positive signs the nogotiations were progressing came as Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan were paired together at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Then, earlier in the week, the SSG’s Steve Cohen spoke optimistically about the chances of a deal getting done, despite it now being almost 18 months since the opening of negotiations was announced. He told reporters at a media event in New York on Monday “It’s a lot of moving parts and I think we’ll get there.”
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