PGA Tour, LIV Golf file motion to drop antitrust lawsuits

LOS ANGELES -- The PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the sovereign wealth fund's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, filed a motion on Friday to voluntarily dismiss with prejudice all legal claims against each other in a federal antitrust lawsuit, according to court records.

In a stipulation filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, the sides agreed that LIV Golf, which is being funded by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), voluntarily dismisses with prejudice its claims against the tour, and that the tour voluntarily dismisses with prejudice its claims against LIV, PIF and Al-Rumayyan.

On June 6, the PGA Tour announced that it plans to form an alliance with the DP World Tour and PIF. A new commercial entity would combine the PGA Tour's and PIF's commercial activities, including LIV. In a news release announcing the deal, the sides said they would end all legal action against each other.

Because the claims will be dismissed with prejudice, neither LIV Golf's antitrust claims nor the Tour's counterclaims that LIV Golf interfered with its contracts with players can ever be refiled again.

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a review of the planned alliance, according to a report Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations have also opened reviews of the new partnership.

Justice Department officials were already scrutinizing the PGA Tour's alleged monopolistic practices, which were outlined in a federal antitrust lawsuit filed by 11 LIV Golf League players in August. They accused the PGA Tour of using its monopoly powers to quash competition and discourage vendors, media companies and others from working with LIV Golf.