How does the PGA Tour react to the LIV Tour? || David Tepper's company declares Chapter 11 bankruptcy

This is the best of the Adam Gold Show Podcast brought to you by Coach Pete at Capital Financial Advisory Group.

Visit us at capitalfinancialusa.com. This is the Adam Gold Show. security. There are a lot of options there. The live golf series.

We all knew was going to happen. There's too much money involved. First of all, your reaction to 125 million dollar guaranteed contract for Dustin Johnson. I don't know if that's the actual number. I think there's a lot of numbers floating around. It seems that falls in the ballpark of what we've heard. Live golf is willing to offer certainly for a player of Dustin Johnson's caliber and pedigree and everything else that goes into it. It's generational wealth. It's what we've talked about the entire time. This isn't a little bit of money.

This is a lot of money. When you look at what DJ has done in his career and maybe the runway ahead of him, in his mind, it's probably a pretty easy decision at this point. Rex Hoggard from Golf Channel is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. I just want to fast forward before I get back to because there are six more spots and it's very possible that some of those players are in the field this week at Memorial. And we already know that there are three players in the field that will be going to London next week.

But what can the PGA Tour really do to make it painful for a Dustin Johnson or Sergio Garcia or Kevin Na, who's part of this as well, to not go? I think Commissioner Jay Monahan has to hold the line on this one. And he talked tough when this first came up.

And he's continued to talk tough. And he's never used the word lifetime ban. My guess is there's lawyers at the PGA Tour that want to stay away from that word lifetime. Courts don't seem to like that particular word when it comes to punishment for players. But I think they can all expect some sort of punishment.

And by all accounts, we're probably going to have to wait. Because I think there's going to be a sliding scale on this. If you play one of the live golf events, next week's events in London, they would probably be one punishment. And anyone who ends up playing all eight, it would be another punishment. And when it comes to a guy like Dustin Johnson, I think you would probably look for the maximum punishment. The tour doesn't have a choice on this matter. It doesn't matter that he's Dustin.

He's former world number one or two time major champion. It probably factors against him in this particular situation. The tour would have to make an example out of everyone.

And Dustin would be at the top of that list. Would it be even better for the tour to simply, without announcing a ban, without a fine, a fine won't matter if you make 100 million or 125 million to play in eight events, could the tour simply rescind membership and everything that comes along with that pension, FedEx cup, other tour perks? Could they simply do that? Sure. Absolutely. And you mentioned the pension. I mean, membership is the first one that you would look at. And certainly we all expect this to end up in court sooner or later because they're independent contractors.

And this is where can be the tipping point. But sort of the unspoken and untold story is the pension. The PGA tour has the best pension in all of golf.

In a former life as a magazine writer, I was part of the big package we wrote about sort of that golden parachute for golfers is absolutely amazing. And everyone who does this is jeopardizing that. Now, there are legal restrictions of what the tour probably can and cannot do to that money. I don't know, as a nonprofit, as a 5013c, if they have the ability to move unilaterally and punish someone and essentially take all of their money out. And then it would be punished. It would be taxed on that. And that would be a huge blow for a guy like Dustin Johnson who has millions in his pension fund.

So that would be the one that would probably hurt the most. Rex Hoggart from Golf Channel is joining us here. Does the PGA Tour need the Masters to back them up on this to the point where maybe Fred Ridley comes out and says, if you play the live series, we will no longer invite you to play an hour tournament? I think the PGA Tour needs all of the majors to back them up in this particular case. And that would be the U.S. Open, which is in two weeks. Right. That's going to be the ultimate tipping point. Right.

Because there's plenty of players who have signed up who are in the field right now next week in London for the first live event who are exempt into the U.S. Open. And we're going to see exactly where that organization stands very, very quickly. And I don't know if that's a fight the USDA is willing to or could even field right now. I mean, because when you start talking about taking away things that have been historically given, then again, I hate to talk in legal terms, but the courts are clearly not going to look very well at that.

I mean, regardless of where you stand. So the tour needs all of the major championships, the USDA, the RNA, certainly Augusta National and the PGA of America to stand with them. I don't know if that's something they can actually do, because you're going to get sort of down in the mud with the PGA Tour.

And I'm not sure if that's the fight they want. Rex Haggard is with us. The European guys, the Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, some others.

I know Richard Bland is also in the field. But those first three, have they forfeited any connection to the European Ryder Cup team now? I think they forfeited every connection to the European Ryder Cup team. I think they've made their decision. And you can almost see this going on and went on behind the scenes.

So no one's exactly sure. But when Henrik Stenson was going to be the Ryder Cup captain, and then he wasn't going to be the Ryder Cup captain, and he ended up being the Ryder Cup captain, you can imagine a scenario where there was a lot of talking going back and forth. You can do whatever you want.

You are an independent contractor. If you choose to go with Liv, that's fine. If you do this, you're going to lose your turn at the wheel. And I think what we're seeing right now is at least three pretty much lock European captains into the near future that have played their way out of it, who have made a decision that will not allow them to be. It's Graham McDowell with Ian Poulter as Lee Westwood.

Those three were going to be European captains, and I don't think that's in the cards now. Yeah, I had forgotten Graham McDowell. He was one of the other RBC golfers. That's the other thing that really made me kind of cringe here is that Dustin Johnson is the number one golfer in the stable from RBC Royal Bank of Canada, the title sponsor for next week's tour stop. And they were using him for all the advertising up there, and he is skipping out on that event and not surprisingly lost his endorsement deal. Will Dustin lose the others? And he's got a pretty long list of endorsements. I think he might.

I reached out to tailor made. I reached out to Adidas yesterday asking what their plans are for all of their staff players going forward who might end up playing in the live golf events and did not hear any comment back. So we don't know exactly where they stand. RBC has been really, really clear on this. If you go back to the Saudi International just played in previous years, Dustin won it twice.

Harold Varner won it once. Both of those players are RBC ambassadors is what they're called. And when they won the Saudi International, they did not have the RBC logo or the RBC backs with them. And that gives you a very clear indication of where that company stood when it came to anything related to Saudi Arabia and the public investment fund that's behind live golf. And there's going to be plenty of other sponsors that make this choice. UPS has already done it with the occasion and Lee Westwood.

They're not going to be alone. That being said, is we started this conversation with $125 million. Whatever money Johnson was getting from RBC or tailor made or do this or anyone else.

It did not compare to $125 million. Yeah, he'll play in a white t-shirt. It doesn't matter.

It would not matter to him. Adam Gold here from my man, Coach Pete DeRuta with the Capital Financial Advisory Group. We are talking retirement.

All right, Coach, simple. When do we start tax planning in retirement? We should start as soon as possible because here's one thing, Adam, taxes are not going away.

And so the game here is we know the rules. A lot of people want to ignore the rules or act like they don't are familiar with them, but the IRS knows the rules. So when we get to retirement, they're going to reach in and start taking some of their money out of your accounts. So the secret here is to put a force field around as much as possible by strategically moving some of our money to Roth IRA or some of the other vehicles that aren't taxed, like special life insurance policies.

You can borrow against your money there and never have to pay tax on your money that you build up inside your cash value. So there are a lot of strategies here. The one strategy that does not work is ignoring it.

So let's make sure to not ignore it. The next 10 people will do for you your very own tax and retirement plan that will help you minimize taxation all the way through retirement. 800-661-7383. All you got is call or you can text Adam to 21000 for Coach Pete DeRuta. Final thing for Rex Hoggard, because you alluded to independent contractor.

I'm just curious. Are these guys really true independent contractors? They draw benefits from the PGA Tour. They have to abide by rules and regulations of the PGA Tour.

They have to apply for the waiver, which that which was denied by the PGA Tour. So it really seems that they had their employees, but with a lot of freedom of movement, more than more than true independent contractors. You're in Raleigh, if I understand correctly. Yes, I live in Florida, so I'm going to use language that you and I and I'm sure your listeners can understand. We're fixing to find out because that's where this is going to land. And this is all about being independent contractors. And there's plenty of rules and regulations written into the PGA Tour media guide, written into the PGA Tour player handbook that would keep them from playing this. It has been written specifically that they would not be giving conflicting event releases for events played within North America.

And the next event will be played in North America, Portland, Oregon. So there are plenty of stipulations how that lands in the legal system, how that lands with the court. There's a scenario and I think it's a very real scenario where the players backed by lived off and lived off lawyers push back on the idea that they are independent contractors and they can play wherever they want. And they're leaning into the idea.

I think the line that lived off keep using is the error free agency has reached God, maybe that's correct. What's going to end up happening though there's going to be a lawsuit. And if you kind of kind of just switch it and look beyond that, there's going to be an injunction. We should end up with a scenario where a player like Dustin Johnson plays at 15 events on the PGA Tour, and also plays at 8910, however many events on the live tour until this all plays out, which could take years to play out. So essentially, a guy like Dustin Johnson's probably thinking to himself that there's a good chance that I'm going to get to do exactly what I wanted to do to begin with, which was play on both tours. This is this is crazy.

I lied. Do you expect Phil Mickelson to be one of the other six? I don't think so. No, I guess it's a very real possibility. And that was probably just below Dustin Johnson, as far as a surprise when the field was announced late Tuesday, because Phil has been tied so closely to live golf because Phil seemed to blow up both ends of the bridge when he was critical in an article earlier this year, both live golf and the PGA Tour. It seems to me there's leverage being employed on both sides, live golf and Phil Mickelson at this point, whether he wants more money or they want to give him less money.

I don't know. I probably put it at 50-50. He's going to be in the first field.

He'll end up being in one of the fields though. Rex Hoggard, I appreciate your time, sir. Go out and I hope Ricky and Adam Scott both play well. So they have to meet the media because both have also sort of been tied to this. Ricky with his very vague comments at the PGA and Adam Scott who praised the idea of smaller events, no cut and giant purses. So have fun at Memorial and I'll talk to you down the road.

Thanks for having me on. Rex Hoggard, senior writer, Golf Channel. All right, when we come back, it takes a while to really learn how to be an owner in the NFL. David Tepper's not quite there and he is not endearing himself to the community down in Charlotte. We'll talk about that next. June 19th, 2006, but it all started May 6th, 1997 with the announcement that the Hartford Whalers were coming to North Carolina.

It's a story of transition, of heartbreak, of figuring it out on the fly. The Canes Corner look at the 25th anniversary of the move presented by the Aluminum Company of North Carolina. Listen now.

Find Canes 25th anniversary wherever you get your podcast. Ownership of a professional team is probably not the right term. Because in almost every case, you're not really the owner of the team as much as you are the caretaker of the team because the real owners is the community that the teams exist in. So the only true in major US sports, the only true situation like that is Green Bay, where it's a community owned team that is simply run by a team president. There is no owner of the Green Bay Packers. And in a lot of cases in the NFL, their family owned teams. You know, I think the Hunts still own the Chiefs. You've got the Maras and I guess the Tisch family also, owners of the Giants, the Rudy's own the Steelers.

Now, we're getting less and less of that over time, but they are still for the most part families. David Tepper bought the Carolina Panthers from Jerry Richardson, the owner that saw them expanded into the NFL. He was the one who purchased the expansion team, and he was the only owner until we all discovered jeans Friday, and he had to go. And David Tepper came in, you know, three buttons undone from the top of his Oxford and paid cash for the team is the wealthiest owner. According to Forbes magazine with a net worth at just under $17 billion paid $2.3 billion cash for the team, give or take. I've seen I've seen it listed at 2.5.

I've seen it listed at 2.1. I'll split the difference. But the one thing David Tepper doesn't have, and we actually saw this in Buffalo, is leverage. The Pegulas, who also own the Sabres. You know, for years they were playing one, sometimes two games in Toronto. Toronto is a pretty cosmopolitan city, very much along the same lines as New York. And they love NFL football in Canada.

They like NFL football more than they like Canadian football in Canada. So Pegula can always just, you know, float the idea. Well, we can move. I mean, Buffalo is just Buffalo.

We can move to Toronto. And Erie County and the state of New York and the city of Buffalo are essentially building the Pegulas a brand new stadium for the Bills. Like the amount of personal money that the Pegulas have invested in this project is, I don't know, 25% maybe of the overall thing.

I think it's actually might even be less. Like the NFL is kicking money into the project. And ultimately it's the state, the county, the city building the Pegulas a playground that they control. Not that the city controls, that the Pegulas control. Which of course is silly. It's because leverage. David Tepper really doesn't have leverage. The Panthers aren't leaving Charlotte.

They're not moving. They do have an older stadium. I mean, by NFL standards, it's an older stadium. It's not the oldest though, right? But it is an older stadium. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles. Doesn't have a retractable roof.

I know they would like to have a cover on it for a lot of reasons. To do a lot of different things. To get basketball, possibly a Super Bowl would help, right?

All of that. But he doesn't have the leverage. So the latest story for David Tepper as he continues learning how to be an owner in the NFL is how to not get along with your neighbors.

And David Tepper could teach a master class on this. So we can't get along with the folks at Rock Hill. Remember Rock Hill was the site for the team. It wasn't just a practice facility.

It was the centerpiece of an entertainment complex that the Tepper had already put about $170 million in. They had already broken ground. You could see it from I think I-77. You could see what they had already done.

There's big piles of red dirt down there. It's like halfway done. Yeah. I don't know if it's halfway done, but they certainly started. They haven't gotten to the entertainment center part of it. Because it was supposed to have retail and hotels. It was supposed to be essentially, like I hate to use the, for those people in North Carolina, where we are, the Randy Parton Theater as an example. But it was supposed to be like a destination.

Like Rock Hill, which is a suburb of Charlotte, about 25 miles to the south and I guess west of Charlotte, but is a pretty popular kind of a bedroom community. They were supposed to build that up. So the funding changed, fell through, however, and the deal was completely scuttled by David Tepper. And yesterday he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the real estate arm that he was using to develop this property. Essentially, the separate company to shield any claims to him or the Panthers. The company was only for the real estate and that was this. It has nothing to do with the team.

There's no connection to the team other than they're both owned and run by David Tepper. He was actually initially the only officer that was listed. And he does this, and this is common in big business, so this is not uncommon. He does this to protect him from creditors. That's why he files for Chapter 11. Now what they said was that they wanted to pay the legitimate creditors. Meanwhile, there are companies with tens of millions of dollars in claims that they have yet to be paid for that are in dispute. So if you set up a company, rather if you hire a company to do work for you, and then they start doing the work, and they make all the plans to do the work, and this is what the work will cost, and then all of a sudden you decide you're pulling the plug. That company's out, and they have no claim to you because they haven't necessarily completed all the work yet.

They have no claim to you because you filed for Chapter 11 protection. That's what David Tepper has done. So he is not making friends in Charlotte and in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

And here's my question. When the time comes for David Tepper to ask the city for money to either repair, renovate, replace Bank of America Stadium, what's the answer going to be? Can you be trusted? Can David Tepper be trusted? This has nothing to do with the mismanagement of the football team.

Can David Tepper be trusted? And I don't know what the answer to that is, except initially, nah, you can't. And that's a problem.

That is a problem. This is the Adam Gold Show. June 19, 2006, but it all started May 6, 1997, with the announcement that the Hartford Whalers were coming to North Carolina. It's a story of transition, of heartbreak, of figuring it out on the fly. The Canes Corner look at the 25th anniversary of the move presented by the Aluminum Company of North Carolina. Listen now. Find Canes 25th anniversary wherever you get your podcasts.