LIV Golf’s Legal Chief Is Gone as Company Touts PGA Tour Deal

LIV Golf’s top in-house lawyer John Loffhagen is no longer with the Saudi Arabia-backed business, which has come to terms on a deal with the rival PGA Tour.

An auto-response message from Loffhagen’s LIV email account said he’s “no longer at” the company, which has offices in London and Miami. LIV and Loffhagen didn’t respond to comment requests about the timing of his exit.

Loffhagen, who spent nearly two decades at sports and entertainment talent management giant IMG, joined LIV last year as the upstart professional golf circuit challenged the PGA Tour for supremacy in the top flight of global golf.

LIV, the PGA Tour, and DP World Tour on June 6 announced a proposed tie-up that is reportedly raising antitrust concerns in the US and UK. It has also attracted the scrutiny of US lawmakers interested in the tax status that a combined body comprised of the three organizations might have.

Despite his email stating he’s gone, Loffhagen is still a registered director with LIV, according to the UK’s Companies House.

The UK’s Law Society database also shows that Loffhagen is one of four lawyers that LIV employs. The others are general counsel Louise Savage, who also previously worked at IMG and once served as global general counsel for sports marketing agency Lagardère Sports, and legal counsel Sophie Hinton and Charles Scott.

It’s unclear whether these in-house lawyers will be part of the new for-profit golf entity. Leonard Brown Jr., chief legal officer and executive vice president of licensing and merchandising for the PGA Tour, didn’t respond to a comment request about what the future holds for LIV’s legal team.

Not a Merger

Laura Neal, a spokeswoman for the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.-based PGA Tour, which is structured as a nonprofit, said it will retain that status and that the agreement with LIV is not a merger. Instead, the deal “creates a separate, commercial entity that is a subsidiary of PGA Tour Inc.,” Neal said.

Other lawyers part of the PGA Tour’s senior leadership team include former legal chief-turned-chief media officer Richard “Rick” Anderson, as well as chief administrative officer Allison Keller.

Brown earned about $2.1 million in total compensation from the PGA Tour in fiscal 2021, according to its most recent US tax filing. Anderson received more than $3.1 million in 2021 and Keller was paid more than $2.9 million.

The earnings and perks of PGA Tour executives, including its embattled commissioner Jay Monahan—who received $13.9 million in total compensation, down from $14.2 million in 2020—have been criticized by some PGA Tour players keen on improving their own financial situations.

Antitrust Litigation

The PGA Tour spent millions last year sweetening the pot for players competing in its events after watching nearly a dozen high-profile players defect to LIV, which has financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Some of those players then filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour after they were suspended for participating in LIV-sponsored events.

LIV subsequently joined the dispute and Loffhagen filed a declaration in the case, which has played out in a US federal court and is now poised to be resolved via the company’s accord with the PGA Tour. The litigation has involved dozens of Big Law litigators, with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and Baker McKenzie taking the lead for LIV and its players.

White & Case is representing the Saudi public investment fund and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Keker, Van Nest & Peters are handling the litigation for the PGA Tour, which turned to Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to advise on its deal this week with LIV.