It’s nice work if you can get it.
According to a 2023 tax return requested by Sportico, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan earned more than $23 million last year.
Some of it is deferred earnings that could change in value. Monahan had a base salary of $1,887,096 with bonuses and incentives of $12.1 million, retirement benefits of $2.5 million and long-term incentives of $6.7 million.
It may end up being more or less than $23 million but you get the idea. Monahan made $18.4 million in 2022 so this is an increase on that number.
$23 million? In this economy?
The increase comes at a time when the Tour is fighting battles on multiple fronts.
There is the obvious matter of LIV Golf siphoning off much of the Tour’s talent. A framework agreement between the Tour and Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV, was reached 18 months ago but has yet to bear fruit. In fact, we are seeing rumors of more golfers leaving for LIV—after about 10 months of stillness, the rumor mill is up and running again.
That debacle pairs with struggling TV ratings as the Tour scrambles to adjust an archaic product.
Monahan has come under fire throughout this time. Among several gaffes, he has put on a clinic in poor communication and how to intensify PR nightmares. College kids are probably already studying his missteps in their Intro to Business classes.
Granted, this is a difficult situation. The PIF is an irrational actor trying to take pro golf hostage and it looks like the Saudis will (eventually) get what they want. Monahan is having to play defense, although I would argue it’s largely because the Tour showed no ability to be proactive in protecting its own product.
Monahan is ultimately responsible for that. He’s been the commissioner for almost eight years. While he has succeeded in navigating the Tour through the pandemic and keeping corporate sponsorship as stable as possible, his first responsibility is the product itself. That product has been getting continually worse over time.
Given the state of the game and his contributions to the uncertainty, the monetary reward seems very excessive. (This also comes as the Tour is shrinking field sizes and has plans to slash its budget by “tens of millions” in the near future.)
Many have pointed out that $23 million is particularly egregious considering the Tour’s revenue.
The tax return revealed that PGA Tour inc., which has non-profit status, had $1.82 billion in earned revenue in 2023 and $2.52 billion in non-inventory asset sales. That makes for a total of $4.33 billion, well below other major sports leagues.
It’s a large number compared to other sport commissioners
The Korn Ferry Tour—the minor-league circuit owned by the PGA Tour—has a season-long purse of about $22 million. Monahan made more money than the entire KFT.
The $23-million mark is on par with MLB’s Ron Manfred and reportedly more than double the earnings of the NBA’s Adam Silver and NHL’s Gary Bettman (both around $10 million annually).
Roger Goodell of the NFL makes more than $64 million annually according to reports but the NFL makes more than $20 billion per year. Of the 100 most-watched TV programs of 2023, 93 of them were NFL games. It’s a different animal than every other American sport.
The NHL and NBA both make double what the Tour pulls in each year, yet their commissioners are making less than half of Monahan’s earnings. (For those wondering, Mollie Marcoux Samaan, the LPGA Tour commissioner who is stepping down from her role, was making just under $1 million per year.)
Monahan, of course, does not have to answer to team owners like commissioners of other sports do. Those team owners are there to make a profit and they are making a lot of decisions for their respective leagues. That changes the calculus when comparing Monahan to other commissioners.
Regardless, it’s pretty insane that Monahan is raking in this amount of dough while being under siege for some shaky-at-best decisions. Even Monahan’s righthand man, COO Ron Price, made $13 million last year.
Tour players have been making more money so they have mostly been willing to write these blank checks— but the game as a whole has been suffering and I’m not sure how any neutral party can argue $23 million is a fair payment in this situation.
Top Photo Caption: Jay Monahan plays in a pro-am at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. (GETTY IMAGES/Luke Walker)
