Marc Schoenfeld, an attorney with an expansive 30-year career at Madison Square Garden’s parent company, has made a significant career transition and become the senior legal counsel for Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf. Schoenfeld represents the first US-based in-house lawyer for LIV, a golf group that had previously assembled its legal team in London under the guidance of general counsel Louise Savage. See more on LIV’s legal staff.
While serving as the senior vice president and associated general counsel for MSG Entertainment, Schoenfeld worked for a company that is highly recognized for owning several popular venues worldwide, including the New York arena that shares its name. Despite MSG Entertainment’s top lawyer Jamal Haughton also preparing to leave for a top legal position at Charter Communications Inc., Schoenfeld made the strategic decision to navigate towards the legal and business drama surrounding LIV Golf.
In Schoenfeld’s new role, he becomes entrenched in the center of controversies that have redefined the top level of professional golf. Fraught with disputes between high-profile figures, geopolitical intrigue, and rigorous regulatory scrutiny, the ongoing saga between LIV and the PGA Tour has made international news. The clashes between them reached such a point that they sued each other in court before finally reaching a truce.
MSG Entertainment, including its predecessors, guided by billionaire James Dolan, introduced Schoenfeld to a variety of legal roles. In a recent post on LinkedIn, Schoenfeld referred to LIV as an international golf league aiming to revolutionize the sport by generating fresher waves of engagement and excitement with younger generations of fans.
On a final note, both LIV and the PGA Tour face obstacles such as resolving regulatory concerns and meeting actor equity demands in developing a new elite golf framework. Now, the PGA Tour is contemplating different options to ease political reaction against a deal involving a foreign party like the Public Investment Fund.
Read more about this development from the original coverage by Bloomberg Law here.