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Report: McIlroy settles out of court with Horizon for $25 million

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Rory McIlroy reached an out-of-court settlement on Wednesday with his former management company, Horizon Sports Management, agreeing to pay the company an estimated $25 million (€21.8 million), according to the Irish Times. 

A joint statement was issued by both parties, stating that the legal dispute between McIlroy and Horizon Sports Management was “settled to the satisfaction of both parties, who wished each other well for the future,” and that no further statements would be made. 

The hearing lasted 37 seconds according to reports, and Judge Brian Cregan commended both sides on reaching an agreement. McIlroy was not present in the High Court in Dublin on Wednesday, or when the statement was made outside of court, although Horizon CEO Conor Ridge was there.

McIlroy was reportedly in court on Tuesday for extended period of time where he was supported by business executive Barry Funston and cousin Brian McIlroy. It was then, after several hours of “talks,” that the two parties were said to reach the agreement.

The No. 1-ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings arrived in Dublin after winning the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic, and is scheduled to make his 2015 PGA Tour debut at the Honda Classic on Feb. 26. 

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

28 Comments

28 Comments

  1. Carlos Danger

    Feb 5, 2015 at 11:23 pm

    Why is the drummer for the Black Keys at Rory’s hearing?

  2. MRC

    Feb 5, 2015 at 12:00 am

    Agree w Greg V!
    Done with….move on.

  3. chuck stone

    Feb 4, 2015 at 10:13 pm

    They might have a hard time getting another pro to sign with them

  4. JuNiOR

    Feb 4, 2015 at 9:36 pm

    Rory cranking out 60-80 million in golf and endorsements yearly for the next decade conservatively…just a drop in the bucket to say FU Horizon CEO Conor Ridge

  5. Double Mocha Man

    Feb 4, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    When does Rory next play in the U.S.? And I hope he wears those glasses on the course!

  6. agent guy

    Feb 4, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    Any payments made to an agent or representative is completely tax deductible. He just got a $2X million dollar tax deduction. He’ll be just fine.

    • Steve

      Feb 4, 2015 at 5:07 pm

      Is this a court settlement or payment to agent?

    • Steve

      Feb 4, 2015 at 5:11 pm

      Edit: Out of court settlement

    • L4L

      Feb 4, 2015 at 5:48 pm

      Literally no one nor any company takes expenses just to later claim the write offs. Amazing how often the “write off” is cited as some sort of wonderful bonus for doing business.

    • jimmy neutron

      Feb 4, 2015 at 6:25 pm

      Rory resides in Monaco not Florida. So his tax bill is nill, null, ziltch.

      • Teaj

        Feb 5, 2015 at 10:41 am

        My understanding is that they pay taxes in every country state and province that they play in and make money. A good accountant should be able to take care of his taxes im sure.

  7. golferjack

    Feb 4, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    It’s done and dusted. let Rory do what he does best, Play golf and win.
    Who cares if Nike pays or Rory or over 20 years. I, probably like most of us out here, would be happy with interest on 25 Million!!!!!
    This is not a world that I inhabit.

  8. Steve

    Feb 4, 2015 at 2:43 pm

    Why would this concern Nike or any of his sponsors? Nike is going to pick up the tab here? Why? Rory is going tank to spite them if they don’t? Nike gave him a huge deal and will give him another based on his play. This is Rory’s buisness not anyone else. He will pay the 25, most likely what horizon thinks it is owed up to this point. I think they gave him a break.

  9. Golfraven

    Feb 4, 2015 at 1:49 pm

    That is disappointing but guess he can write it off as expenses or his Sponsor will cash it. He will not be going back to Dublin for a while I presume.

    • Brian

      Feb 4, 2015 at 2:08 pm

      Hes not from Dublin. He’s from Holywood, Northern Ireland. And I’m pretty sure he’s more than welcome. Especially since he’s hosting the Irish Open this year.

      • Golfraven

        Feb 5, 2015 at 6:02 am

        Thanks Brian. I know the fact that Rory is from Northern Ireland. I lived in Dublin couple of years and appart from having couple of pints with those local fellas I would not trust making business with them. I hope Rory still had a good time years back. I am sure he will be happy this years Irish Open is near his home town in County Down.

  10. Joe

    Feb 4, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    I’ll bet when Rory bought his new house he had all the fire hydrants removed!

  11. Brian

    Feb 4, 2015 at 12:46 pm

    Since Horizon was countering for their cut of the Nike $100M I’d say this is probably a fair settlement. Now let him get back to winning events! What? He just won? Get him back to court!

  12. Joe

    Feb 4, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    The only one paying that bill is Nike. I guarantee you that Nike made an agreement with Rory’s new management team to cover this cost if this happened, and it did. It’s a parking ticket to Nike, the price of parking Rory in their lot of players. If Nike doesn’t pay it directly, they’ll bump contract numbers over time, because Rory is worth every penny, literally, times a hundred.

    • Steve

      Feb 4, 2015 at 2:31 pm

      Are you serious?

    • MBA-J

      Feb 4, 2015 at 4:35 pm

      Has Nike Golf’s revenue increased since signing Rory? It’s still too early in the relationship to declare he’s “worth every penny.”

    • L4L

      Feb 4, 2015 at 5:55 pm

      Maybe some day. You think Rory has already brought NIKE a bump of NEW retail sales in the ballpark of $80 – $90 M ? FWIW, it takes about 3.5 times the gross in retail sales just to recoup the base amount of a sports endorsement deal. In other words, if that clause in their contract is true, NIKE will need about $80M in new sales at retail (new business, that is it would not happen without Rory supporting NIKE) sales to recoup the $25M … and that is still ZERO return on their investment. It was easy to see this relationship with Tiger Woods. Since the Michelle Wie days, I don’t think NIKE is as cavalier about these arrangements.

  13. Johnjohn

    Feb 4, 2015 at 12:05 pm

    If I was Nike, hand them a check and let Rory get back to the business of selling clubs for them.

  14. moses

    Feb 4, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    There is no way this is a lump sum payment. It’s going to be paid probably over 10 years. Not a big hit for Rory. He’s paying this from his abundance (endorsement contracts) and not really from his substance. In the grand scheme of things not a big deal.

  15. Al

    Feb 4, 2015 at 11:49 am

    From the Irish Times (bottom of the page). I don’t know, maybe this is common knowledge, but not for me.

    “The golf star… claims the terms he signed were inferior to those given to other top 10 players including fellow countryman and major winning friend Graeme McDowell, who was in the same stable.”

  16. timbleking

    Feb 4, 2015 at 11:20 am

    Yeap, no time to loose. Quite comfortable guy who can actually settle on paying a $25 million expense…

  17. Greg V

    Feb 4, 2015 at 11:16 am

    Rory does the right thing: settle and move on.

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