“The parties are very grateful for the time the court allowed them. The entire case has been resolved. We don’t require any order.”
Those were the words of Paul Gallagher, Senior Counsel for Rory McIlroy in bringing the supposed commercial court case of the century to a rapid close in Dublin yesterday.
“Thank you Mr Gallagher,” replied Judge Brian Cregan. “I would like to congratulate both parties on settling what would undoubtedly have been a long case. And I wish the defendants every success in their sports agency business in the future. And I would also like to wish Mr McIlroy every success in his future.”
McIlroy had already left Dublin and was about to board a plane when the short public statement of 34 words was read outside the court.
“The legal dispute between Rory McIlroy and Horizon Sports Management has been settled to the satisfaction of both parties who wish each other well for the future. The parties will be making no further comment.”
The figure being widely reported as the settlement is €25 million but we understand it may be a shade higher than that and include all the legal costs of both sides.
There was some negotiation over the base currency of the deal given that the dollar has climbed so much in relative value to the Euro since the case was first scheduled.
We understand though that the single most important element in McIlroy’s team accepting that they should settle rather than fight was pressure from at least one of his major sponsors not to allow details of the commercial deal between them become the subject of public debate across the world.
With all his major brands having multiple deals with sporting and other celebrities across a variety of sectors, the risk of every element of a confidential agreement being splashed across the world’s media was ‘unconscionable’ to use a phrase that has been to the fore in this case.
And so it is that the technical detail of how sport and business interact at the very highest level remains between the individual parties.
Horizon and McIlroy can now move forward, the latter to Augusta and the Masters, the former, ironically to the same venue where Shane Lowry will now carry the newly enriched flag of Horizon Sports Management.
And the world keeps turning.
Image Credit: Inpho.ie
