The stunning announcement came amid litigation between LIV and the PGA Tour, which both had filed lawsuits against the other. In August, LIV Golf filed an antitrust suit saying the tour — by banning players who had defected to LIV — was intentionally trying to curtail competition, but the PGA Tour countered with a lawsuit that claims LIV committed “tortious interference” by encouraging golfers to violate terms of their existing tour contracts.
June 6, 2023
"PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed LIV Golf."
WaPo reports.
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The PGA was going to lose in court. You rarely get a clearer case of anti-trust violations.
LOL. Golf has become boring because the best players pick and choose their tournaments, and so most Sundays, some rando you never heard of has a good outing and wins. At least that's how it was when I stopped watching.
Wow. The PGA caved. Good. The aggregate site themessenger has the story, too (for those who won't access the wapo).
When there’s money to be made.
Wow. Who saw this coming? LOL.
WOW.
Throwing Rory McElroy right under the bus.
Guess Phil Mickelson picked the strong horse.
You know, people will side with the strong horse every time.
Oh wow. LIV must have been about to really eat the PGA's lunch.
Paywalled. Climbing in bed with the execrable Saudi government who executes political prisoners, supports terrorists, and treats women and homosexuals terribly? Sad.
Does this mean we will see more or less of Trump?
That was a stupid question. It's always more.
"PGA Tour agrees to merge with Saudi-backed LIV Golf."
As predicted.
It's the AFL vs NFL with Saudi Arabia in the role of Al Davis.
The PGA has been screwing over the star professional golfers for decades in terms of prize money, required appearances and lots of other rules. That's what gave the opening to LIV to step in and siphon off a sizeable chunk of competitive golfers and force the PGA to start compromising and being more reasonable with the stars that generate the revenue.
After awhile, the economics forces the merger.
On the "divestiture" side of the coin, the college super conferences are telling the NCAA the jig is up and the NCAA is desperately fighting to remain relevant knowing that at any moment, the conferences that have all the money (SEC and B1G) can tell the NCAA to get completely lost.
July 2022, Trump tweeted that the PGA and LIV would merge, and the people who didn't take the money now to jump to the LIV would be left out.
He is often right about things in the future. But yeah, mean tweets and orange man bad always gets the headlines.
Now do NFL, then MLB and NBA.
“tortious interference”
It's turtles all the way down.
Boy that Trump! What a fool!
Guess who said this in 2022:
"All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year."
LIV vs. PGA Tour is like Trump vs. DeSantis.
One is pathologically bad; frighteningly bad in a an almost incomprehensibly cataclysmic way.
The other is merely bad in a traditional, although extremely ugly, way.
Lots of pro golfers hurling all kinds of nasty words at each other over this.
Now? No harm, no foul.
Me thinks the PGA finally figured out that NOT paying or treating the stars well was not a good business plan.
And LIV may have known the window of tossing bales of cash at (less than top tier) players w/o a long term TV deal was only viable in the short term.
Smart. Brandel Chamblee hardest hit.
But I don't quite understand the new arrangement: PIF will invest in a for-profit entity but the PGA tour will operate as a non-profit?
Might the feds have anti-trust issues?
How dare they consort with the evil Saudis?
I first read about this on my slave-made Apple ipad while wearing my slave-made Nikes.
$$$= wins 9/11 families probably not gonna be big part of viewers, and who cares right, check out who got paid! China, Iran, Russia trying to figure out how to get a piece of the almighty dollar! FORE! :)
Callback to my favorite quote on this, from Phil Mickelson:
"We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates."
Guess the PGA agreed.
LIV-PGA™
Even though I never watched it, I kinda liked the LIV tour. It meant I no longer had to put up with assholes like Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia on my TV screen.
Glass houses and hypocrisy…
China’s human rights violations are well-documented. The PGA Tour’s relationship with them, not so much — until now. The PGA Tour’s failure to file a 990 form disclosing its financial dealings with Chinese private equity firm Yao Capital and Chinese sports management company Shankai Sports, both of whom have close ties to China’s oppressive Communist regime, has it in the spotlight. Yao is financing a 20-year deal Shankai signed with the PGA Tour to manage the China series four years ago. As a tax-exempt organization, the PGA Tour is required to disclose such business dealings in China.
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2022/04/06/the_pgas_china_problem_825582.html#!
Brooks Koepka, a LIV defector, just won the 2023 PGA Championship.
There are than a few "best golfers in the world" that went to the LIV tour.
What's the PGA going to do? Not let these guys play in the Major Tournaments?
The list also includes Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson...
If you want to call it a Major Tournament, the best golfers have to be included.
One thing we have learned about the Washington Post over the past several years is that it is a nest of spies and basically serves as a clearinghouse for CIA and FBI leaks, a.k.a. propaganda. So who knows what that guy was really up to. Not any of us, that's for sure.
What about Biden's super aggressive FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division ? This seems like an obvious violation of the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act. If they don't actively oppose this, it may be because some money has changed hands.
What about Biden's super aggressive FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division ? This seems like an obvious violation of the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act. If they don't actively oppose this, it may be because some money has changed hands.
Seems like an obvious violation of the Clayton Act and the Sherman Act. If Biden's supposedly super aggressive FTC and Antitrust Division don't vigorously oppose this new monopoly, there's good reason to suspect some corruption.
Seems like an obvious violation of the Clayton Act and the Sherman Act. If Biden's supposedly super aggressive FTC and Antitrust Division don't vigorously oppose this new monopoly, there's good reason to suspect some corruption.
In any merger, there is a "survivor", even in the case of a merger of so-called equals. In this case, it will be LIV calling the shots now that the PGA Tour has caved. Biggest loser: Rory McIlroy, who is rumored to have rejected a $500 million LIV signing bonus.
And please, no more snark about the Saudi PIF and its "tainted money" underwriting the LIV tour and other sports activities. The entire 1st world lives in an ocean of tainted money, generally paid to the Chinese, that is derived in whole or in part from their human rights violations and the slave labor required for the manufacture of our TVs, computers, clothing, smartphones and other items without which we cannot live.
Rory McElroy: "WTF!"
What's the PGA going to do? Not let these guys play in the Major Tournaments?
The PGA Tour has no controlling authority over any of the four majors.
The Masters - Augusta National
PGA Championship - The PGA of America
U.S. Open - USGA
The Open (British) - The Royal and Ancient
The Tour couldn't keep them out of the majors if they wanted to.
Mountain Maven: "Paywalled. Climbing in bed with the execrable Saudi government who executes political prisoners, supports terrorists, and treats women and homosexuals terribly? Sad."
Hilarious that the US govt and the entirety of Europe is fully in bed with the Saudi's, and the ChiComs, etc, but golfers, GOLFERS(!), are supposed to draw a line in the sand.
I'm alway struck by how our MSM - even in sports- acts like a Communist propaganda machine. It seems that every MSM outlet, from the very first, attached the label "Saudi backed" to LIV. I don't think I've ever seen that done to any other sports franchise, or league.
What about "Russian oligarch owned Soccer Team X wins game"? Nope never seen that. Only with the Saudis, do we get this constant label slapped on. And constant, hypocritical talk of Saudi "Human Rights abuses", as if they had anything to do with a Golf Tour.
Not to mention the Saudis are our allies and fought with us in 2 gulf wars and helped us out for years.
Anyway, I'm glad there was a merger. Now, maybe the PGA golfers will deign to play at Trump's Golf course.
I have to admit I was rather blase about the merger, since I only watch the 4 major tournaments and few of the PGA events (the Crosby, the Memorial, and the TPC).
Seen on Twitter:
As part of the merger, the PGA will control holes 1-8 and 12-18.
The Saudis do 9-11.
Even though they announced the merger, there's no guarantee it's going to happen.
I read a piece which likened it to Coke and Pepsi deciding one day they're going to stop being competitors and create one company - under one board of directors - where Coke drinkers could still drink Coke and Pepsi, Pepsi.
You think the feds would allow that to happen?
Also, DP World Golf is part of the merger ... which will involve the European regulators and all the fun they bring to the table.
WisRich: "Rory McElroy: "WTF!"'
McElroy the golfer - Fantastic golfer and fun to watch.
McElroy the visionary - dumb as a box of rocks.
One of the very first things that happened when the big names went over to the LIV Tour was that the PGA suddenly came up with another $90 Million in prize money for their tournaments. The PGA has always treated the players as independent contractors, while the PGA made huge money off of their exertions. The idea that players were "disloyal" for playing for guaranteed big money is laughable.
The guys who stayed with the PGA, especially those who went from being in the top 100 to being in the top 50, should be extremely grateful to Mickelson, Johnson, Smith and Koepka for doubling and tripling their earnings power.
And the Saudi thing is rather...selective, when the guys slinging the moral opprobrium are all plastered with Nike swooshes.
Boatbuilder at 6:58AM has it right.
Wow. Who saw this coming? LOL.
Trump. Over a year ago he said this would happen and everybody who stuck with the PGA would regret not "taking the money." Our so-called president said he agreed with the PGA punishing the LIV golfers and that the Saudis were "murderers." LOL indeed!
Do you think Tiger regrets not taking that $800M offer? LOL indeed.
By the time you read this my first post will be so outdated.
How outdated?
As outdated as a call-and-response joke set-up.
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