PGA Merger With LIV Golf Is Only the Beginning
US professional sports organizations won’t be able to resist the piles of cash coming from authoritarian regimes regardless of their human rights records.
LIV offered a more dynamic and — arguably — fan-friendly golf experience.
Photographer: Rob Carr/Getty Images
Human rights and golf were rarely mentioned in the same breath until the launch last year of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour organized to challenge the PGA. Fans, sponsors, players and PGA executives claimed to be appalled at the involvement of a country connected to 9/11 and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, among other long-standing human rights concerns. Predictably, then, the news on Tuesday that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have agreed to a merger largely backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has come as a shock.
It shouldn’t. Ownership of a professional sports franchise is a key means for wealth to project status and soft power in the 21st century. It was just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia and other authoritarian governments decided to join the market. For the PGA, which has always been about generating revenues, acceptance was inevitable. Other professional US sports organizations will inevitably follow its lead when presented with the opportunity.