What TF is Going on with Professional Golf?
LIV Golf’s deal with the PGA Tour is about a lot more than sportswashing
How about this for irony: LIV Golf, the upstart league that sued the PGA Tour, accusing America’s premier golf league of operating a monopoly, just agreed to help create an even bigger monopoly.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan would have us believe the deal is more of a partnership agreement than a merger. Semantics aside, if last week’s surprise deal goes through, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will effectively control the world of professional golf.
And that’s great news for Donald Trump. Should the PGA/LIV deal be consummated, Trump could be one of the deal’s biggest winners. For years, The Former Guy has cultivated his relationship with the Middle Eastern kingdom. As president, he broke long-standing tradition by making the country his first official visit. Since leaving office, the Saudi government has poured vast sums of money into the Trump family’s coffers.
Six months after leaving the White House, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner landed $2 billion in financing from the PIF for his new investment firm, despite objections from the panel that screens the fund’s investments regarding Kushner’s lack of experience. Last November, the Trump Organization sealed a $4 billion resort project deal with a Saudi real estate company to build a Trump-branded hotel and golf course in Oman.
LIV Golf’s injection of MAGA politics into its tournaments, and its interest in the Republican ecosystem, make it clear more is at play than image management. And if the recent sequence of events surrounding LIV is any indication, people are beginning to take note.
Sportswashing is the practice by a government, organization, etc., of sponsoring or hosting a sports team or sporting event to promote a positive public image and distract attention from human rights issues or unethical or criminal activity.
May 4: Special Counsel seeks records
The New York Times reports that one of the many subpoenas issued to the Trump Organization in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation sought records regarding Trump’s involvement with LIV Golf. This May 4th piece from Salon provides additional context [emphasis added]:
[F]or some reason one obvious case has gotten very little media attention and, as far as we know, very little attention from investigators: Trump's cozy financial relationship with the Saudi-sponsored Public Investment Fund, the desert kingdom's massive sovereign wealth fund. (Its assets are estimated at more than $620 billion.)
…It's unclear how much money has actually changed hands, but Trump admits that he's been paid a fee, which he calls "peanuts," by the sponsoring Public Investment Fund, the same Saudi government entity that "invested" in Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's business to the tune of $2 billion just a couple of months after he left the White House. (That's a deal that makes Hunter Biden's alleged transgressions look like kids gambling for nickels in the lunchroom.) These tournaments generally bring in millions to the clubs that host them so those are some pretty big peanuts.
Created in 1971 to invest on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia and controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, PIF is among the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. LIV Golf received its funding from the PIF’s Saudi division.
May 22: Prosecutors seek additional records
The Times reports the issuance of a subpoena by federal prosecutors for information about Trump’s business dealings in seven foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia:
The subpoena — drafted by the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith — sought details on the Trump Organization’s real estate licensing and development dealings in seven countries: China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, according to the people familiar with the matter. The subpoena sought the records for deals reached since 2017 when Mr. Trump was sworn in as president…
…Collectively, the subpoena’s demand for records related to the golf venture and other foreign ventures since 2017 suggests that Mr. Smith is exploring whether there is any connection between Mr. Trump’s deal-making abroad and the classified documents he took with him when he left office.
The Saudi Arabian golf league’s “LIV“ name refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the score if a golfer birdied every hole on a par-72 course. This is also the number of holes played in LIV tournaments.
May 25: Ramaswamy fires a consultant
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican presidential candidate, fired one of his campaign's political consultants after learning through press reports that, in addition to working for his campaign, the firm simultaneously handled public relations work for LIV Golf:
Gitcho Goodwin, the firm led by longtime political operatives Gail Gitcho and Henry Goodwin, registered retroactively on May 25 as foreign agents for the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League. The firm revealed that it drafted marketing materials, conducted media training for players, and advised the golf league on its corporate social responsibility strategy, according to a new Foreign Agents Registration Act filing…
…The hiring of Gitcho Goodwin represented just the latest attempt by LIV Golf to make major inroads in U.S. politics, particularly on the Republican side of the ledger. It has teamed up with Donald Trump for events at his golf clubs, including one this past week, which the former president attended. It also plans to host an event at The Greenbrier, which is owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice who is currently a Republican candidate for Senate. It has also paid $370,000 to the firm HHQ Ventures — including former Rep. Benjamin Quayle (R-Ariz.) — to lobby on its behalf, according to Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.
June 7: The PGA Tour announces its “merger” with LIV Golf
While the deal shocked the world of golf, at least one person was not surprised. Last year Trump, who is notoriously bad at keeping secrets, seemed to let the cat out of the bag. Maybe Trump’s prediction was a lucky guess, or perhaps he had inside knowledge:
Trump has established significant financial ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the LIV Golf tour — financed by the country's sovereign wealth fund — has staged several events at Trump-owned golf courses over its two seasons of existence.
Now, with the rival tours in alignment, Trump and his family businesses stand to gain even more prestige, influence and money as a result of the merger. It may ultimately lead to one of his long-sought goals: to have a Trump course host one of the four major championships in men's professional golf.
…While he was president, Trump maintained especially close ties with Saudi Arabia and its royal family. His first foreign visit after he took office was to Saudi Arabia. He also downplayed the kingdom's role in the assassination of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, who was highly critical of the Saudi government in his writings.
June 13-15: Investigations galore
In his role as Chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) launched an inquiry into the terms of the LIV Golf agreement with the PGA Tour. In a letter to LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, Blumenthal requested an outline of the proposed corporate structure along with additional records by June 26.
The day after Blumenthal’s request, PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan took an unexpected leave to recover from a “medical situation.”
On June 15, the Justice Department’s antitrust division launched an investigation into the PGA Tour’s “merger” with LIV Golf. On the same day, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) launched a similar investigation and announced plans to introduce legislation revoking the PIF’s special tax exemption.
Given Saudi Arabia’s odious reputation—its connections to 9/11, its dismal human rights record, not to mention its role in the death of Jamal Khashoggi, it is easy to view the nation’s forays into professional golf as sportswashing and nothing more.
But Saudi Arabia’s financial ties to a former president under multiple indictments are a sign that what's happening may be a lot more complex.
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