LIV Golf (Saudi PIF), "Mergers," and More

[sbennett3705]

David Feherty too. So sad, a sign of our times. 

[JetFan1983]

3 hours ago, GolfLug said:

They fallin like flies.. This is golf's version of the pandemic.

 

20 minutes ago, chspeed said:

Sir Charles too. Is he going to play? Or better yet, try to form an NBA version of LIV? 20 games in a season, 6 minute quarters. 8' rims?

 

Of course Charles Barkley says he’d talk to LIV Golf about an ‘opportunity’ | This is the Loop | GolfDigest.com

 

Jeez, the hits just keep on coming. Nothing imminent, but if it happens it'll be interesting to hear Charles' justification. The NBA on TNT is one of my favorite shows. 

Pretty depressing time to be following pro golf IMO. 

[Friz]

26 minutes ago, chspeed said:

Sir Charles too. Is he going to play? Or better yet, try to form an NBA version of LIV? 20 games in a season, 6 minute quarters. 8' rims?

 

Of course Charles Barkley says he’d talk to LIV Golf about an ‘opportunity’ | This is the Loop | GolfDigest.com

 

These two things don't add up, does he know who he would be working for?

Charles Barkley wins the internet with his support for gay & trans people

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"If anybody gives you s**t, you tell 'em, Barkley said, ‘F**k you!'" The former NBA superstar told the crowd attending

 

[Vinsk]

21 minutes ago, Friz said:

These two things don't add up, does he know who he would be working for?

Charles Barkley wins the internet with his support for gay & trans people

---

"If anybody gives you s**t, you tell 'em, Barkley said, ‘F**k you!'" The former NBA superstar told the crowd attending

 

Good luck with Jersey folks Chuck.

[GolfLug]

1 hour ago, chspeed said:

Sir Charles too. Is he going to play? Or better yet, try to form an NBA version of LIV? 20 games in a season, 6 minute quarters. 8' rims?

 

Of course Charles Barkley says he’d talk to LIV Golf about an ‘opportunity’ | This is the Loop | GolfDigest.com

 

I had wondered, why only golf. 

1 hour ago, JetFan1983 said:

Pretty depressing time to be following pro golf IMO. 

Meh. They will max out. Idon't LIV growing to a 150 headcount or anything. 

[70sSanO]

Let’s not forget that any league can’t function and have a tournament without golf courses also being willing to take the money.

Not sure of the acceptance rate, but I would guess what is being offered most likely exceeds the annual budget.

John

[JetFan1983]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

Meh. They will max out. Idon't LIV growing to a 150 headcount or anything. 

Let's hope not. I'm really not enjoying seeing the game fracture like this, but reality is what it is. I wonder when the new equilibrium is reached. 

[Friz]

Seems to be understood Cam Smith will play the FedEx Cup before making a decision on LIV.  Not a done deal, hopefully sees some reason. 

 

British Open 2022: Ian Baker-Finch says Cameron Smith should create a legacy, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Open Championship, St Andrews, video, highlights

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Aussie great urges Smith to snub $130m LIV deal in ‘great legacy’ warning

 

[chriskzoo]

15 hours ago, iacas said:

You’re wrong.

 

 

Not wrong, - people would find a way to justify it.  "Oh, I can take $50M guaranteed and use $20M of that to help victims of 9/11 and still give my family generational wealth."  

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, chriskzoo said:

Not wrong, - people would find a way to justify it.

No. You’re just wrong. What you’re likely saying is that you would find a way to justify it. You have no real idea how everyone else here would react.

[Alx]

16 hours ago, phillyk said:

Did HSBC create the Open Championship?

This is the point I was trying to make. It seems that as long as the Saudis are funneling money to the existing entities its ok but creating something on their own is the problem. 

If people cant see the obvious double standard with that take...

[imsys0042]

41 minutes ago, Alx said:

This is the point I was trying to make. It seems that as long as the Saudis are funneling money to the existing entities its ok but creating something on their own is the problem. 

If people cant see the obvious double standard with that take...

That may be a problem all it's own.   The difference between being a sponsor who courts their business and starting, and owning, a completely different golf league backed by a pretty shady entity is pretty big.

[phillyk]

1 hour ago, Alx said:

This is the point I was trying to make. It seems that as long as the Saudis are funneling money to the existing entities its ok but creating something on their own is the problem. 

If people cant see the obvious double standard with that take...

So you don’t see a difference between buying into something that already exists that has multiple sources of financial support and creating an entirely new entity with them being the sole financial driver?

Say it another way. If Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods teamed up to create a new golf tour and shed this money to players, hardly anyone would say no. But TW and MJ would've done it the right way with the current tour (likely). So it really isn’t about money. It’s about who created it. SA gave players money and forced them to lie about their reason for taking it. Sure SA has given more money to players than the PGA Tour, but they made much tighter contracts than the PGA Tour on what speech players truly have. 

SA doesn’t care one ounce about golf. They built courses for oil employees and to attract wealthy.  LIV isn’t for the game. It’s to build business to cover up what SA does politically and socially.

The PGA Tour didn’t start with offering money. They started with a platform. A way to bring good golfers to a tournament and see who’s the best. Players came and played for the game, not money. 

[Alx]

4 minutes ago, phillyk said:

So you don’t see a difference between buying into something that already exists that has multiple sources of financial support and creating an entirely new entity with them being the sole financial driver?

Sure I do, but just because the share is smaller doesnt make it okay. I dont see people criticizing the Saudis funding the LET series or general backing on the ladies side, at least to this extent. The point I am alluding to is that the fact that people are generally ok or disregard Saudis funneling money to existing entities is what paved the way for things like LIV that are fully Saudi backed. Theyre just poking in to see if the world is "ready", if you will.

And just so were clear I am not a fan of sportswashing but like I said, the fact that people ignore the small things that are along the logic of "only 1 of 8 sponsors" etc. is what leads to this type of stuff being more widespread, accepted, allowed, and extreme.

ps. I dont know what kinds of deals the players might have regarding comments (and I doubt you do either?) so I dont feel comfortable commenting on it but I get what youre saying. But then again you wouldnt really badmouth someone who just "hired" you anyways regardless of who they were.

[boogielicious]

18 minutes ago, Alx said:

Sure I do, but just because the share is smaller doesnt make it okay. I dont see people criticizing the Saudis funding the LET series or general backing on the ladies side, at least to this extent. The point I am alluding to is that the fact that people are generally ok or disregard Saudis funneling money to existing entities is what paved the way for things like LIV that are fully Saudi backed. Theyre just poking in to see if the world is "ready", if you will.

And just so were clear I am not a fan of sportswashing but like I said, the fact that people ignore the small things that are along the logic of "only 1 of 8 sponsors" etc. is what leads to this type of stuff being more widespread, accepted, allowed, and extreme.

ps. I dont know what kinds of deals the players might have regarding comments (and I doubt you do either?) so I dont feel comfortable commenting on it but I get what youre saying. But then again you wouldnt really badmouth someone who just "hired" you anyways regardless of who they were.

I don’t think people ignore the small things as much as you think. In general, Saudi Government funding anything is suspect to me and I try my best to not support them. I do have a gasoline car, but I think that is a far cry from supporting LIV.  I would love for there to come a day when oil is irrelevant for our energy needs so we could tell the Saudi Royal family to go f**k themselves. They are not and have never been our ally.

[iacas]

4 hours ago, Alx said:

Sure I do, but just because the share is smaller doesnt make it okay. I dont see people criticizing the Saudis funding the LET series or general backing on the ladies side, at least to this extent.

“At least to this extent.”

Exactly! Because it’s different. And there is criticism, just not as much. Because of the differences.

[turtleback]

On 7/18/2022 at 12:52 PM, Alx said:

So I take it you were actively boycotting the recent British open? Given it was sponsored by HSBC, you know the bank that has been making a push to the middle eastern market and was the main western partner of the Saudi Aramco listing? The same HSBC conglomerate that up until now has refused to leave the Russian market...

The worst take of all is trying to equate people doing business with companies that have Saudi or Chinese or Russian ties with LIV.  Our elites have so ordered our economy that it is literally impossible to not do business with any such company.  In most cases the connections are hidden..  While the LIV golfers aren't just doing business with them, they are literally being bribed by them.  In order to make these countries look better on the global stage. 

Nobody gets bribed to buy things on Amazon that happen to be made by China.  Nobody buys things on Amazon to make SA, China, or Russia look better.  But this is exactly what the LIV golfers are doing.  They know exactly what LIV's goals are and they don't care because they've been bribed.  When you allow yourself to be bribed by some of the worst people on the planet, your complicity makes you also one of the worst people on the planet.  Especially when you have already made more money on golf that you could legitimately spend in a lifetime.  Looking at you, Phil and Dustin.

23 hours ago, billchao said:

I haven’t been following, but apparently  they’re going to play at Trump National in Bedminster next week. I keep hearing ads on the radio.

Given how many friends and families of the 9/11 victims are still around and living in that area, it will be interesting to see what the reception of LIV is.

21 hours ago, GolfLug said:

I had wondered, why only golf. 

Meh. They will max out. Idon't LIV growing to a 150 headcount or anything. 

It's not just golf.  It's also international futbol.

[Golfingdad]

5 minutes ago, turtleback said:

Especially when you have already made more money on golf that you could legitimately spend in a lifetime.  Looking at you, Phil and Dustin.

This is the part that baffles me the most.  I just don't get it.