GolfSwami

The AFL was a result of the lawsuit. 10 of the 32 current NFL teams are from AFL and NFL merger. The NFL discriminated against black players while the AFL actively recruited them and played a big role in fully integrating football. Seems like a pretty significant impact on the history of the game. So to answer your question, the fans and players won. The PGA Tour isn't going to fold. The most likely result is some sort of merger or agreement between the tours. The competition is already having a positive impact on player payouts.

You aren't saying anything unreasonable. For some reason this is a very emotionally charged topic and it brings out people who want things to be a certain way regardless of the law. Five minutes on Google reading law blogs shows the players have at least pretty good anti-trust case. The Supreme Court ruled against the NFL in the 1950s, when they blacklisted players who played in a rival league. The PGA Tour colluding with the European Tour, World Golf Rankings, the entities that organize majors and Ryder Cup and potentially going against their charter as a non-profit are all going to be brought up. I am sure the PGA Tour has consulted with lawyers and will have counterpoints. A lot of it will probably depend on judges. I would guess the current administration would be more amenable to the player's suit than most as they are already pursuing companies over non-competes and collusion. You shouldn't even need Google for at least one example. Trump and the USFL vs the NFL. They won but weren't awarded damages. Otherwise you could Google and find this case as the first thing listed. Radovich v. National Football League :: 352 U.S. 445 (1957) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center Radovich v. National Football League

It is interesting reading this thread. Two things. 1. I see stuff about 9/11. The Saudi government didn't cause 9/11. People from Saudi Arabia hijacked planes. Big difference. In a liberal society, you punish individuals not collectives. Alleged Saudi government role in the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia 2. Trade is how people who otherwise might not get along find ways to coexist without violence. The more economically interdependent people in different nations are, the less likely there is going to be war. Economic isolation against whatever country rarely works. China is much less likely to attack the US because of the economic relationship. Same with Saudi Arabia. The World is Flat by Tom Friedman has a chapter about how trade partners don't attack each other. A good practical read that relates to the LIV Tour is The King of Oil about Marc Rich. He got wealthy in large part by facilitating trade with unseemly people. The world was a better place for it.

The PGA Tour is a monopoly that exists in part because of special tax privileges. Monopoly and tax status are both likely to get challenged in all of this. Competition is what protects workers. Most are focusing on the big names but the lower and mid tier players are likely going to see a big benefit. Golf is very hard to crack into. It is expensive and difficult to get through Q school and most guys don't keep their card once on tour. This might push the PGA Tour toward more guaranteed money which will give more marginal players a financial cushion. The 125th guy on the money list made right a million last year, which after taxes, caddie and travel is okay but certainly not great for how tenuous that position is. That person could be on lesser tours pretty quickly. And the 200th player made $156,000 which is pretty subsistence even with sponsors and pro-am money. As far as the Saudis, I see this as a moral good. Trade makes it so people who otherwise might hate each other find ways to coexist because it is in their mutual self interest. Countries that are economically interdependent tend not to attack each other. Saudi Arabia is closed off to much of the world. A benefit with sports and entertainment is there might be some (small) influence on the culture.