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PGA to merge with Saudi-backed LIV Golf

Weiserguy said:
If I gave a rat's ass about golf I'd be highly offended.

(Was it Daffy Duck who used to say "That's a revolting development"?)
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Critics of LIV have also accused PIF of “sportswashing” by using the league to distract from the kingdom’s history of human rights violations.
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Golf is pretty far down the list of things I give a rat's ass about, but...

Simply put, the entirety of professional golf will be handed over to a repressive dictatorship that just happens to be sitting on a significant portion of the world's oil.

I don't particularly care for football either, but if the NFL were sold to a company controlled by Russian oligarchs (who are controlled by Putin)? That strikes me as problematic. We've already got the NBA, the WWE, and the movie industry playing footsie with the Chinese government. Will golfers be pressured to retract any criticism of the Saudi government or royal family from here on out?

Or, bringing it back to this whole "radio" thing, will a host on a sports station have to think more carefully about what they say lest they offend the sensibilities of Riyadh?
 
The thinking by some is that there were possibly some disclosures that were about to come out in the lawsuit. This merger settles that lawsuit.

Also, a subject that came up today was how the USGA would respond to this.

Or, bringing it back to this whole "radio" thing, will a host on a sports station have to think more carefully about what they say lest they offend the sensibilities of Riyadh?
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No. However, Jim Nance is another story.
 
TheBigA said:
The thinking by some is that there were possibly some disclosures that were about to come out in the lawsuit. This merger settles that lawsuit.

Also, a subject that came up today was how the USGA would respond to this.



No. However, Jim Nance is another story.
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Jim Nance, the Syracuse star of the 1960s and former AFL Boston Patriot, has been dead for years. The broadcaster is Jim Nantz. You're not the first to make this mistake; I've seen plenty of print and online journalism by writers who simply assume his name is Nance.
 
CTListener said:
Jim Nance, the Syracuse star of the 1960s and former AFL Boston Patriot, has been dead for years. The broadcaster is Jim Nantz. You're not the first to make this mistake; I've seen plenty of print and online journalism by writers who simply assume his name is Nance.
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Spelling has NEVER been my strength. That's why I'm in radio.
 
Deus Ex Machiato said:
Simply put, the entirety of professional golf will be handed over to a repressive dictatorship that just happens to be sitting on a significant portion of the world's oil.
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The real issue is that many professional sports are bigger than one nation, and the USA's attitude of owning them all is outdated and not realistic.

The baseball "World Series" is really about the USA, not the world. OK, a touch of Canadian sauce on it, and some farm clubs and teams in the Dominican Republic, northern Mexico and the like, still don't make baseball a "world sport" or the USA the center of that world.

True "international" sports will go where the money is. Golf was not created in the USA, and this country shares the sport with many, many nations.
Deus Ex Machiato said:
I don't particularly care for football either, but if the NFL were sold to a company controlled by Russian oligarchs (who are controlled by Putin)? That strikes me as problematic. We've already got the NBA, the WWE, and the movie industry playing footsie with the Chinese government.
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China has four times the population of the US. Follow the money.
Deus Ex Machiato said:
Will golfers be pressured to retract any criticism of the Saudi government or royal family from here on out?
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As golf is one of the least political sports there is, and also not a sport of "your huddled masses" it is not really in a position to be a political sport.
Deus Ex Machiato said:
Or, bringing it back to this whole "radio" thing, will a host on a sports station have to think more carefully about what they say lest they offend the sensibilities of Riyadh?
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A radio commentator, other than someone affiliated with whatever US network is carrying the tournaments, is not going to even be noticed by someone in Riyadh.
 
TheBigA said:
Spelling has NEVER been my strength. That's why I'm in radio.
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My excuse is that English is too hard to spell, so I moved to Latin America.
 
TheBigA said:
Spelling has NEVER been my strength. That's why I'm in radio.
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And I have a voice best suited for print, along with a bit of a stammer when I try to talk too fast! I took a couple of radio/TV courses in college, and have always been a fan, but I was never going to make any medium that required me to speak my career.
 
Apparently there's a meeting going on right now between the players association and the commissioner. This whole thing was sprung on everyone in a very sloppy way. I can imagine the PGA players will be extremely upset about this.
 
Deus Ex Machiato said:
Well that's certainly what the PGA has done.

I guess your position is that whatever brings the most profit is always the right thing to do. If you can make a lot of money by teaming up with North Korea or the Taliban, then that's the way to go.
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It's no "the way to go" but "they way the world goes".

What I am saying is that professional sports always goes with the money, and that many of the pro sports that are not exclusive to the U.S. will follow the money wherever it is. And, with China raising its world prominence, the influence of the US is very rapidly declining. Past efforts to combine a pro-democracy attitude with sports dominated by the US are now failing... with pro golf just the most significant recent example.
 
DavidEduardo said:
It's no "the way to go" but "they way the world goes".

What I am saying is that professional sports always goes with the money, and that many of the pro sports that are not exclusive to the U.S. will follow the money wherever it is. And, with China raising its world prominence, the influence of the US is very rapidly declining. Past efforts to combine a pro-democracy attitude with sports dominated by the US are now failing... with pro golf just the most significant recent example.
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Newcastle United, a Premier League club with tons of tradition but precious few trophies, was bought by Saudi interests last year. The club rose all the way to fourth in the table this season and will play in the Champions League against the best in Europe starting this fall. There was some outcry when the sale was announced, but most fans were delighted to welcome ownership that would finally invest significantly in better players. A few even started showing up for games in traditional Arab robes and headgear, but stopped when the new ownership announced that it found that practice disrespectful of Saudi culture.

Yes, in professional sports, money talks.
 
DavidEduardo said:
It's no "the way to go" but "they way the world goes".

What I am saying is that professional sports always goes with the money, and that many of the pro sports that are not exclusive to the U.S. will follow the money wherever it is. And, with China raising its world prominence, the influence of the US is very rapidly declining. Past efforts to combine a pro-democracy attitude with sports dominated by the US are now failing... with pro golf just the most significant recent example.
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And you're okay with that?

Profits over people. If a dictatorship has the money, then we should go with that.

Again, I don't give a whit about the sport of golf, but this bothers me. Apparently I'm alone in this.
 
TheBigA said:
The fact that this new golf venture will be for profit, while the PGA was non-profit, says it all to me. There always has been money in golf, but the association stayed out of it. Now that they're participating, things will change.
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And a big part of this has to do with the declining participation of Americans in golf, particularly younger ones.

The patio of my home looks out at the Nicklaus Course at PGA West, and I see plenty of golfers... all with $10,000 carts and thousands invested in clubs who pay around $300 for a T-Time or $125 thousand for a golf membership... and realize this is not a game for "the masses".

With declining players in the US, and the wealthy classes growing internationally, we can expect more changes like this where everything will be motivated by money.
 
Deus Ex Machiato said:
And you're okay with that?
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It does not matter what I am OK with. I'm just stating the facts.
Deus Ex Machiato said:
Profits over people. If a dictatorship has the money, then we should go with that.
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In many international sports, the US no longer has the influence or power to dictate terms. We are seeing this with golf right now, but it has been true with the largest world sport, soccer, for decades.
Deus Ex Machiato said:
Again, I don't give a whit about the sport of golf, but this bothers me. Apparently I'm alone in this.
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I don't play, and don't watch... except looking out at the players in my "back yard"... so I have no part in the game. But the reality is that it is just another example of changing world influences.
 
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