amna: The PGA tour is merging
with the saudi-backed LIV golf
tour.
The stunning announcement ends
months of bitter legal fights
between the rival groups.
The PGA says the move will quote
"Unify the game of golf."
But critics and human rights
activists argue the merger will
stain the legacy of the tour,
given LIV's close ties to the
Saudi royal family.
For a closer look, I'm joined by
Brendan Quinn, a senior writer
at the athletic who has covered
this story from the outset.
This seemed to catch a lot of
people by surprise.
Did you see this merger coming?
Brendan: I did not.
Typically it is the media or
fans caught off guard.
Rarely do you see tour
officials, the most prominent
players in the game, the most
powerful agents in the game that
have no idea.
Zero indication.
The PGA often refers to itself
as player-run and operates
differently than traditional
sports leagues.
In this instance, the players
had no idea this was happening.
Their reactions were everything
from confusion to anger and
reacting in real time since
10:00 A.M. This morning.
Amna: It is stunning.
What does that how you -- what
does that tell you about how
this deal was crafted?
Brendan: Between two very small
groups.
The PGA tour commissioner Jay
Monahan and the governor of the
public investment fund of Saudi
Arabia, mbs' personal anger and
the director of LIV golf.
Overseas LIV golf has been those
two parties going at each other
in terms of finding who has more
leverage to get the best players
in the world.
Over the last seven weeks
according to Jay Monahan, the
two have been talking.
They met in London, played golf,
had lunch, hammered out a deal.
For everything that has happened
in the past two years, to
suddenly get wrapped up between
two people in seven weeks is
unthinkable.
No one would have considered a
scenario like this.
Amna: We need to remind people
LIV golf is bankrolled by
Mohammad bin Salman, linked to
the murdering of journalist
Jamal khashoggi.
They have a terrible human
rights record with their
treatment of women and lgbtq
folks.
Some called this sports washing,
pouring money into a sport to
distract from those other
issues.
Does this merger suggest that
that work?
Brendan: One thing Saudi Arabia
has been looking for is twofold.
It is legitimacy and power.
I remember speaking to graham
would -- wood.
He had met with mbs multiple
times and studied Saudi Arabia
at length.
He said, it would be something
the Saudis would think of, why
buy a sports team when you can
buy a league?
There is that degree of
ambition.
In creating LIV golf, it was an
entirely new entity to take over
a sport and gain leverage as
much as possible.
Two years ago if it could have,
the public investment fund would
have bought the PGA tour
outright if it would have sold
for how many billions.
But the PGA tour would not sell.
Now it is the influx of cash
that the PGA tour is getting
from the public investment fund
that is bolstering the tour and
giving the Saudi government a
controlling share.
Amna: Part of the statement from
the 9/11 families they put out
today after the merger they
said, now the PGA and Monahan
appear to have become just more
paid Saudi shills taking
billions of dollars to cleanse
the Saudi reputation.
Has the PGA commissioner
addressed any of these concerns?
Brendan: He spoke with the media
half an hour ago.
His message was that the
long-term threat of the health
of the PGA tour and needing this
cash to get out of litigation --
there has been a drawn out
lawsuit with LIV golf.
Their tax-exempt statuses are
being investigated.
Basically, they had to get out
of that situation and this is
the only way.
The PGA tour used a lot of ideas
of morality and ethics to keep
its best players and stand in
stark contrast to what LIV golf
is.
At the end of the day, chose its
own financial security over
concerns of morality.
Amna: Brendan, thank you.
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