Of a sports commentary from 10 Sports. It’s sports commentary
with attitude. So, it’s
aptitude. Alright, so that out
of the way. We’ll be talking
about a lot of issues in sports
over the coming weeks which
have everyone’s attention. I
know you’ve got opinions out
there. We want to know what
they are. We’re going to pick
apart some of the issues. First
and foremost, we want to know
what you think. We want to hear
from you. So, with that said,
stay tuned getting those
comments. Alright, today’s
discussion is a bit of a catch
up. This has been going on for
a year, year and a half,
something I wanted to talk
about. Haven’t really had the
format to do it. We’re going to
talk about Live Golf and of
course, it’s assault on the PGA
Tour. For starters, if you’re
one of the people who believe
nobody should have anything to
do with Saudi Arabia, taking
money for them and you are just
staunchly against anything
going on in that country and
maybe more importantly, the
fact that It’s funded from a
country that has horrible human
rights, history, and present
and all that is well
documented. You don’t need me
to say that but nonetheless, if
you’re one of those people and
you want to have that argument
with me, that’s not my
argument. Uh I don’t care to
speak about that other than to
tell you that is a moral
political, personal decision
from each person and each
golfer to be quite honest and
anyone dealing with that
country and that’s as much as I
want to say about it. What I do
want to do on that issue is
just give you some facts that
I’ve already been established.
Um this does appear to be
sports washing. What that is is
simply a country using sports
and big money and a lot of
publicity. Basically, a big
marketing campaign to help
their overall image worldwide
as a country. I don’t think
anybody’s arguing that fact. Um
it does appear on the flip side
that you need to understand
that the PGA Tour is not
blameless in this because they
certainly, they’re American
companies who do business in
Saudi Arabia and some of those
companies advertise on the PGA
Tour. So, those are facts that
have been established. Um
again, lot of gray area here.
Uh in the sports world, it’s
important to note that if you
want to think about black and
white, you’re going to get lost
pretty quickly because it’s
gray in a lot of areas. Let’s
just use the NBA quickly as an
example. They have a huge
marketing campaign in China.
China’s human rights record,
not good. Again, these facts
have been established. So, if
you really wanted to get into
it, you could go to European
football and a lot of other
sports entities and it
basically what I’m trying to
say is there’s complex
interdependence among trees and
yes, I’m dropping international
relations on you here but and
within governments and so all
that is happening. So, it is
really difficult to single out
one thing, one person but
again, I’m not getting in your
way of doing that. If you feel
personally about that, again,
this is a very, it’s a
personal, it’s an emotional it,
it’s a decision that we each
have to make on our own. I
want to talk about the sports
angle in this. We’re talking
about the two tours and what
bout and now they’re clearly
rivals and what I like most
about it is there’s a bunch of
smack talk going on between
them. Okay, so the Liv Tour is
the new tour. You don’t
probably know that much about.
So, some basic facts founded in
twenty twenty1 backed by the
Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund
worth an estimated 600 billion
plus dollars. That’s a lot of
money. They could offer more
money clearly than the PGA Tour
began offering huge sums to
stars to play on their tour.
We’ll get to that in a second.
The format is something
different. The structure’s a
little different. We’ll get to
that point in a second as well.
They did hold seven
tournaments, a team
championship event at the
season’s end and those
tournaments were held in
London, Portland, Oregon,
Bedminster, New Jersey, Boston,
Chicago, Bangkok, back in Saudi
Arabia, and then the season
finale was actually in Miami.
So, that said, everyone’s
trying to learn and why someone
would choose that tour over the
PGA tour other than money.
Well, money is a big issue but
there are other reasons. So,
let’s have a look at the side
by side and a basic tournament
snapshot. Why would this be
more attractive? Well, there’s
three days instead of four. So,
if you’re a player who plays
almost every weekend, just less
wear and tear on your body.
There’s no cut. So, regardless
of how you play, you’re going
to get some pay out of your
work. On the PGA Tour, as you
know, if you don’t make the
cut, you don’t get paid, that’s
how that works. and while that
doesn’t affect some of the
tour’s biggest stars, it would
matter deeply to the players in
the bottom half of the field.
So, what have the results been?
We’re going to ask this
question. Well, a lot of the
PGA’s bigger stars, at least a
number of them are moving
towards the Live Tour. Is it
just about money or is it about
the format and the way they
like, the way things are set
up, they have more freedom?
It’s a really good question but
let’s throw some names at you.
Um Phil Mickels, Dustin
Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau,
Brooks Koepka have taken the
money and jumped shipped. Lots
of Eurostars like the
Australian Cameron Smith, and
Spain Sergio Garcia. These are
household names. Now, so you to
ask yourself, the players why
are they making the decision?
Well, let’s start with Phil
Mickelson first of all. He
played 30 years on the tour,
made about $100 million
dollars. That’s a lot of money
but they offered him $200
million dollars in a contract
just to play. Don’t have to do
anything in particular. Just
show up and play seven events.
So, he can double his entire
life’s work earnings just by
signing a contract and that’s
the way it’s gone with all of
these big players. So, noone be
really surprised about it. What
I would tell you is it’s up to
each individual player what
they want to decide to do and
we’ll get back to that moral
issue, the personal issues. For
some, it it’s a lot of that.
It’s it’s what do I want to do
for my family? Um folks, I I’m
a realist, okay? Everyone
listening out there can’t
really put themselves in the
shoes of someone who’s being
offered $100 million to do your
job. 2 hundred million dollars
to do your job. What I’m
going to say is it’s okay if
both leagues exist. I think we
need to embrace it. And here’s
why. What matters I think to
us, would be, how do the fans
feel about the quality of golf
being played? We’re not
playing, okay? But we’re
watching. So, how do the fans
feel about it? Is it better or
worse to have two leagues?
Well, once you get passed all
the moral, political, financial
arguments, the bottom line is
great competition is brought
even higher by a great rivalry.
Let’s go back to golf’s
history. Arnold Palmer was
better Arnold Palmer when Jack
Nicholas became his rival. Um
after Jack, everyone’s like,
who’s going to take down Jack?
Then, it was Tom Watson. After
that, it’s you know, it’s the
next star. It’s Sevi
Ballisteros. It’s who’s going
to be the next guy and then
with Tiger, it was Phil and
then who’s going to who’s
going to challenge So, what we
have here is basically the most
amazing script Vince McMahon
couldn’t have written this
script for W for for Monday
Night Raw. Okay, We have two
opposing sides, two leagues
that just disagree with each
other and the best players on
both sides now suddenly don’t
like and respect each other.
That sets up beautifully for
the majors and all these
rivalries. So, why not as golf
fans, after all the litigation,
after all the arguments, after
everyone gets done point
fingers, why can’t these two
both coexist in golf and create
great rivalries? I frankly,
can’t wait for the Masters
because they’re welcoming
everyone who’s who’s qualified
and we got guys throwing teas
at each other and they’re
angry. They’re like, this is
this is golf smack talk going
on. Why wouldn’t we embrace
that? Because this sport is
only compelling in my opinion.
If you’re a great fan of golf
and love the sport or if
there’s great rivalries and
compelling story lines. What
more can you ask for than two
competing leagues who really
don’t like each other? And they
have good reason for it. I
mean, I don’t think I could
have come up with such a a
story line like I said. We
needed, we would need a pro
wrestling script writer to come
up with this situation. The
purest out there. The people
who love golf are going to say,
what about the PGA Tour? What
about tradition? What about the
honor of how they got
everything started? And I would
tell you, true but ultimately,
it’s going to come down to how
does each player feel about
that? Do they connect with
that? Or do they connect with
the newer tour with some
different rules, some different
formats, and and a lot of
money, frankly, too. Um I think
both can coexist and I think
can get great rivalries out of
it and I think the golf viewer
will benefit if we can get past
all the litigation. Frankly,
everybody’s suing everybody
right now and I don’t have, we
don’t have enough time in the
next 10 or 12 days to even go
over all the things that are
being litigated at this moment
but once that clears up, if
these two leagues exist, I
think we’re better for it. I’m
pretty sure Dennis Miller used
to say, that’s just my opinion.
I could be wrong. I think think
I’ll say, that’s just my
opinion. I’ve been wrong before
but we’ll wait and see.