The Chinese and Russians have tried to make everyone overlook their repressive regimes with splashy and monstrously expensive Olympics. Qatar just finished the World Cup and managed to get by without any major (by their standards) embarrassments. (Hey what's a few immigrant deaths in the name of good PR?) The Saudis have taken a swing at it with the LIV golf tour which is set up as a rival to the PGA and European tours and has lured some top names with massive payouts for just showing up. Nice work if you can get it. Anyway, it turns out that the idea is turning into a massive money pit. LIV Golf, the Saudi Arabian-backed rebel golf circuit, could lose an incredible $355 million by 2028. Leaked LIV Golf records indicate the circuit needs to meet certain targets to achieve financial success. However, the rebel golf league hasn’t met its targets so far and there is fear it may not achieve success without landing one of the sport’s biggest players. Leaked documents advised the LIV Golf circuit to sign some of the top players in world golf. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were two of the players LIV Golf was advised to snatch up. The players who joined the LIV Golf league were provided with massive contracts, but their defection from the PGA split the world of golf into two. LIV Golf aims to revolutionize the sport. It always faced challenges due to the PGA’s long history, however. The league was unable to attract many of the world’s best players. Indeed, fewer than 50% of the top 12 players in the world joined the circuit. The excitement amongst golf fans failed to grow in the league’s first year due to the lack of top players. LIV Golf has been forced to deal with “start-up” costs. There was also a backlash from the golf community, as fans failed to get on board with the tournaments. Sponsorships have been limited for LIV Golf due to it being backed by Saudi Arabia. The combination of circumstances could see LIV Golf lose $355m by 2028. I truly hope the losses get big enough to embarrass even the Saudis.
LIV Golf will survive if they are able to secure Official World Golf Ranking points. This will allow their players to qualify for the majors and other big tournaments. Otherwise, it dies on the vine and finishes as a giant money pit for the Saudis.
The idea that prissy white dudes whacking a ball into a hole for a purse is a sport still amazes me. It is even worse when Donald Trump ranks as an athlete because of it.
The Masters' has announced it will allow LIV golfers who have previously qualified to play in 2023. No word on whether LIV golfers will be able to qualify for future tournaments. FYI: The Masters' is a private tournament run by some of the fattest fat cats in the world. They're probably hoping LIV will just go away.
Saudi Arabia may be buying WWE, Stephanie McMahon resigns as CEO: report It's things like this that make me wish I watch pro-wrestling so I could stop.
Yeah, FF cannot go down that road, but depending on your angle the Senator from MBNA may have statistically done far more damage over his career than Donald Trump has over his. Especially when you consider Biden's corruption has allowed the banking and finance industries to run wild and has bailed them out with our tax money that could have been spent in much better places. Trump may have wanted to be more evil, and may be less moral and ethical overall, but Biden has had power and influence that has effected large swaths of the world's economies, resources, and power structures. That is long before the senator from MBNA became the president from the Clinton party, MIC, Oil Industry, and Banking industry. Billions of people may have had their lives lessened by policies he has pushed and been a huge part of over decades. Just sayin.
So, Vivack had to ditch two guys working for his campaign because they also worked for the LIV tournament and thus should be considered to be foreign agents. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/30/ramaswamy-aides-liv-golf-00099317 Apparently, some are saying that Trump has taken so much money from the Saudis for the tournament that he also should have to register.
Honestly I think it's worth more than that, its popularity has exploded since it was purchased for $4.7 billion in 2017
Or, or, just hear me out here - they recognize how spineless and money motivated the PGA is and despite LIV having terrible TV ratings and minimal, overaged talent in their lineup they manage to strike a deal and merge with the PGA https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/06/pga-tour-agrees-to-merge-with-saudi-backed-rival-liv-golf.html Terrible, terrible look for the PGA
Oh and a Saudi football team is apparently signing 35 year old Karim Benzema to a 2 year contract worth reportedly $427 million https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37799190/karim-benzema-joins-al-ittihad-real-madrid-departure
Between the obscene numbers of horses being killed in major races and the PGA Tour selling out to one of the world’s nastiest regimes there are two sports that have pretty much fallen off my radar screen. We’re also on the verge of some really big gambling scandals as it turns out there’s no mechanism in Canada for trying to keep things on the up and up. It’s only a matter of time before some college jocks get hammered with tax issues in the age of legal payments for “Name, Image and Likeness”. Interesting times….
It's not just sports washing, but art washing. Saw the documentary on Starz "The Lost Leonardo" about how an alleged Leonardo Davinci painting (that half of everyone thinks is fake) got auctioned off for half a billion, and it turned out to be a Saudi prince who bought it to build a museum around. The Saudi's know oil's day is numbered, and they want to start being a tourist destination as much as France, or Italy, or New York, or Florida, or California, or...well, you name it.
Like that giant city they’re building. But visit a country where there’s no legal booze, women are forced to wear trash bags and you can be executed for literally anything? Fuck that. Not going. Mind you, I could probably get a job over there in a second because a museum owns a Tucker and I did help restore one.
I do find it amazing how the right wing cancel culture machine has gone after Bud Light and the NFL for their stances, but when it comes to golf they are fine with watching their sport when it supports the 9/11 people. I am not hearing any calls to boycott the PGA or LIV.
Vice filed for bankruptcy and appears to have been rescued by the Saudis. https://www.thewrap.com/vice-media-blocked-news-stories-saudi-arabia/
https://www.outkick.com/neymars-new-contract-details-are-absolutely-insane/ Neymar is the latest soccer star to relocate. He's only 31 so this is not just an end of career thing. $326 Million in salary $546,000 per post on his social accounts Bonuses for wins A plane and a mansion
