Millions of dollars in legal bills could eventually have tanked the PGA Tour. That’s couch change for a sinister petrostate.
on Tuesday as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, bringing in PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price and policy member Jimmy Dunne as witnesses.“For two years, the most vehement opposition to the Saudi government’s taking over this sport of golf in America, and the most vehement criticisms of Saudi sportswashing, came from the PGA Tour’s leaders themselves,” Blumenthal said in his opening statement. “And then suddenly on June 6th, everything changed.
Blumenthal treated the PGA Tour’s change of heart as a “surrender,” a word he repeatedly said. The Saudi Arabian wealth fund, Blumenthal said, would not stop with the PGA Tour. “Americans very simply deserve to know what this agreement means for the future of golf,” Blumenthal said, “as well as for the future of the Saudi Arabian government’s investment in sports and other autocratic regimes that may choose to do the same.
“Tomorrow,” Blumenthal asked, “you could go through an IPO, you could go to private equity funders, you could go to the players, if they wanted to own as well as be members of the PGA Tour—you have a lot of options right now, correct?”Price pointed out the missing part of Blumenthal’s calculus. They could get attempt these other fundraising pathways to meet their rising obligations.
“If LIV stays in existence and continues to take our top players from us,” Price said, “that will put pressure on our ability to retain those media revenues, and those sponsorship revenues … that is the existential threat.”“My hope is you will resist those bucketfuls of money,” Blumenthal told the Tour witnesses.
I caught Blumenthal after the hearing and pressed him to spell out the alternative he wants, where the PGA Tour successfully
Indonesia Berita Terbaru, Indonesia Berita utama
Similar News:Anda juga dapat membaca berita serupa dengan ini yang kami kumpulkan dari sumber berita lain.
PGA Tour defends LIV Golf deal ahead of Senate hearingThe PGA Tour defended its proposed deal with LIV Golf, while its board goes through a shakeup with the resignation of former AT&T chief Randall Stephenson.
Baca lebih lajut »
Member of PGA Tour Policy Board Resigns, Claims LIV Golf MergerRandall Stephenson, a member of the PGA Tour’s policy board, has resigned, claiming it was due to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf merger.
Baca lebih lajut »
PGA Tour officials set to face skeptical lawmakers over controversial deal with Saudi-backed LIV GolfCongressional lawmakers are expected to grill two PGA Tour officials on Tuesday in a hearing focused on the organization's controversial deal with Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf.
Baca lebih lajut »
WATCH LIVE: Senate Homeland Security Committee holds hearing on proposed PGA Tour-LIV Golf mergerThe Senate Homeland Security Committee is holding a hearing on the proposed deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi backed-LIV Golf to make a joint golf entity after years of feuding between the two golf powers.
Baca lebih lajut »
Live updates: Senate hearing on PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger beginsLIVE UPDATES: PGA Tour officials testify before a Senate subcommittee investigating the company's planned merger with Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
Baca lebih lajut »
Randall Stephenson’s good deed for PGA Tour and American golfThe proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, backed by a reported $2 billion of Saudi Arabian money, is enough to make most of us uncomfortable....
Baca lebih lajut »