The PGA Tour sold out the game of golf
Zander's Weekend Facts #70: Sunday, June 11, 2023
Inside this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announce a shameful merger, and a look at what Zander’s been reading this past week. Plus, a compilation of the top headlines you need to know from the last seven days.
Also, go listen to the latest episode of the Zander’s Facts podcast! Episode 108 features a recap of all the latest soccer stories with Zander’s Facts soccer guru Emma Adams. The two discuss the end of the English Premier League season, Lionel Messi moving to Inter Miami, the latest with the U.S. Men’s National Team, and much more. Go download the Zander’s Facts podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
Here are Zander’s Weekend Facts for Sunday, June 11, 2023:
PGA Tour and LIV Golf make a deal
The world of golf was stunned on Tuesday morning when the PGA Tour announced that it had agreed to merge with its upstart rival, LIV Golf.
Ever since LIV emerged as a new threat to the established PGA Tour, the PGA had been defiant in its criticism. As far back as 2020, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan threatened to ban players from PGA Tour events who participated with the new league.
While Monahan followed through on his threat at the time, it’s certainly meaningless in the present.
The issue with the PGA Tour’s merger with LIV - which they don’t want you to call a merger - has little to do with what happens on the course.
Sure, LIV’s 54-hole, shotgun start, no cuts, team play aspect takes some getting used to for the veteran golf viewer. Although it’s still unclear how the actual game is going to be played in this new deal, and whether the LIV and PGA tours will remain separate or combine.
No, the real issue would be who is really behind LIV and this new merger. And that would be the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Headed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, and the PIF’s Governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the $700 billion wealth fund has been increasingly active in the sports world over the last few years. Among PIF’s notable investments is Newcastle United, the English Premier League club that the Kingdom took over in 2020. PIF has also been influential in jumpstarting the country’s own soccer league, the Saudi Pro League. Christiano Ronaldo has been among the athletes recruited by hundreds of millions of dollars to play in the country, while others, including Lionel Messi, have declined the large sums.
Apart from soccer, PIF also became the financier of a new golf league in 2020, which became branded as LIV Golf in 2021. The league, headed by former PGA Tour player Greg Norman, would pay top golfers much more than the PGA Tour and would change up its structure in order to appeal to a younger audience.
All that sounds great, if only Saudi Arabia was doing it for the right reasons. Sadly, they are not.
The attempts to buy their way into the world’s most prominent sports are solely to enhance the Kingdom’s reputation and cover up for its horrendous record on human rights. Headlined by the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have more on the various grotesques, which include mass executions, unfair punishments for posting on social media, forced evictions, and contributing to civilian casualties in the Yemeni Civil War.
It’s a tactic more commonly known as “sportswashing.” And it’s working.
Stuck in several legal battles with the U.S. Department of Justice - over potential anti-competitive behavior against LIV - and with LIV players - over a separate anti-trust lawsuit which has been countersued - the PGA Tour determined the best way forward was to bring their competitor into the fold.
It’s something we’ve seen previously in American professional sports, with the AFL-NFL merger in 1966 and the ABA-NBA merger 10 years later. But never with a group financed by a country with such an egregious track record.
In his previous attacks on LIV, Monahan went straight at the Saudis, bringing up the families of 9/11 victims in a CBS Sports interview that aired just over one year ago.
Quite the change in tone to the present day, where Monahan gave quite possibly the worst answer to a question, even after attempting to buy himself some time to think of one.
The fact is at the end of the day that the PGA Tour decided that in their perspective, Money > Morals.
The PGA Tour will now be financed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, deepening the ties between sport and brutal murders.
For more information on this week’s top story, here’s an article from The New York Times - Secrecy, Cigars and a Venetian Wedding: How the PGA Tour Made a Deal with Saudi Arabia
What Zander’s been reading
Let’s face it, you’re either an early bird or a night owl. While past research has tended to say that waking up earlier has more benefits, perhaps there’s more to it than just your sleep schedule.
Check out this week’s featured article on Time - Why Waking Up Earlier Isn't Necessarily Better - (Apple News link)
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the top headlines from the sports world in the ZF Sporting Club:
NBA Finals: The Denver Nuggets are closing in on their first NBA championship, currently leading the Miami Heat 3-1 in the 2023 NBA Finals. The Nuggets won both of the series’ games in Miami, beating the Heat 109-94 in Game 3 and 108-95 in Game 4. Tomorrow night, Denver will have a chance to win the series at home in Game 5. If Miami wins Game 5 on Monday night, the series will shift back to South Florida for Game 6 on Thursday night. If Miami is able to win both games, they’ll force a Game 7 next Sunday night in Denver. All remaining games in the series will air on ABC, with Games 5 and 6 tipping off at 8:30 pm et and Game 7 tipping off at 8:00 pm et, if necessary.
Stanley Cup Finals: The Vegas Golden Knights are just one win away from the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. The Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers in Saturday night’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final 3-2 to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Vegas can win the series on Tuesday night in Game 5 in Las Vegas. If Florida wins, Game 6 will take place on Friday in Sunrise, Florida. Game 7 will take place next Monday night in Las Vegas if the Panthers win both Games 5 and 6. All remaining games will get underway at 8:00 pm et and air on TNT.
UEFA Champions League Final: Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final brought the 23rd club to win the most prized trophy in club soccer. Manchester City, behind a Rodri goal in the 68th minute, beat Inter Milan 1-0 in Istanbul, Turkey to win the club’s first-ever UEFA Champions League. City completed the treble this season, winning three trophies, the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League. Manager Pep Guardiola won his third Champions League title after previously winning the competition twice with FC Barcelona in 2009 and 2011.
Messi to Miami: One of the greatest soccer players to play the game, Lionel Messi, announced on Wednesday he would leave Paris Saint-Germain and head to MLS’ Inter Miami in the summer. Messi chose to come to the United States after rejecting an offer from Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal and not coming to an agreement with former club FC Barcelona. Messi’s agreement with Inter Miami is expected to include equity in the club, along with profit-sharing agreements with Adidas, the league’s kit maker, and Apple, who broadcasts the league’s games on the MLS Season Pass subscription service.
Women’s College World Series: The Oklahoma Sooners won their third consecutive Women’s College World Series title, capping a record-breaking season. The Sooners won 53 straight games to end the season, losing just once this season. Their 61-1 record marks the highest winning percentage (.984) in NCAA Division I softball history. The Sooners are also the first team to win three straight Division I softball titles.
Rapid-fire Facts
These are top news headlines from the past week in rapid-fire fashion:
Trump Indictment: Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on Thursday. The indictment from the Justice Department is the second Trump has received this year, with a New York grand jury indicted him on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Thursday’s indictment accused Trump on 37 counts, 31 of which relate to withholding national defense information, while five counts relate to concealing possession of classified documents, and the remaining two counts relating to giving false statements to the FBI. Trump is set to be arraigned in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.
Wildfire Smoke: Wildfire smoke from fires in Canada engulfed the northeast for several days last week. Cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. all dealt with air quality levels classified as unhealthy, with photos showing yellow skies filled with smoke. The smoke had mostly cleared the east coast of the U.S. by Saturday, but the wildfires in Canada continue to burn. Unusually warm and dry conditions, exasperated by the effects of climate change, have led to fires breaking out across the country. Canada is currently on track to have its most destructive wildfire season in history.
Voting Rights Case: The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to uphold the Voting Rights Act’s provision that prohibits racial gerrymandering. The 5-4 ruling saw conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts siding with the court’s three liberal justices to form the majority. In the case of Allen v. Milligan, the court ruled that the state of Alabama had denied Black voters in the state a chance to elect a second representative of their choice. The Black population makes up almost 27% of the state’s total population, yet the state’s congressional district map packed a large number of Black voters into a single district and spread the remaining population among the six other districts.
2024 Presidential Election: The field of Republican candidates vying for the party’s nomination next year grew larger this past week. Three new candidates entered the race last week, with former Vice President Mike Pence officially declaring on Monday. The next day, former New Jersey governor and 2016 candidate Chris Christie threw his hat in the ring, with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum joining the field on Wednesday. 10 candidates have now officially declared on the Republican side, headlined by former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The nominee is likely to face incumbent President Joe Biden in next year’s general election.
CNN CEO: CNN CEO Chris Licht is out at the network after just over a year leading the news network. Licht was the subject of a scathing article in The Atlantic on June 1, which detailed the turmoil facing the network in the year since Licht had left the executive producer position at CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to become CNN’s CEO. Several controversies surrounded Licht’s tenure, including hosting a town hall with former President Donald Trump, moving his office away from colleagues, and falling television ratings. You can read more about the troubles inside CNN in last week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts:
Wrapping up the Facts
Before this edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts wraps up, here’s another reminder to check out the latest episodes of the Zander’s Facts podcast. Download and listen to the latest episode of the podcast, along with every episode of Zander’s Facts, wherever you get your podcasts.
Check out the Zander’s Facts Linktree page for more on everything Zander’s Facts related, including the all-new Zander’s Facts website. At ZandersFacts.com, get the latest on all the facts that Zander is putting out, and check out the freshest styles at the Zander’s Facts shop!
You can also listen to every episode of the podcast on this very website. All Zander’s Facts podcast episodes are now available on zandersfacts.substack.com under the “Zander’s Facts” tab for your enjoyment! That includes the next episode of the Zander’s Facts podcast, which comes out this Wednesday!
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The facts in print return next Sunday, June 18, 2023.
