PGA Tour, LIV Golf deal needs close DOJ scrutiny, US senators say
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Senators say the deal would make a US organisation and the sport's fans complicit in the Saudi government's attempt to "sanitise" human rights abuses.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – United States senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden have asked the Justice Department to open an antitrust investigation into the planned deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, saying they believe it would result in a monopoly over professional golf operations.
The PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit, which had been involved in a bitter fight that split the sport in 2022, announced an agreement last week to merge
LIV Golf is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Critics have accused it of being a vehicle for the country to “sportswash” its poor human rights record.
“The PGA-LIV deal would make a US organisation complicit – and force American golfers and their fans to join this complicity in the Saudi regime’s latest attempt to sanitise its abuses by pouring funds into major sports leagues,” the senators wrote on Wednesday.
They added that “the deal appears to have a substantial adverse impact on competition, violating several provisions of US antitrust law, regardless of whether the deal is structured as a merger or some sort of joint venture”.
The Democrats also said in their letter to Attorney-General Merrick Garland and antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter that the deal “deserves serious and urgent attention by US antitrust agencies”.
Following news of the merger, the PGA Tour has said that it is “confident that once Congress learns more about how the PGA Tour will lead this new venture, they will understand the opportunities it creates for our players, our communities and our sport while protecting the American institution of golf”.
LIV Golf and the Justice Department declined to comment. The department has been investigating the PGA Tour for trying to keep its players from defecting to LIV Golf.
On Monday, Senator Richard Blumenthal asked the PGA Tour and LIV Golf for communications and records on their planned tie-up.
While all these are going on in the background, former world No. 1 and LIV golfer Dustin Johnson has said that the circuit plans to go through with its schedule for the remainder of 2023 and 2024 despite the merger with the PGA Tour.
There is uncertainty about how the golf calendar will look next season, with some doubts being raised about whether the LIV Golf team-based competition would even exist after this campaign.
World No. 3 Rory McIlroy said he fully expected LIV Golf to “go away” after the merger.
However, Johnson said he learnt from PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who will also chair the board of the new commercial entity, that the circuit would still continue.
“Everything I’ve heard, they’re still working on a full schedule for next year,” he said on Wednesday.
“The rest of this year and 2024 is going to be the same as far as I know. After that, you know as much as I do.
“We’ll probably know some more in the next six months but, as for now, everything’s just going to stay the same.” REUTERS
