The LIV Golf Invitation Series Overnight, the world of professional golf has been thrown into turmoil Sports have been changed forever. New league backed by large investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) The temptation for PGA Tour players To play at its inaugural event in London this week at the Centurion Club in London. Those 17 players – including Phil Mickelson, Dustin JohnsonLuis Ostuygen and Sergio Garcia – followed Restricted from PGA Tour. Importantly, the The USGA has allowed those participants to play in next week’s US Open It’s hard to imagine the country club and the other three big championships not doing so.
This kind of splash entry into the sport could be quite new in the Gulf, as Saudi Arabia and other states have long maintained their influence and extreme oil wealth in other areas. Saudi in October PIF was purchased by Newcastle United Agreement over $ 400 million. And while the Premier League was happy to prove that the PIF is different from the state of Saudi Arabia, this is only true of the strictest of legal interpretations. For all intents and purposes, just as the nation supports its new Gulf League, it also supports Newcastle.
Looking at Newcastle and more broadly, how nations have invested in football teams may help provide some context for the purpose of Saudi Arabia’s new venture, what success looks like, and importantly why its unlimited resources may not be enough to achieve LIV. Land
Why is Saudi Arabia interested in sports?
Sports washing is not a new concept, but it is one thing as countries become increasingly involved in sports. The premise is that countries can use the sports landscape to legitimize themselves in the eyes of the world. Saudi Arabia in particular is internationally known as an oppressive regime. Whether it’s the assassination of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Kashoggi, harsh restrictions on LGBT rights, horrific general human rights records or the brutal war in Yemen, the Saudi Arabian government, in general, is not positive in the Western world news cycle. Reasons. Sportswashing is the process of using athletic competition, at least, to counter that image or, more ambitiously, to gain access to a world that can be politically predetermined by its political choices.
This process is not new. The Olympics have a track record used by nations – for better or for worse – as part of a larger political picture. Jesse Owens became an icon saluting on the medal podium at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but part of that story is that the Olympics were held in Germany and used as fixtures for Nazi propaganda on the eve of World War II. Which, frankly, is not a direct comparison, but simply a long-running practice of countries using the game for political purposes. What is happening now is just another chapter in a long book.
What is different now in Saudi Arabia?
While the exercise of national power has been largely confined to the world of international competitions, such as the Olympics or the football World Cup, Saudi Arabia has grown exponentially over the past decade, though not at the forefront of the movement.
Newcastle became the second Premier League team to be under the direct control of a country after the Abu Dhabi United Group bought Manchester City in 2008 as an investment vehicle for the United Arab Emirates. Outside of the Premier League, Ligue 1 is owned by Paris Saint-Germain and operated by Qatar Sports Investment. Coincidentally, Qatar is also hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a program plagued by reports of human rights abuses.
In both Citi and PSG, the nations that bought them have used their extremely deep pockets to bring sporting success to clubs with little history, at least in the years before their arrival. Manchester City won their first Premier League title in 2011/12, the first top flight title since the 1967/68 season and five wins, including four of the last five seasons. PSG has won eight of the last 10 League 1 Championships.
In club football, these nations have shown more money than God, and in the process they have bought feeder clubs and tempted the best players and coaches in the world to come and get big salaries for them. Manchester City just lured Earling Holland this offseasonOne of the best young strikers in the world, to join their Premier League-winning organization, while PSG convinced another one, Kylian Mbappe – whom they themselves bought in 2018 from direct rivals Monaco. Paris should not be left out for Real Madrid.
Despite being in direct competition with City, Newcastle will try to replicate that success. There is, like any game, a clear and direct line between investment and success. So if Newcastle can reach the top of the game at the bottom of the Premier League table, flirting with relegation, is a matter of time.
How LIV is different from golf club football
It is against that background that LIV golf comes into play, and the similarities are obvious. Saudi Arabia is throwing away millions of dollars to lure players for its glittering new tour. Bryson DeChambeau, for example, is expected to receive a 100 million guarantee to join LIV Golf as the Saudi-backed league opens up funds to pay a total of about half a billion for its top players. According to Golf Digest.
But it is also important to highlight the differences. When a state buys a club football team, it is often accompanied by an army of supporters who are already deeply concerned about the team. Gambling created by these proprietary groups is usually a paid one. The conclusion made by these bosses is that if you take good care of the supporters who care deeply about the interests of their team, then they will support you. Your reputation may seem like out of this circle. There are now millions of Newcastle fans who care about Saudi Arabia. And if those bosses guide Newcastle to competitive success, many of them will view Saudi Arabia positively. That is the agreement.
With LIV Golf, no such pre-existing fanbase exists. Saudi Arabia’s condition is that if they can build a brand new league and lure players into it, it could be enough to generate fan interest in a competitive league that could be the ultimate successor to the PGA Tour. It’s kind of a challenge for fans to pick something like their favorite team and redirect that love to their side. Another thing is to entice the fans to invest their emotional energy in the organization you are creating from the whole fabric.
Does it work
No one should underestimate Saudi Arabia, which has endless amounts to spend and some structural benefits. Because PGA Tour operates as a tax-exempt organization, it can not only start transferring money in an effort to protect its players from being victimized, even if it is needed. And the reason Saudi Arabia is pursuing this endeavor is not to worry about bizarre notions such as “finding a stable economic model” or “not losing a shameful amount” or “turning to profit”.
It is possible that Saudi money will eventually win. Throw enough nine-digit checks to pass around and eventually enough people are going to pick them up. It is possible that good golfers will bring golf fans with them. And once that ball starts rolling, it just won’t stop. Golfers make more money on less golf, fans get to see their favorite players, 12 teams of LIV golf competing against each other in a unique new format of four golfers each, and golf changes forever.
But it is also possible that people will not give it the same level of interest. Some golfers will take the money, but others will not. Rating never comes off the field and instead of taking Saudi Arabia as the driving force in international golf, it could become a laughing stock in the world of golf with increasingly irrelevant golfers and not much to think about. That, more than losing any money, would be the destruction of this Saudi-backed project.
The history of sportswear in football and the sinking of the deep end with Newcastle in Saudi Arabia shows how easy it is to get invested fans, spend money on their team and make them look your best. Now LIV will be for testing whether the Gulf Reverse is true. Can you take some things that people don’t care about and spend until they finally accept? We are about to find out.