The recent merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) drew immediate criticism when it was announced June 6 as an attempt by the Saudi government to divert attention from its human rights record. A Senate subcommittee held a hearing July 11 to examine the PGA Tour/LIV Golf (PIF) deal.
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the Department of Justice on June 14 expressing their concerns on the impact of the merger and its potential violation of antitrust laws. In the letter, the senators requested the DOJ's Antitrust division to "closely scrutinize" the proposal and to "oppose it if it would reduce competition in violation of antitrust law," the Federal Newswire reported June 20.
"Significantly, the deal appears to have a substantial adverse impact on competition, violating several provisions of U.S. antitrust law, regardless of whether the deal is structured as a merger or some sort of joint venture," the senators wrote in the letter, citing sections of the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act.
The senators also wrote that the merger would allow the Saudi government to "sportswash" its "atrocious" human rights record. "The PGA-LIV deal would make a U.S. organization complicit – and force American golfers and their fans to join this complicity – in the Saudi regime’s latest attempt to sanitize its abuses by pouring funds into major sports leagues," the letter states.
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations conducted the hearing ‘The PGA-LIV Deal: Implications for the Future of Golf and Saudi Arabia's Influence in the United States.’ In his opening remarks, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the subcommittee's chair, said the "hearing is about much more than the game of golf. It’s about how a brutal repressive regime can by influence indeed even take over a cherished American institution to cleanse its public image.
"It’s a regime that has reportedly killed journalists jailed and tortured dissidents fostered the war in Yemen," Blumenthal said, "and supported other terrorist activities including the 911 attack on our nation."
Ranking member Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) said LIV Golf is financed by an entity competing for top players with little regard or expectation of a direct financial return.
“Sportswashing is also a legitimate issue. But no amount of money can wash away the stain of the brutal Khashoggi assassination and other human rights abuses. But it would be grossly unfair to expect the PGA Tour to bear the full burden of holding Saudi Arabia accountable,” he said. “After all, anyone who drives a car or uses oil-based products has helped fill the coffers of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.”
PGA Tour Chief Operating Officer Ron Price and board member Jimmy Dunne testified at the hearing.
Price in his testimony spoke about the PGA Tour as an "American institution" that "been under threat for the better part of two years when the Saudi funded LIV Golf Tour launched in 2022. He talked about the various lawsuits the PGA Tour and LIV filed against each other in the months after the start of the LIV inaugural series, and said "the dispute was undermining growth of our sport and was threatening the very survival of the PGA Tour."
Price defended the merger as a way to save the Tour.
"Instead of losing control of the PGA Tour," he said, "we pursued a peace that would not only end the divisive litigation battles, but would also maintain the PGA Tour structure, mission and long standing support for charity."
Dunne, who was instrumental in bringing the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to the negotiating table, acknowledged that working with the Saudis would be criticized.
"Of course, we expect many questions about who we're dealing with," Dunne said. He spoke about the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, saying "some men from Saudi Arabia were part of the nightmare of September 11," and the loss of 66 "friends and colleagues from my firm."
However, he discounted the possibility the terrorists, 19 of who were from Saudi Arabia, were supported by the Saudi regime.
"If a person had the remotest connection to an attack on our country, and the murder of my friends," Dunne said, "I am the last guy that would be sitting at a table with him. If this agreement ultimately succeeds, I have nothing to gain except the sense of pride that we help unite the game we love."
In his closing remarks, Johnson said he knows "Mr. Dunn believes it really can be used to bridge divides and just improve the situation," and for Dunne to be given "the time and space to conclude a deal that can be actually a win-win situation for everybody involved."
Blumenthal, in his closing statement, said the subcommittee had "learned a lot. And we've also learned, we need to learn more. And so we're going to continue this inquiry."
He said any merger "shouldn't be about the money," but he recognizes that "you can't say you're going to walk away from this deal.
"But I hope you bargain hard," Blumenthal said, "and we will continue this inquiry because I think uncovering and shining a spotlight on what's happening here is in the national interest and part of our obligations."
