PGA + LIV= The Moral Collapse of Sport, not just Golf

[Stavros]

Imagine it is 1953, or 1963, or 1973, or 1983, and an official body of the USSR buys Newcastle United football club, or the Boston Red Sox; or funds entirely the PGA tour of world Golf. Cue speeches and articles apoplectic with rage, justified, as well as hysterical denunciations of the USSR as a place of summary execution, show trials and the Gulag, the invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, not to mention the lunacy of Central Planning.

Fast forward to 2023 and the Kingdom that produced most of the 9/11 Hi-Jackers, through its sponsorship of Sport, has embarked on a deliberate campaign to lube the arseholes of the sporting world prior to being royally Fucked again, and again, and again.

Public beheadings in Saudi Arabia? Abducting and dismembering Khashoggi? 9/11? So what! is the response of Golf and Football.

A long history of terror that began in the early 20th century when Ibn Said forged an alliance with the legacy of a nutcase called Mohammed ibn al-Wahab (it was his brother who described him as 'mad'), and you have the forerunners of Al-Qaeda, then known as the 'Ikhwan' who rode out of the Nejd to terrorise the Hejaz before seizing control of Mecca, ousting the Hashemites, destroying historic buildings there, and in Medina and Jeddah, a comprehensive destruction of some of the finest vernacular architecture in Arabia that even Mao could not complete in China.

At no point in the last 100 years has anyone who lives there been asked if they want to be ruled by the House of Saud, and if they do complain or agitate, prison or the sword will deal with them. And everyone knows this, inside Saudi Arabia and outside. Will critics of the LIV/PGA partnership end up headless in Riyadh?

Sport has been defiled, it has been dragged into a sewer of corruption, violence and hate, but it seems so obsessed with money are the morally wretched people who manage golf and football and indeed, play it too, that no amount of documentary evidence showing what Saudi Arabia is like, will have an deter them from surrendering the ' Free World's' sporting clubs and organizations to religious monsters who chop people's heads off and regularly threaten governments who complain about them.

What if it was Putin or Kim Jong-Un doing this?

Not so much a sad day, as a day of shame. But what to do? Does anyone have the courage to take on these deranged murderers and ideological freaks, the friends of Jared Kushner, the men who made Trump gush with plaudits because they paid him millions for his yacht, and who knows what else/how much else they have paid him.

No surprises at the venal behaviour of the Trump family, but what about the USA and those 'shared values' we keep hearing about?

All gone into the sewer, swimming in shit-and-blood smeared dollars.

PGA’s ‘merger’ with LIV can’t be seen as anything other than a Saudi victory | Golf | The Guardian

[rodinuk]

It’s an absolute sell-out.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Imagine it is 1953, or 1963, or 1973, or 1983, and an official body of the USSR buys Newcastle United football club, or the Boston Red Sox; or funds entirely the PGA tour of world Golf. Cue speeches and articles apoplectic with rage, justified, as well as hysterical denunciations of the USSR as a place of summary execution, show trials and the Gulag, the invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, not to mention the lunacy of Central Planning.

Fast forward to 2023 and the Kingdom that produced most of the 9/11 Hi-Jackers, through its sponsorship of Sport, has embarked on a deliberate campaign to lube the arseholes of the sporting world prior to being royally Fucked again, and again, and again.

Public beheadings in Saudi Arabia? Abducting and dismembering Khashoggi? 9/11? So what! is the response of Golf and Football.

A long history of terror that began in the early 20th century when Ibn Said forged an alliance with the legacy of a nutcase called Mohammed ibn al-Wahab (it was his brother who described him as 'mad'), and you have the forerunners of Al-Qaeda, then known as the 'Ikhwan' who rode out of the Nejd to terrorise the Hejaz before seizing control of Mecca, ousting the Hashemites, destroying historic buildings there, and in Medina and Jeddah, a comprehensive destruction of some of the finest vernacular architecture in Arabia that even Mao could not complete in China.

At no point in the last 100 years has anyone who lives there been asked if they want to be ruled by the House of Saud, and if they do complain or agitate, prison or the sword will deal with them. And everyone knows this, inside Saudi Arabia and outside. Will critics of the LIV/PGA partnership end up headless in Riyadh?

Sport has been defiled, it has been dragged into a sewer of corruption, violence and hate, but it seems so obsessed with money are the morally wretched people who manage golf and football and indeed, play it too, that no amount of documentary evidence showing what Saudi Arabia is like, will have an deter them from surrendering the ' Free World's' sporting clubs and organizations to religious monsters who chop people's heads off and regularly threaten governments who complain about them.

What if it was Putin or Kim Jong-Un doing this?

Not so much a sad day, as a day of shame. But what to do? Does anyone have the courage to take on these deranged murderers and ideological freaks, the friends of Jared Kushner, the men who made Trump gush with plaudits because they paid him millions for his yacht, and who knows what else/how much else they have paid him.

No surprises at the venal behaviour of the Trump family, but what about the USA and those 'shared values' we keep hearing about?

All gone into the sewer, swimming in shit-and-blood smeared dollars.

PGA’s ‘merger’ with LIV can’t be seen as anything other than a Saudi victory | Golf | The Guardian

Pink Floyd was absolutely right,when they said money is the root of all evil. And PGA Commissioner Jay Monohan explanation is hypothetical and disingenuous.

[Stavros]

The Senate reaction-

Washington threatens to disrupt PGA Tour’s merger with Saudi-funded LIV Golf | PGA Tour | The Guardian

[holzz]

Sport is entertinament.

there is no big global sport that isn't money-driven, as an entertainment concern.

Football/soccer, tennis, F1, golf, cricket, etc. all are. The big American sports are.

Big money sports won't stop, and shouldn't stop. It's only a threat unless there is bad governance in sports. People won't stop liking sports, so it just needs to manage itself properly.

[holzz]

Do these Congresspeople/Senators complain about mega-money NBA or NFL deals? why not? it's the same thing.
I doubt this would kill golf. it makes golf like all other major world sports.
Golf though by design takes up land that can better be used for housing or agriculture but that's by the by.

[filghy2]

Big money sports won't stop, and shouldn't stop. It's only a threat unless there is bad governance in sports. People won't stop liking sports, so it just needs to manage itself properly.

We already have many examples of sports governance being corrupted by money - FIFA being a prime example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_FIFA_corruption_case

When people pay big money to sponsor sports they are doing it to advance their own interests, not for the good of the game. That creates an inherent tendency for conflicts of interest. It's bad enough when the money is coming from commercial interests (eg sponsorship by betting companies). It's even worse when there are political motives involved.

[Stavros]

There is also the joke that was made I think when Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club: 'What's the easier way to become a Millionaire? Start out a Billionaire, then buy a Premier League football club'. Even those clubs that make an annual profit, and there aren't that many, the profit is peanuts compared to the wealth of the owner(s). It was said at the time that the Glazer family bought Manchester United FC not out of any love of English 'soccer' but for the sum they were forking out, MU would give them the equivalent in profits of the debt they owed in the US. In other words, all those supporting the club with their money, and the sponsors, the TV people and so on, were financing the Glazer's debt.

Saudi PIF may not be in debt, but it sure as Hell doesn't need the revenues from Golf to survive. It is a blatant attempt by the head-chopping monster of the Kingdom of 9/11 to lube the arses of the sporting world, in readiness for his fists.

[Stavros]

Will he or won't he? Too much at stake, unless he can weasel his way out of 'difficult' questions.

US Senate asks governor of Saudi wealth fund to testify over LIV-PGA merger | US Senate | The Guardian

[Stavros]

How much is a footballer/soccer player worth?

If Saudi Arabia can afford this for one player it doesn’t just make football finances and the concept of ‘fair play’ meaningless, it begs the question what will they pay to rebuild the Yemen, where they have participated in a refugee crisis on their border, destroyed homes and people’s lives? Or maybe they value Kylian Mbappe more than a million children in Yemen- or their own country?

“How much will Mbappe earn per second?
Starting with the annual wage of €700m - a figure that would make Mbappe the highest-earning footballer in the world by a comfortable distance. When broken down fully here is how much he would earn:

• €700m per year
• €58.33m per month
• €1.9m a day
• €79,900 an hour
• €1,332 a minute
• €22 per second“.
• https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-b2381354.html