Follow us on social

Mohammed bin Salman Saudi Arabia

MBS admits LIV Golf-PGA merger would be a monopoly

With the Justice Department’s review of the deal ongoing, the Saudi ruler’s public acknowledgement could pose problems

Reporting | QiOSK

Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammad bin Salman said on Wednesday that a merger between Saudi-owned LIV Golf and the PGA would amount to a monopoly, an admission that could give federal officials ammunition to block it.

During an interview with Fox News’s Brett Baier, MBS blew off charges that his regime is engaged in “sports washing” — or laundering its reputation via professional sports investments — and vowed to continue the practice. “Is sports washing going to increase my GDP by one percent? Then I will continue doing sports washing,” he said. When asked if he was okay with the pejorative term “sports washing,” MBS said, “I don’t care.”

Later, when Baier asked what he thought of LIV Golf possibly merging with the PGA, MBS called it a “gamechanger” and admitted it would become a monopoly.

“You will not have competition,” he said, adding, “and you will have focus on developing the game, and that's good for the players and the fans who love golf.” Watch:

MBS’s admission is a bit ironic, particularly since 11 golfers associated with LIV filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA last August. Nearly a year later, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — which owns LIV Golf — and the PGA, along with Europe’s DP World Tour, announced that they would not only end their dispute but also join forces.

The Wall Street Journal reported in June that the Justice Department would review that merger over antitrust concerns and that lawyers who specialize in the field said that PGA commissioner Jay Monahan’s statement that the merger would “take the competitor off of the board” could be “potentially problematic.”

Ben Freeman, who directs the Quincy Institute’s Democratizing Foreign Policy program, said you can add MBS’s statement to that list.

“It’s hard to imagine that a comment like that would not catch the eye of Justice Department investigators, whom we know are already investigating this deal on antitrust grounds,” he told RS.

Image: Screen grab via foxnews.com

Reporting | QiOSK
Israel-Hamas deal: Talking vs. bombing, works

A woman holds a sign as the families and supporters of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas gather to raise awareness and demand their immediate release in Tel Aviv, Israel November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Shir Torem

Israel-Hamas deal: Talking vs. bombing, works

QiOSK

The agreement reached today between Israel and Hamas — and brokered by Qatar and Egypt — is an important first step that will hopefully give all sides an opportunity to step back from the precipice of a larger regional conflagration, and to consider options for ending this war other than by the military destruction of one another.

The return of the hostages to Israel in exchange for the return of Palestinian prisoners is welcome news and hopefully will proceed through subsequent cycles until all the hostages have been returned. The exchange proves that solutions can only be found through diplomacy through the help of actors in the region who can talk to all sides, in this case, Qatar and Egypt.

keep readingShow less
US strikes in Iraq show risk of escalation to wider war
Photo credit: Marines disembark from a V-22 Osprey at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq in 2018 (Cpl. Jered T. Stone/ Marine Corps)

US strikes in Iraq show risk of escalation to wider war

QiOSK

The United States has conducted two retaliatory airstrikes against Iraqi militias this week after ballistic missile attacks against America’s Al Asad Air Base, the latest in a troubling tit-for-tat between the U.S. and Iran-backed militias in the region that was triggered by the Israel-Hamas conflict.

CENTCOM appears to believe that the status quo of attack and reprisal with Iraqi militias is sustainable. There’s an assumption that Washington, Iran, and Iraq’s militias understand each other’s red lines. However, this assumption comes with a lot of risks.

keep readingShow less
JFK: A man on the brink of revelation

JFK: A man on the brink of revelation

QiOSK

Sixty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

According to his biographer, Arthur Schlesinger, Kennedy’s thinking had evolved in the year before his killing. In an obituary in The Saturday Evening Post on December 14, 1963, Schlesinger said this about the president in those last months:

keep readingShow less

Israel-Gaza Crisis

Latest