LOS ANGELES – The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has opened a review of the planned alliance to stage the PGA Tour with DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), chairman of the subcommittee, told PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan to investigate in Monday’s letter. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF) on Tuesday announced the formation of a new for-profit entity that will combine their businesses, including the LIV Golf League, which is funded by the Public Investment Fund.
Blumenthal sent a nearly identical letter to LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman on Monday.
“While few details about the agreement are known, the Public Investment Fund’s role as an arm of the Saudi government and the PGA Tour’s sudden and radical reversal of position with respect to LIV Golf raise serious questions regarding the reasons and terms of the announced agreement,” Blumenthal wrote in a letter. Message to Monahan.
Blumenthal noted that the Public Investment Fund, which has assets of more than $700 billion, was established by the Saudi monarchy and is managed by a board of directors under the guidance of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasser Al-Rumayyan, who will assume the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New Golf Authority, is one of Bin Salman’s close friends and confidants.
“The PGA Tour agreement with PIF regarding LIV Golf raises concerns about the role of the Saudi government in influencing this effort and the risks posed by a foreign government entity taking control of a cherished American institution,” Blumenthal wrote. “The Public Investment Fund announced that it intends to use investments in sports to advance the strategic goals of the Saudi government.”
Blumenthal and other politicians have criticized the Saudis’ billion-dollar investments in sports, including Formula 1, the English Premier League and professional golf, as a form of “sportswashing” to soften the country’s image around the world, given the monarchy’s history of human rights. . Violations and their role in the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
“[P]According to this agreement, the PGA Tour has been one of the biggest critics of LIV Golf’s affiliation with Saudi Arabia,” Blumenthal writes.
The PGA Tour said the new agreement with the Public Investment Fund would not affect its operations. The tour said it would continue to operate as a tax-exempt non-profit organization and would control its scheduling and sanctioning of events, rules and competition. Blumenthal told Monahan that the tour’s alliance with the Saudis could jeopardize its tax-exempt status.
“This assertion raises additional questions about the terms of the agreement and whether a foreign government can indirectly benefit from provisions of US tax laws intended to promote not-for-profit business associations,” Blumenthal wrote.
In letters to Monahan and Norman, Blumenthal requested countless documents and communications relating to the relationship between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and PIF; a copy of the agreement and any plans for the new entity; Monahan communicated with others “regarding the risks to the PGA Tour posed by LIV Golf, ownership of LIV Golf, and the influence of Saudi Arabia on LIV Golf;” those related to any dispute between the PGA Tour and PIF, LIV Golf, Monahan, or Al-Rumayyan; records regarding the tour’s tax-exempt status; Documentation produced by the Tour in response to any inquiry or investigation by a law enforcement or regulatory agency; and organizational charts of the tour and the new entity.
According to the letter, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League have until June 26 to submit documents to the subcommittee.
Shortly after the stunning deal was announced on Tuesday, Blumenthal said in a statement: “The PGA Tour has spent two years criticizing Saudi sports-laundering and rants. [to] The safety of golf, which the kingdom would now shamelessly use as a distraction from its many crimes. The PGA Tour has set a price for human rights and betrayed the long history of sports and athletes who advocate for social change and progress. I will closely monitor the structure and implications of this deal.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) also expressed concerns about the proposed coalition and said she would watch its structure closely. In a statement to Time, Warren said the league was “selling out the Saudi regime to draw attention from its atrocious human rights record with a new golf monopoly.”
The United States Department of Justice is also conducting an investigation into the PGA Tour’s alleged monopolistic behavior. The investigation began after 11 LIV Golf players filed a federal antitrust case against the PGA Tour. The new alliance ends all court proceedings between the PGA Tour and the PIF, according to a press release announcing the deal.