Podcast: The Detail
Pro golfers are facing a public setback as they sign up for the LIV Golf Tournament, which is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. But if The detail find out, using sports to restore a bad international reputation is not entirely new.
In his 1992 memoir on life as a football fan, British author Nick Hornby describes a moment that will resonate with many sports fans: “I have discovered … that loyalty, at least in football terms, is not a moral choice it was not like bravery or kindness; it was more like a wart or a hump, something with which you clung. ”
And over the past few years, the loyalty of many fans has been tested – and overcome – over serious concerns about ‘sportswear’: countries and corporations using sports as a vehicle to wash their images.
Examples of sportswear are easy to find: from the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin to Saudi Arabia buying Newcastle FC; from the Benson & Hedges World Series to the Heineken Cup, via the All Blacks accepting sponsorship money from petrochemical giant Ineos.
And, just a few weeks ago, another notch in the belt, with the rise of LIV Golf.
It could not succeed in attracting a television broadcaster, and players who joined to join LIV Golf were threatened with excommunication from the dominant PGA Tour, but LIV had a bait in its sleeve – bottomless pits of cash.
The new competition of eight tournaments is financially supported by the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund, which is administered by the country’s de factor ruler, Mohammed Bin Salmad.
The big names who joined the tour earned hundreds of millions of dollars just by signing up – more than even the world’s most successful golfer, Tiger Woods, has earned in prize money throughout his career.
But in doing so, these athletes have opened themselves up to criticism: that they have willingly sold their skills to help tarnish the blood-soaked reputation of a country that killed a Saudi journalist while visiting a Saudi embassy in Turkey has, to clean; where women cannot own property, and where men can be imprisoned, or even executed, for homosexual activities.
“They’re terrifying fuckers to get involved with,” said Phil Mickelson, a $ 200 million golfer – more than double his career earnings – just because he joined LIV Golf.
“We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and US resident Jamal] Khashoggi and has an awful record on human rights. They execute people over there because they are gay. If I know all this, why would I even consider it? Because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reform the way the PGA Tour works. ”
form Sunday Star-Times Sports editor Michael Donaldson, who has written several books on golf, says while there are valid concerns about the Saudi government, there are also elements of hypocrisy on the part of critics, who overlook the fact that many major sports sponsors such as Nike, McDonalds and alcohol companies can be viably accused of committing crimes or moral transgressions.
He says many sporting events have been held in Saudi Arabia with little to no criticism from observers, and speculates that the PGA Tour encourages moral criticism of the rookie tournament because it does not like his grip on power being threatened.
“The whole pressure on these players is all around, you’re taking this money from this horrible regime that killed [Khashoggi]. So the pressure comes around this moral, ethical thing around Saudi Arabian money. Which to me is just a red herring.
“I think this is the only card that the PGA Tour should play, it is to discredit these people on a reputation level.
“The ethical thing? Until you’re in that position, I do not think you can judge people. And if you’re the players who take the money, it’s the same old thing: everyone has their price.”
But well senior sports reporter Dana Johannsen says corporations and countries with dubious human rights to pump cash into sports to wash their reputation is a serious issue – one that affects the image of sport itself, and possibly drives away other sponsors.
“Personally, I find it very worrying.
“The further you progress, the more responsible businesses and brands that you may want to be in line with will be turned down for the idea of sport.
“We are already seeing a shift in the sponsorship market by these responsible companies: sport is no longer seen as representative of these pure ideals.
“Brands are starting to go, hey, maybe we want to look at more social and environmental causes in which we can invest so that we look more socially responsible.”
But Johannsen acknowledges the power of investing in sports is its tribal nature: as Nick Hornby said, sports loyalty runs deep, and fans will show remarkable levels of cognitive dissonance to overlook moral shortcomings as long as it benefits their team.
“The fans embrace it. They think, we’re suddenly flushed with cash, and that means titles and trophies.
“So it’s easy to excuse it in that sense, because when you love your team, it’s like, well, it’s good, we have money, let’s go.”
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