As LIV Golf continues to flaunt never-before-seen money at some of golf's biggest names, the number of PGA Tour defectors keeps growing.
Last week's major winner, Cameron Smith, was offered a reported $90 million, while famed broadcaster David Feherty announced his shift from NBC to LIV Golf on Friday.
“The dollars are just too astronomical,” legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg told Yahoo Finance. “And for younger athletes without much political consciousness, it's a no-brainer.”
While The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund has pledged $255 million in prize money across the eight LIV events, individual players like Phil Mickelson ($200 million) and Dustin Johnson ($125 million) are reportedly making total salaries more than double what they’ve earned in prize money over their entire careers.
The sports' older generation has denounced that mindset. Masters Champion Fred Couples told Yahoo Finance the golfers at the LIV Tour are being “completely overpaid” and described the players’ bashing of the PGA Tour “ridiculous.”
Nevertheless, the money is so eye-popping that some players can’t ignore the payday, according to Steinberg, who currently represents NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes.
“At the end of the day, this league may sustain,” Steinberg said. “Because the numbers are so astronomical people may look at it "I have one life, one career, one earning curve' ... The Saudis have unlimited resources.”
The feud between PGA and LIV has carried over into Washington. The Department of Justice is investigating the PGA Tour for anticompetitive behavior regarding PGA's suspensions on LIV players. Meanwhile, a recent filing revealed the PGA spent $120,000 in the second quarter on lobbying concerns including "Saudi Golf League proposals."
Steinberg, who’s been representing athletes since the 1970s, compared the current golf situation to other mergers in major sports like the American Basketball Association (ABA) joining the NBA and the American Football League (AFL) combining with the NFL. Typically, he argued, people forget about the mergers and the drama surrounding them.
This case could be different, however, given Saudi Arabia’s history of inhumane activities. The country has been under fire for its killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and has also been on the receiving end of criticism from families of 9/11 victims.
Players haven't seemed to be fazed by the controversy, and they may have a fair argument, Steinberg said, given President Biden’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia and his fist bump with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
"Memory is short," he said. "If that league makes it, then younger people will forget how that happened and all the rest of it."
Josh is a producer for Yahoo Finance.
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