Saudi arabia league

If the LIV Golf startup was meant to rebrand the kingdom, a year of foreign agent controversies, 9/11 evocations, and events at Trump properties hasn't ...

Even if the filing ultimately helps prove that LIV is a victim of monopolistic bullying, it guarantees a bunch of coverage that includes the words “9/11” and “Saudi Arabia” in close proximity. The league vowed to assemble a “world-class team” for the second season of golf competitions. For a normal startup, a strategy that makes you the favorite of 42 percent of a 350 million-person population seems like a decent move. [Hailey Fuchs noted last fall](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/31/donald-trump-liv-golf-00064170) after attending one of them, Trump’s presence had in short order fractured golf along the same lines as the rest of society, a divide that boils down to what you think of the 45th president. But PIF belongs to the country that was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers. [called for the Justice Department to investigate the golf league for potential violations of FARA](https://roy.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-roy-urges-investigation-saudi-backed-liv-golfs-potential-violation-foreign), suggesting that even the golfers themselves were effectively part of a foreign influence operation due to PIF’s ownership. And if LIV was backed by the government of Bolivia or Norway or South Korea, going to court over the claim would be a perfectly logical move. A news cycle that features allegations that LIV has secretly turned American athletes into “foreign agents” is not going to help the cause. “A foreign government’s dollars are being used to enhance that government’s brand and positioning here in the United States.” In other words, it’s a classic case of “sportswashing,” improving the look of a problematic regime by associating it with a peaceful, popular pastime. The latest set of unhappy headlines landed late last month, when a federal judge ruled that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would have to answer questions and produce evidence as part of the discovery process in a legal battle between LIV and the rival PGA golf tour. No matter who winds up winning, it hasn’t generated the sort of headlines that reset a national image. “It is plain that PIF is not a mere investor in LIV,” Magistrate Judge Susan Van Keulen wrote, using the Saudi fund’s familiar abbreviation.