For those who love professional golf and want to see the best players play against each other every week, you better hope Donald Trump becomes the next president. It’s not just because the former president loves golf.
That’s because the type of regulatory structure he would put in place if elected is a free-market type that would greenlight the long-awaited merger of the PGA Tour and the upstart LIV Golf League. Indeed, the Biden administration’s leftists’ senseless hatred of M&A in general is terrifying for American businesses and the economy. There is a possibility that professional golf will also be affected.
As golf enthusiasts know, LIV was founded as a competitor to the PGA to give fans what they wanted: more golf, in a variety of formats, including shorter tournaments. After using Saudi money (owned by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund known as PIF) to steal players such as Phil Mickelson and causing a huge uproar in the sport, the PGA now wants to merge.
The same goes for LIV. Both leagues agree that golf fans just want to see big-name stars compete in these tournaments. This is the same logic that followed when the old NFL merged with the newly formed AFL in the 1960s, showing the latter could compete with the big boys and had the funds to attract talent on the field.
Over the years, the NFL has exploded as the most popular sport in the country. It’s a $19 billion a year business. The PGA brings in around $2 billion in annual revenue, and with Saudi as a partner there is certainly room for growth, so the parties recently set a deadline of 2024 to work out the details.
The case is solved, right? It’s not that fast. People naturally in Biden’s antitrust line started getting involved — and like everything touched by Sleepy Joe’s minions, common sense is now taking a backseat to politics.
dangerous combination
Two lawyers directly involved in the merger say both golf leagues’ unions are currently on “life support.” Biden’s hack could result in one league, but not two, violating a strange interpretation of antitrust law that could limit the billionaire golfer’s ability to cut deals to get more money. I think it’s sexual. Oddly enough, I’ve always thought that antitrust laws protect consumers who clearly want a merger because they want to see top golfers square off.
Moreover, the PGA does business with Saudi Arabia, a key ally in the Middle East that is dangerous and hated by the left for its civil rights abuses.
Okay, I’m not here to defend the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. But where are the leftists to condemn all these countries that cheer Hamas’ slaughter of innocent Israelis every time the United Nations meets?
One of my sources said: “You would think this merger would be inevitable because people want the best player against the best player in golf. But with this administration, all bets are off.”
Full disclosure: The closest I ever got to a golf course was a long time ago at a summer job working in landscaping in Westchester County, New York. But I know a thing or two about the marriage of politics and finance. So while you can see how the PGA-LIV deal makes fiscal sense and fits nicely into the Biden administration’s vortex of illogical antitrust deals that will need to be challenged in court to be invalidated , it’s always terrible.
By Microsoft, as the administration’s evil left-wing FTC Director Lina Khan claimed that Microsoft may have monopoly control over the most uncontrollable part of the economy: the gaming business, which is driven by technological innovation. Remember when we opposed the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and it ended in failure? Always a smart entrepreneur.
Biden’s Justice Department is blocking the JetBlue-Spirit merger, citing the need for more competition in the low-cost airline market. But some Wall Street analysts say Spirit could face cash flow problems in the next year or so. Bankruptcy automatically reduces the scope for competition.
Cohen gets $wing
I’m told the PGA isn’t taking any risks if you look at what the Bidenistas have been doing with regular deal making. The company recently sought and received a huge cash infusion from hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen of the New York Mets and fellow baseball billionaire John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox. He will be competing with LIV for the time being, but if Sleepy Joe is re-elected, it will be even longer.
Biden did some terrible things during his time in office. Failure to withdraw from Afghanistan. Border crisis. Unnecessary spending that fuels inflation. Now, his administration is trying to destroy the fun of watching professional golf.
