PGA Tour-Saudi PIF merger draws the attention of Congress

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The PGA Tour-Saudi Public Investment Fund merger is far more than a sports story. It's a blending of cultures, a strategic alignment that combines an American-developed sports property with the vast financial resources of Saudi Arabia. The story has captured the interest of sports fans for months, and now, it's caught the eye of Congress, too.

In the wake of Tuesday's shocking announcement of a merger between the PGA Tour and the PIF, the financial backer of the breakaway tour LIV Golf, several figures in Congress have stepped into the fray. Most notably, U.S. Rep. John Garamendi of California, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced the"No Corporate Tax Exemption for Professional Sports Act," which takes direct aim at the merger.

"Saudi Arabia cannot be allowed to 'sportswash' its government’s horrific human rights abuses and the 2018 murder of American-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi by taking over the PGA [Tour]," Garamendi said in a statement.

Elsewhere in the halls of Congress, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut called out the Tour for its apparent bald-faced hypocrisy: So weird. PGA officials were in my office just months ago talking about how the Saudis' human rights record should disqualify them from having a stake in a major American sport.

 

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