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Saudi World Golf Tour 2022/2023 Thread

MichDeac25 said:
I'm going to guess that purpose wasn't to free professional golfers from the Saudi-viewed constraints on their professional lives.
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What is your guess based on? As is obvious, they invest to make money all the time. As is further obvious, they are damn good at it.

We all know what the PGA Tour is trying to seize on here to garner support to protect its monopoly: bias against anyone from the Middle East. It is what it is.
 
Yeah, they invested in having a fifth of the world's oil reserves. Very smart on their part.
 
sometimes i wonder what it must be like to be wrong about so many things
 
donaldross said:
What is your guess based on? As is obvious, they invest to make money all the time. As is further obvious, they are damn good at it.

We all know what the PGA Tour is trying to seize on here to garner support to protect its monopoly: bias against anyone from the Middle East. It is what it is.
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I am biased against governments beheading journalists and not allowed women to drive, so you got me there.
 
mikedrum4prez said:
I am biased against governments beheading journalists and not allowed women to drive, so you got me there.
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Of which they deny and there has been no due process. Didn’t stop those racist Americans from torturing 💯 innocent folks for decades in Gitmo without due process either.
 
cville deac said:
This is what has stunned me. There is no business model to any of this. I'm estimating they're paying out close to $1bil this year and will probably spend around half that the next 2 years. Maybe they can make $10-15mil back at the gate. But there is no TV contract and no corporate sponsors. You'd think the Saudis would at least want to eventually make back 30-50% of what they're spending. So I assumed they'd have a sports channel that is willing to at least pay something to show these "tourneys". There is hardly a shortage of sports channels. And you could find a handful of corporate sponsors. This is a joke.
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I don't know the details, but I would suspect that they are broadcasting this on their own until they can negotiate a better deal with a broadcast partner. Now that they have shown that they can attract talent and actually pull off a golf tournament, I think they can probably get more money than they would have a few months ago. Especially given the controversy around the ownership... Which likely also lessens over time.
 
The Saudi investment fund has over $620 billion. They don't GAF about a TV contract that might get them a few million. That really makes no difference to them.

For now at least, the Saudis prefer to control all of the broadcast content from the event and avoid the negative reporting that has otherwise surrounded the LIV tour. If interest starts to pick up after a couple of years to the point where they could draw significant dollars (and for the Saudis significant dollars would start with a "B") for selling the media rights, they might consider it, but even then, the key would be allowing the Saudis to control the messaging out of this event. The Saudis aren't doing this because they love golf or to make money off the LIV tour, as they paid $125 million to grab DJ on the downside and $200 million to land Mickelson and he likely would never win another PGA level event had he not jumped to the LIV Tour. Those are not investments that will give the Saudi a direct return on the the money spent, but if the Saudis become influencers in the world of golf (a game that is played and followed many influential and powerful people) that will be worth the monetary losses to overpay for washed up or hated golfers.
 
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Seems to me if they get control of the market by overpaying old folks like Phil, they might really cash in on the back end. But what do I know. I don't have a billion dollars so my business plans aren't on that macro level.

I did waste $6 on a Starbucks trip just now. I had no business plan for it. I just wanted to do it. No one yelled at me that I had no business plan and, therefore, shouldn't be buying it. But I'm not from the Middle East.
 
I can’t decide if Hennie Du Plessis winning the first event will be the best thing for this tour or the worst thing.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
DR, can you give me your run down on Eric Bischoff circa 1995-1998
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Don't have a run down. I was at Wake Forest watching our basketball team fail in March--just like we have ever since. I guess I was too busy picketing for a new stadium when everyone said our stadium was fine and we would have a great 30 years to know who this Bischoff guy is.
 
I dont like monopolies but calling the PGA a monopoly while defending the leader of the most damaging cartel in history is great irony. You can buy a lot of golfers at $150.00 a barrel.
 
Thinking the Saudi’s are some genius level savvy investor instead of born into the jackpot of life sitting on a billion dollars a day in oil is right on brand.
 
donaldross said:
Of which they deny and there has been no due process. Didn’t stop those racist Americans from torturing 💯 innocent folks for decades in Gitmo without due process either.
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Hitler was just making sure the trains ran on time.
 
DeacsATS said:
I don't know the details, but I would suspect that they are broadcasting this on their own until they can negotiate a better deal with a broadcast partner. Now that they have shown that they can attract talent and actually pull off a golf tournament, I think they can probably get more money than they would have a few months ago. Especially given the controversy around the ownership... Which likely also lessens over time.
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Here's how you could monetize it and at least make some of your money back. A lot of the folks backing Phil in his beef with the PGA are MAGA types, and they of course had zero problems with him selling a lot of military equipment to the Saudis during his reign. So just go full MAGA and politicize the whole thing. Make Trump a partner and give him a high profile gig. Play at some of his courses and in Trump friendly states. Wouldn't be too difficult to get Fox Sports to broadcast it. Wouldn't be difficult to then get corporate sponsors like Domino's, ChicfilA, My Pillow, Straight Down and others to buy ad time. You'd triple or quadruple your gate revenue and make a fair chunk back on the TV revenue. So not only are you monetizing it, you're creating a built in fan base who will help make it more sustainable. Right now, it's a novelty without a base. That's not sustainable. Why not try to create that base and make a little money?
 
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