LIV, Laugh, Golf: Lipstick on an Oppressive Pig’s Head

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where we raise the curtain on our seventh season, live from the Social Bar and Kitchen in downtown New London, with an examination of the Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf tour in the context of our season-long theme of “sportswashing” and the presence of oppressive oligarchies across sports. LIV Golf claims to want to change the landscape of professional golf in aspiring to host the world’s best players, playing for the world’s biggest purses, with a reduced 54-hole, no cut format while also introducing a team-scoring format. But LIV’s on-course ambitions pale in comparison to their seemingly greater purpose: to legitimize the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the face of vast human rights’ abuses and enhance their standing in the global economic world order. Professional golf marketed and weaponized as a means to cover for a regime of institutionalized oppression: the early legacy of the LIV Golf Tour. Your hosts set out on a conversation that explains the concept of “sportswashing,” contextualizes the movement to rival the incumbent PGA Tour with an autonomous so-called Super League, the success or lack thereof two events and a debut American event in, and what kind of impact this sordid venture will have down the road with respect to the future of professional golf and Saudi Arabia’s global footprint. We thank The Social for hosting our maiden season 7 episode, fans and family, alike, for taking time out of their holiday weekend to join us live, and all of the listeners that have enabled us to even see a seventh season. Keep up with us, next week and beyond, on the Bill Bradley Collective.