After LIV Golfers filed a lawsuit, it didn’t take long for the PGA Tour to react. The leaders of the PGA believe that LIV Golf is ready for anything in order to become a leading tour in the world of golf. ‘LIV is not a rational economic actor, competing fairly to start a golf tour,’ the Tour’s attorneys wrote, as quoted by dailymail.
‘It is prepared to lose billions of dollars to leverage Plaintiffs and the sport of golf to ‘sportswash’ the Saudi government’s deplorable reputation for human rights abuses. ‘If Plaintiffs are allowed to breach their TOUR contracts without consequence, the entire mutually beneficial structure of the TOUR, an arrangement that has grown the sport and promoted the interests of golfers going back to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, would collapse.’
Consequences
Although they were aware of the consequences of their decision, they were not afraid of what they would do. ‘Despite knowing full well that they would breach TOUR Regulations and be suspended for doing so, Plaintiffs have joined competing golf league LIV Golf, which has paid them tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed money supplied by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to procure their breaches,’ the motion said.
‘[Temporary restraining order] Plaintiffs now run into Court seeking a mandatory injunction to force their way into the TOUR’s season-ending FedExCup Playoffs, an action that would harm all TOUR members that follow the rules.
The antitrust laws do not allow Plaintiffs to have their cake and eat it too.’ LIV golfers believe that such decisions destroy their careers. ‘As part of its carefully orchestrated plan to defeat competition, the Tour has threatened lifetime bans on players who play in even a single LIV Golf event.
‘It has backed up these threats by imposing unprecedented suspensions on players (including the Plaintiffs) that threaten irreparable harm to the players and their ability to pursue their profession.’
