Ari Emanuel, the chief executive officer of Endeavor – the parent company of UFC as well as talent agencies IMG and WME – recently joined Freakonomics Radio and discussed how the company considered a $1 billion investment in LIV Golf.
According to Emanuel, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau made an approach to talk about funding, and Endeavor held internal discussions for a proposed $1 billion investment in LIV Golf, which is now financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Thanks to Endeavor’s ties throughout professional golf, as well as Emanuel’s relationship with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, the plans for the investment fell through.
“We’re all connected in golf,” Emanuel said. “And (the PGA Tour) said, ‘Please don’t do it.’ So we stopped. I’m friends with Jay. We have a lot of business with Jay. I don’t want to hurt Jay.”
“I said to Jay, ‘We’re pulling out. But you have got to figure out an economic solution here because … it’s going to force you,’” Emanuel continued. “And he did. To his credit, I think Jay did an incredible job.”
LIV Golf is currently wrapped up in an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, and the U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating the Tour for anticompetitive actions with regard to LIV.
LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its human rights record. The Kingdom has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Not to mention members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Emanuel said he doesn’t have a moral stance on LIV being funded by the PIF and he isn’t concerned about sportswashing.
“I haven’t really thought about it. I have enough on my plate,” he said. “They’re doing what they’re doing.”
Emanuel said he once met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss a deal and called him “as charming as could be.”
“He’s incredible,” Emanuel gushed. “He had this whole vision, bringing entertainment and movies back. And he wanted to spend $30 billion in entertainment. Well, I can do math, $30 billion, I mean, it’s money. And I thought his vision was incredible.”
Just seconds later Emanuel was quick to cover his comments by adding the following: “But let’s be very clear about something. I’m not defending what they did. You know, I’ve had a brother that’s been in two White Houses. Every country does bad things. They just don’t do it in an embassy.”
