Sports

LIV Golf Antitrust Case Continues To Be An Absolute Clown Show

Does Gibson Dunn even know what’s in these contracts?

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Close up golf ball on green grassBefore Donald Trump turned his efforts toward ruining constitutional order, he would ruin fledgling football leagues. The USFL broke into the sports offering a spring football league for fans craving something more engaging than paint drying baseball. It signed some top-notch talent too. Then Trump, as a franchise owner, spearheaded an effort to move the league to the fall so it could directly compete against the NFL. The effort was always doomed, but Trump didn’t plan to beat the NFL, he wanted to set the stage for an antitrust action. The USFL won the case and garnered a $1 verdict — trebled to $3! — and went under. There’s a great documentary about it.

LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed sportswashing effort, has thrown around some big cash to lure a few notable professional golfers to play in its breakaway events. The PGA Tour responded by kicking the players out of its events since LIV is explicitly trying to steal marketshare from the PGA and the established league doesn’t really have much interest giving free advertising to its competitor by serving as a showcase for LIV’s athletes.

Three LIV golfers alleged antitrust claims against the PGA in a mammoth complaint. It’s a stupid case. Because while LIV or the DOJ may have USFL-NFL scale complaints about the PGA, the players certainly didn’t seem to. What’s the argument? That the PGA’s anticompetitive behavior forced LIV to overpay for talent? Good luck with that. This is probably why when three players sought a TRO so they could play in the FedEx Cup while also trying to destroy the FedEx Cup the judge laughed them out of court noting the players couldn’t “even show that they have been harmed — let alone irreparably.”

Ouch.

In that motion, they compared the FedEx Cup to the Super Bowl. Let’s defer to Rory McIlroy…

Hilarious. The transcript is:

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Reporter: This is a question I thought of that actually came out of that hearing and since you would know better than anybody: Is this the hardest trophy to win, the FedEx Cup?

McIlroy: Is the Super Bowl the hardest trophy to win in football?

Reporter: We’re talking about golf, Rory.

But Lombardi Trophy comparisons aside… do the LIV Golf people even have their own story straight?

Turning back to June, Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee reported that LIV Golf’s prize money was actually just taken out of the player signing bonuses. This prompted Gibson Dunn, representing LIV, to respond:

“The prize purses are in addition to,” the representative said. “There is no draw at LIV Golf on any finances. We just wanted to, on the record … it’s in addition to.” Addressing the players, the representative said, “… this is your first event, but you should know that from your contracts. You can attest to it. Thank you guys.”

But when the players sought a restraining order so they could play this event, their team made a curious statement:

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However, in presenting the case for Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones on why the players, suspended by the PGA Tour for joining LIV, should be granted emergency relief to compete in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, one of the players’ lawyers said that the money allegedly won during LIV Golf events is “recouped against the LIV contracts.”

Uh-oh. So are all these signing figures just potential advances? Golf Digest reports that LIV Golf lawyers had an urgent chat about this claim and responded thus:

For their part, LIV Golf maintains they are telling the truth. “Our counsel was responding to a different question about recouping or offsetting FedEx Cup earnings,” a LIV spokesperson told Golf Digest’s Dan Rapaport. “We maintain that every player’s contract is separate from prize money.”

Recouping against FEDEX CUP earnings? Do LIV bonuses get offset if the player makes any money at a PGA event? If that were the case then it would seem the only harm against the players would be if they did get to play.

That none of these issues are clear — apparently not even for the players and the league and all the lawyers — underscores what a circus this is.

A statement by a LIV Golf lawyer raised questions about LIV’s prize money [Golf Digest]

Earlier: LIV Golf Players Such As Phil Mickelson Sue The PGA Tour In 106-Page Complaint
Biglaw Firm Drops Sponsorship After Golfer Joins LIV Tour

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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