The Senate Homeland Security Committee has launched an investigation into the surprise merger between the PGA Tour and its Saudi rival LIV Golf.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman on Monday requesting all records relating to the agreement, including communications between the two organizations. LIV has until June 26 to respond to the records request.
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Democrats in Congress have for years scrutinized Saudi Arabia for its human rights abuses, in particular its role in the civil war in Yemen. The kingdom has sought to rehabilitate its image with investments in professional sports, most notably the millions it has poured into LIV Golf through its more than $700 billion sovereign wealth fund.
The new league threatened the PGA’s long-standing dominance in the sport, prompting a bitter and expensive feud in court as each side accused the other of antitrust violations. But that rivalry ended on Tuesday when PGA announced LIV would finance a new joint organization, to be formalized in the coming weeks.
News of the merger sparked outcry from Democrats who accused the kingdom of using the investment in PGA to paper over its human rights abuses. The announcement was even more surprising because PGA had only weeks earlier been lobbying members of Congress to keep Saudi Arabia from having a foothold in American golf.
Blumenthal expressed concern over a foreign entity taking over a “cherished American institution,” echoing his colleagues’ suggestion that the merger poses a national security threat.
The Biden administration could review the deal through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS. But professional sports may not rise to the level of concern Washington has for industries with larger security implications, such as technology and rare earth minerals.
“It’s not immediately obvious to me that this is an issue of national security,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the chairwoman of CFIUS, told CNBC on Wednesday.
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Nonetheless, Democrats are warning the deal could give Saudi Arabia unfair access to U.S. land and help the country “wash money” to former President Donald Trump, who has hosted LIV tournaments at his Bedminster golf course.
Blumenthal is not the only Senate Democrat investigating the merger. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has teased an investigation of his own as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
