So Phil Mickelson… he done 17ed up.
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Seems like it would take a truly large ego and real greed mixed in with doses of dumb and/or immoral to jump into bed with the Saudi's.
I give you Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson.
I give you Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson.
Quite simply, he was dropped by sponsors and apologized on social media for his 'errors'. He made some behind the scenes comments that are totally legal and in line with how governments and businesses around the world handle their relationships with Saudi Arabia, those comments were released, and now sponsors have dropped him even though some actually do business with Saudi Arabia and businesses within the country.
He said he would sit out play and take a break after the comments were released. Apparently now that means he wont play at Augusta in a couple weeks.
Its just some inconsistent position taking by companies in the name of optics and a known athlete/celebrity being punished for what was said.
Nothing to see here.
I don't usually agree with you but I do on this. Phil screwed up, he took a break and should have, but he doesn't deserve to miss the Masters. He is beloved at that place and belongs there.
Somebody inside the PGA really hates the 17 out of Phil Mickelson. They intended to destroy any attempt to leave the reservation or mess with the brand or draw away the top players. Someone else that better watch his now-ample *** is DeChambeau. That MFer has a tendency to run his damn mouth and go off message. They’ll give that goober the Phil treatment in a heartbeat.
Some back story on his Saudi deal, I’m sure y’all will correct anything I get wrong.
Some of the Arabs have more money than they can spend on goods, so they are trying to buy stuff not normally for sale. One target is the PGA tour. They can’t buy the tour but they are trying to convince all the top players to come play in the their sand bunker. This is partly feasible because the top players feel disgruntled because they generate way more money than they get paid. The arab tour would pay out stupid, $300 million to some of the top players (I could be mistaken on that number, but it’s a crazy amount more than the pga tour pays). The pga tour is aggressively trying to prevent players from joining the Arab tour. I’ve read before that the pga tour pays out less revenue than any other professional sports league, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s why I think the top players are disgruntled.
Some of the Arabs have more money than they can spend on goods, so they are trying to buy stuff not normally for sale. One target is the PGA tour. They can’t buy the tour but they are trying to convince all the top players to come play in the their sand bunker. This is partly feasible because the top players feel disgruntled because they generate way more money than they get paid. The arab tour would pay out stupid, $300 million to some of the top players (I could be mistaken on that number, but it’s a crazy amount more than the pga tour pays). The pga tour is aggressively trying to prevent players from joining the Arab tour. I’ve read before that the pga tour pays out less revenue than any other professional sports league, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s why I think the top players are disgruntled.
This is what is crazy to me. You see companies straining at gnats over issues in the US while looking entering into business relationships with regimes that commit gross human rights violations. Disney is the craziest to and the most consistently jaw droppingly hypocritical. They are up in arms over florida wanting talk about sex/sexual orientation/sex education out of K-3 class rooms and framing it as a LGBQT+ issue (as if they have a particular interest in talking about sex with early elementary students, which you would think would get Disney blasted by the LGBQT community and I'm a little confused as to why it hasn't) but they don't see a peep about China's policies on LBGQT issues, which are just a bit less enlightened than those prevalent in Florida's government and citizens to say the least.
Phil is a washed up, crazy, *******. Let him play the Saudi Sr tour. But greed by the PGA is the bigger issue. They're going to lose players IF sponsors go. They won't if they don't. PGA players make more on sponsorship than winnings. In the end, greed will win.
For years, the Saudi's have been "sports washing" their ****** humanitarian record to gain favor from the rest of the world. They know they can throw enough money at soccer, racing, and golf, and western markets will soften their stance on their ****** policies. Phil called them out and got blowback from corporate sponsors. He was 100% right, but Saudi money runs so deep that every Fortune 500 company will bend the knee to Sharia Law.
The only thing that pissed me off was that Phil apologized. Never apologize.
The only thing that pissed me off was that Phil apologized. Never apologize.
This is a big part of the issue. Phil has made some statements about how much money the league makes compared to how much it pays out and I think the numbers he has stated are clearly wrong. On one of his comments it sounds like maybe he confused the estimated value of the league's media and ip rights with the actual revenues they produce.
I don't know man
He probably doesn't want to end up getting chopped up and taking an acid bath. Probably a good idea to apologize in this case.
He probably doesn't want to end up getting chopped up and taking an acid bath. Probably a good idea to apologize in this case.
And rasslin'.
WWE has been getting about $100 Million per year to put on two annual events in Saudi Arabia for the past 4 years.
Screwed up may be the wrong description. My understanding is the author that released the information used Phil's quotes out of context. I don't disagree with him regarding the PGA and there should be a competing association but probably not with the Saudis.
All the ******** fallout is corporate posturing.
All the ******** fallout is corporate posturing.
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He claimed they were sitting on $20B in media rights. Their current deal is for $7B over nine years. That's for TV, so it doesn't cover what they get off their archive or social media stuff or streaming not associated with the tournaments, but still have trouble getting that to $20B value unless he is adding in some number for thsoe rights and then valuing them in a lump sum or something. So he's either wrong or the PGA is being misleading about their earnings or he has access to soem pretty eye popping numbers on other revenues.
The Disney and Florida thing is funny to me, but for a different reason. Disney, like many companies, sends money to all sorts of politicians. I get that, the strategy can make sense. But for Disney to say they didnt know how Baxley would view this issue is a just total insult to anyone's intelligence and Disney deserves to be laughed at for such a ****** excuse. A quick search of Baxley's history will show you how he would almost certainly lean. Claiming they couldnt have known is 17ing pathetic.
I do agree with you that it is inconsistent to speak up on a domestic issue that impacts a company's employees, but stay silent on an international issue that impacts a company's employees. Its even worse to also engage with a country is that is creating those international issues and stay silent.
With all this said, there are reasonable limits to what a company should be expected to say or do. Reality is that China and Asia is the dominant place for manufacture of cheap ****. As such, companies may have to do business in those countries in order to even continue to exist since price competitiveness must sometimes(often?) take priority over ideals. Also, a US based global brand like Disney simply has more weight to throw around when it comes to domestic issues that impact their workers compared to international issues.
As for the 'Dont say Gay' bill in FL, there are many issues I have with it, but since passage seems to be inevitable, I will just say that a big part of what makes it(and many other recent state bills) terrible is that people can sue if they think there is a violation. A ton of these bills across the country that clearly attack and erode public education are set up this way- someone can sue if they dont like what is happening. Holy ****, there are already processes in place for how to handle violations to school policy.
It is ironic that the side which has preached how frivolous are ruining society has specifically included suing people and groups as their way of enforcing laws that are vague and clearly intimidating in nature.
Its doubly crazy because so many of these bills are poorly worded and so open to interpretation that the obvious end result will be clarification thru courts even when schools are making an effort to comply. Enforcement of this will fall on triggered parents- its 17ing dumb.
- Under this bill, can a gay 2nd grade teacher display a picture of their spouse?...for that matter, can a straight 2nd grade teacher?
- What exactly is 'classroom instruction'? When something so general is used, how is it applied? And will it be applied consistently at the court level?...no, it wont.
- Can a teacher address something that is simply reality without advocating? Like what if Timmy has 2 moms, can a teacher say that in class when discussing Timmy's birthday or what Timmy did over summer?
When ambiguity exists, then one approach is to steer clear and avoid anything close to the topic, which is more harmful than beneficial in many situations.
The costs of lawsuits will be felt most by the students, even though they wont know. That **** costs money in the end and in an already underfunded scenario, more money will be removed potentially just because of some triggered parent.
Pretty sure that will get this thread locked. Sorry if so.
- Cancel culture is dumb when it is inconsistently applied.
- Companies taking moral positions but not staying consistent deserve to be raked over the coals.
- Also, 17 any legislatures who think individuals suing doctors, teachers, school districts, etc is how we should enforce the discriminative and divisive laws they create to pander to their base.
The thing about this, though, does it work? I think it quite obviously does not. We don't hear about other countries' human rights issues nearly as often as we do the ones that attempt to "sports wash."
Like, if Qatar used slave labor to build the emir a new palace, I would probably not have even heard about it, but because it was used to build World Cup stadiums, I've been hearing about it for 6 years now.
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