“This is the business we have chosen.”
I was thinking about that line from The Godfather from Hyman Roth (The legendary actor Lee Strasburg) as all the PGA Tour LIV Golf news played out, and continues to play out over the coming days, weeks and months. It is the latest, and not the last, time we will see investment in American sport, not unlike what other elite leagues and properties…from cricket to soccer…are seeing as deep pocketed Americans look elsewhere for expansion of brands and opportunities to take advantage of the landscape which continues to go beyond the traditional borders.
It is also not the first time that the American public, and American media outlets, have done hand wringing over dollars coming into sport from outside what was the traditional. Nintendo buys the Seattle Mariners…Russian billionaire buys the Brooklyn Nets… Chinese investors picking up large swaths of golf space…American educated with deep ties and business interests in China buys the Nets…from said Russian oligarch, as well as the Liberty, starts lacrosse properties and on and on. Racing is deep with investment from abroad, and one key “American” sport…NASCAR…is courting money for business outside the borders of the good old USA as well. The world and the business of sports hasn’t stopped, there were bumps along the road, but fans did not run away…and neither did brands, many of which have their own tangled multinational messes to deal with in the production and sales chain.
For those who were around The Super Bowl the past few years, the amount of entertaining of deep pocketed non-American wealth funds was pretty noteworthy and accepted by those selling suites and hosting events…we have seen Israeli tech companies enhance all we do in engagement…an there is a steady flow of new brands…airlines, tech companies, consumers goods, pharmaceuticals…all spending money and engaging with American sports teams and leagues because they want to be involved in this vibrant billion dollar business. And if our teams and leagues want to be truly global, there is more to come.
Now back to the golf news this week. Was the announcement messy and are there some missteps in the past that leadership would like to walk back? Yes. However, one the social media and traditional media outcry comes down, and it will, what will be left is what happens going forward.
There are some, as the smoke and buzz clears, who say that the infusion of millions, billions of dollars will help grow the game at the grassroots as those dollars can be channeled into programs. There are some that say that the fans ONLY really care about seeing the best play as one, and that seems like it will happen. On the political side, there is talk of grandstanding politicians challenging business exemptions that properties like the PGA Tour have, and while that may sound like a bold, look out stance, let’s not forget that the political world of lobbyists, money changing, and back-room deals is probably much messier than anything the PGA Tour and LIV Golf can drum up. So those casting stones, be careful of all that glass around you.
One other thing to rember. This is still very much an open market, one where everyone…everyone…can choose to take a stance and participate as a consumer, or an athlete…or not. If there are pro golfers, fans, brands, who choose to leave the golf business because of this, that’s their choice and they can. The question becomes…again…one of business opportunity. If a brand leaves because of the new money coming in and its sources, will a competitor scoop that opportunity up and benefit from it. It’s not an easy choice to stand by what may be the moral thing to do in a global economy. Leagues can also choose to NOT take investment of have properties not aligned and clearly vetted with their culture. However, that choice…especially given the women’s leagues and platforms that are growing and more important than ever before but still need large investment to grow to the levels that are possible, it’s really complicated, and one fraught with compromise.
It’s the business we have chosen in the world we are in now.
Three other points to consider. First the global view. As a colleague pointed out to me this morning, we here in this country have a few issues that the REST of the world view as abhorrent. Guns, homelessness, environmental issues, inclusion issues, poverty, so maybe, just maybe, we should solve what we are doing over here as much as we worry about what’s going on over there.
Second is listening and understanding the messaging. I know many, many senior executives from various walks of life who went to the World Cup last summer and were amazed not with leadership of FIFA, but with the Qatari people they encountered at various stops. The optics did not match the experience. Was the system flawed? Yes. Is it not aligned with some of the same ideologies that some of these execs, many of them women, expect to see every day in a free and open society? Yes. But what many left was a feeling of better understanding, and most importantly, the thought of trying to help learn and educate those who they encountered on the differences they hold. And the platform to have that casual engagement was not through politics, it was through sport.
Which brings the last point to consider. There is a somewhat valid thought that the new influx of millions into golf will drive some of the more vocal faces of the sport into silence…shut up and putt and take the money. In reality that is going to be very, very difficult to do in a time where the voice of any athlete can be very loud and help invoke change. I have always felt that when there is social injustice being done, or a law that was abhorrent and viewed as wrong, in a state or a municipality in this country, that the best thing to do would NOT be to move and event or not play, but to keep the event there and use it as a way to DRIVE messages to the offenders. When events…concerts, sports championships…move the reality is that the people who are hurt are those at the bottom rung of the work pyramid. You go somewhere else and what is left behind is silence. If you stay…you use that geographic area to speak directly to those who are offending you and you keep the discord going. And by the way, maybe you win some hearts and minds and votes by showing up and having open debate.
Confrontation helps change opinion. So, as this situation, and others, play out with “Middle Eastern” or “Chinese” money coming in, the question becomes how can you turn the table and use that platform to drive messages and change. Take the money and invest it in education, use social media to ask questions and move hearts and minds. It won’t be easy, we are dealing with culture change not sports change, but there is opportunity to drive that change with the platform that exists.
None of this is to say that “sportswashing” doesn’t exist, or that we should just accept and move on. What we need to accept is that if these multibillion dollars properties want to expand and grow and reach and engage globally, you have to accept the bumps with the billions. You have to listen, you have to be ready to answer the tough questions, you have to accept that you will be challenged, and then you have to work to find a path forward that is a compromise of sorts. We don’t like ties in sports, we want to have clear wins and losses, a zero-sum game.
That sounds great, and maybe that can happen in the micro, but in the macro world of sports today at the highest level, from the NBA to Serie A, from Formula 1 to the NFL, from esports to the Olympics, it’s just not that easy.
The good news is we are an open society with lots of choices to make. That will not change, and the business of sport on a global scale is growing exponentially. The challenge is the realization that what we may think is the simplest choice in a global economy because it does not align perfectly with what we are doing can be difficult to accept. It’s a choice everyone on every level has to make.
To use one more old sports cliché, the best trades are usually the ones where everyone walks away having felt like they didn’t get everything they wanted. It’s then up to those managing to make the best and use the tools we have. That’s not always easy, but it’s the way we live, and learn, and grow as a society, and what’s more engaging these days as a center of real time engagement and discussion than the games we play. They still unify cultures and people with little in common, and maybe, just maybe, that’s what comes out of all this continued global growth.
And on the unifying front, on the way home from LA today I read a q and a Brian Stelter did with NBC’s Lester Holt. In it was a statement that again reminds us of common global ground to build on, one which gets lost in the shouting and the polarization.
“I have sat in a living room with a family in Kabul. And I’ve sat in living rooms with families in this country. The values are much more similar than we sometimes recognize.”
Change through sport.
Not a bad game to play.
