Thursday 15 September 2022 11:50 PM Amazon & Apple both passed on offer to screen controversial Saudi-backed LIV ... trends now
Amazon and Apple have both declined to pursue deals for the media rights to air the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament, leaving the controversial endeavor without an obvious media partner and few options on the table.
It has been similarly reported that major networks including ESPN, CBS, Fox and NBC have passed on potential deals with tournament executives.
The tournament, which has split the world of professional golf into two distinct camps, and those affiliated with it, have been accused of using the sport to paint over Saudi Arabia's negative human-rights record, including the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Executives with LIV told the Wall Street Journal that this year the tournament wanted to make its events available to the public free of charge in order to prove the legitimacy of its product. Its first several events have been accessible free of charge on YouTube and LIV's website.
But now the question is whether the tournament will be able to lock in a big name media rights partner ahead of its first full season in 2023.
Dustin Johnson during the LIV Gold Invitational at Chicago's Rich Harvest Farms on September 15, 2022. Dustin, along with a handful of other former PGA-tour golfers, was suspended by the PGA for his decision to join the LIV circuit
Talor Gooch at the Chicago LIV Golf Invitational. The golf world is torn about the sudden establishment of LIV Golf, some claim it is an attempt to pump money into a popular sport in order to whitewash Saudi Arabia's record of abysmal human rights abuses
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of attempting to corner the golf market in order to repair his reputation around western nations following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, among other flagrant human rights abuses perpetrated by the kingdom
Apple and Amazon became the most recent media companies to pass on potential deals to acquire the rights to stream
