LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed league that has the blessing of former President Trump and Phil Mickelson, aims to build franchises.
LIV is using the Saudis' money to lure top players from the PGA Tour, offering equity in the league, bigger prizes and guaranteed money. They've signed big name players like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau. They've snagged top golf commentator David Feherty away from Golf Channel and reportedly have their sights on TNT's Charles Barkley.
The Saudi support has created some controversy for LIV, however. Family members of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are protesting the league. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers that day were from Saudi Arabia, and Osama Bin Laden, the attacks' mastermind, was born in the country. U.S. officials concluded that Saudi nationals helped fund the terrorist group al Qaida, although investigations didn't find that Saudi officials were complicit in the attacks.
"To see a former president pretending that he doesn't know what the Saudis did, or saying that he doesn't know about the 9/11 story, it's just it's it's the worst form. It's the worst feeling you can get," the group's president, Brett Eagleson, told CNBC. He was 15 when he lost his father when the Twin Towers collapsed after hijackers crashed airliners into them.
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