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>> Like a eye. Hope it goes

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away and I would fully expect

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that it does. I think

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ultimately this is going to

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be.

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>> It's going to be good for

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that. The beginning of

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professional golf.

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>> That was 4 time major

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winner Rory Mcilroy weighing

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in on the merger between the

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PGA Tour and LIV the Saudi

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backed off to war. Welcome

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back. Number of players spoke

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out after the whole ordeal

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went down and they said they

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felt betrayed for folks who

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like off because it's relaxing

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and leaves early. They were in

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for a lot of drama yesterday.

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We told you last night about

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the merger between the PGA and

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LIV Golf tonight in our

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Scripps News Focus, we want to

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take you behind the headlines

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and look into why Saudi Arabia

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is aiming to become a major

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player on the global sport

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stage. Their stake in golf is

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part of an ongoing investment

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in sports in 2021, the

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country's public investment

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fund, but English soccer team

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Newcastle United and Saudi

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Arabia has recently hosted

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major sporting events to

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including Formula One races. I

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want to bring in Ben Freeman

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to go a bit deeper on this.

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He's a research fellow at the

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Quincy Institute for

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Responsible Statecraft and an

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expert in foreign influence

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been he told The Guardian, the

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PGA live merger is the biggest

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sports washing when that an

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author tearing regime is

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overhead. Saudi Arabia will

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provide billions of dollars to

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this new golf tour, which even

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critics say will help the

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sport. What is it exactly that

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the Saudis are aiming to get

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out of this deal?

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>> For for the Saudis, but

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they're hoping to do is to buy

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and to the international game

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of golf, not just buy in to to

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completely by effectively by

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the global gave a call. And

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the whole reason they're doing

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this thing they can talk

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about, you know, helping

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promote the game of golf with

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in Saudi Arabia, but

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ultimately big goal is to

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change their image abroad. And

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so that when folks think of

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Saudi Arabia, you don't think

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of the murder of Jamal

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Khashoggi. They don't think

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about the Yen war. The

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Saudis want think about Paul

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associate Saudi Arabia with

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Formula One all the other

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sports, the Saudis, mess

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today. And that's why I told

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The Guardian that this really

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is the crown jewel of the

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Saudis for watching camping.

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>> Yes, so it sounds like

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you're saying it's textbook

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sports washing that that

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they're trying to do here.

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>> Yeah. And that's exactly

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right. We see this with a lot

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of other countries to, you

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know, you can turn on the

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French Open these days and you

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see an ad for the United Arab

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and the Russians do it. The

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Chinese plenty of other

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authoritarian regimes do it.

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But I think what the Saudis

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did today sorry, earlier this

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week. I think it's really the

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crown jewel of any country

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since we're watching operation

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that there's no Louisville

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Sports enterprise that is now

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has dominated by authoritarian

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you as a game called it.

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>> We look at some of their

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other sports investments, the

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Saudi Public Investment Fund

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has brought several of the

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country's soccer teams and has

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help bring major sporting

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events of the country. It even

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looked into buying Formula One

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for 20 billion dollars is

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golf. Just the tip of the

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iceberg with their ambitions

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into sports.

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>> I think it is. We've really

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seen this in in the last 10

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years or so. There are few

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sports they really haven't

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expressing interest. And I

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mean, we mention Formula One

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and they're also very involved

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with the the World Wrestling

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Federation here. The WWE he

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regularly bring wrestlers to

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Saudi Arabia you. There

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>> They've gone into bike,

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racing, even surfing. You

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know, the World Surf League

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been courted by the Saudis. So

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when you name it just about

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any sport, you can think of

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the Saudis are trying to

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invest in that interim. And to

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use that word is part of the

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reputation laundering

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campaign.

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>> I want get some historical

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perspective here because we're

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focused on Saudi Arabia. But

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I'm curious to know, has any

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country in recent history been

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successful at sports washing

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thinking about the Olympics.

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I'm thinking about cops are

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being accused of it with last

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year's World Cup as any

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country been successful at

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sports washing in the way that

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we're we're seeing Saudi

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Arabia.

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>> I think you can. You can

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never make an argument that

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the Saudis are right now. I'm

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in we just think back to

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recent history, it was just a

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few years ago that the Saudis

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were were absolutely black.

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All of the world stage because

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of the and his murder of Jamal

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Khashoggi. And we have

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multiple lobbying businesses,

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cutting ties with sports

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teams, you know, cutting ties

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with him, too. And in just a

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few years later, I were

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talking about the Saudis

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effectively owning the game

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will call. I think that's an

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extraordinary turnaround.

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Arguably the Saudi sports

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washing campaign is working

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people are buying into this

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and they're turning a blind

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eye to human rights abuses of

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the regime.

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>> Ben Freeman from the Quincy

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Institute, many thanks for

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your insight into this.