In Scary Times Politics Talks; Sports Walk
Asked by a reporter what he feared most, the former British PM Harold MacMillan said, “Events, dear boy. Events.”
In good times there is nothing better than the marriage of big business and sport. For the men and women who have everything the logical buy is a high-profile sports team or investing in renowned sports stars.
But the past two weeks have demonstrated just how precarious the ties that bind sport and big money can be. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left a number of the ultra-rich Russian oligarchs and athletes exposed to the wrath of fans and media alike. That comes on the heels of attempts by Saudi princes to buy the best PGA Tour golfers in the world— an attempt scuttled by Phil Mickelson’s big mouth.
The heat from being associated with Vladimir Putin has forced oligarch Roman Abramovich to put his ownership of Premiership powerhouse Chelsea into a trust. Despite a current net worth of $13.6 billion and record of success for Chelsea under his ownership Abramovich read the tea leaves and moved aside. When— if ever— he might return is unknowable in the current crisis.
Who comes next? The list of Russian oligarchs with ownership in major sports is considerable: Mikhail Prokhorov owner NBA Brooklyn Nets; Alisher Usmanov 30 percent shareholder in Arsenal; Maxim Demin owner Bournemouth; Dmitry Rybolovlev, owner AS Monaco / Cercle Brugge; Valeri Oyf owner Vitesse Arnhem. Who’s next in dumping his investment?
In addition there are a number of Russian sports stars in North America who’ve tied their wagon to Putin who are getting heat for their association. Prime among them is Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin who led a campaign for Putin’s Team in the last Russian election “Personal awards and prizes are all great, but in hockey, as in any case, to win it’s important to have a team,” Ovechkin wrote on Instagram. “Only the team is able to reverse the course of the game, to achieve the impossible.”
A chastened Ovechkin held a press conference Friday to state “End all war”. But Czech NHL legend Dominik Hasek was unimpressed with Ovechkin’s contrition. “What!? Not only an alibist, a chicken shit, but also a liar! Every adult in Europe knows well, that Putin is a mad killer and that Russia is waging an offensive war against the free country and its people.”
The NHL HOFer Hasek went on to say, “The NHL must immediately suspend contracts for all Russian players! Every athlete represents not only himself and his club, but also his country and its values and actions. That is a fact. If the NHL does not do so, it has indirect co-responsibility for the dead in Ukraine.
“I also want to write, that I am very sorry for those Russian athletes, who condemn V. Putin and his Russian aggression in Ukraine. However, at the moment I also consider their exclusion a necessity.”
So far neither the NHL or NBA— which have employed Russians— are taking that radical a position. But the IIHF Council has called for the immediate exclusion of the Russian and Belarusian hockey federations as members of the IIHF. Finnish team Jokerit and Dinamo Riga have withdrawn from the KHL, and the IOC wants all sports federations to exclude athletes participating under the Russian flag. F1 cancelled the Russian Grand Prix for this year.
if the assault on Ukraine gets worse (Putin has activated Russia’s defensive nuclear capability) it might be necessary to shield Russians from public abuse for a while.
There is no shielding Phil Mickelson, the golf legend who became the oldest man to win a PGA major last year. He has been attempting to start up a new “super league” of golf, featuring the top 30-40 Tour players in the world. The league was to be financed by a Saudi enterprise.
Mickelson waded into the politics of partnering with the Saudis in an interview with author Alan Shipnuck. Admitting his potential partners are “bad motherfuckers” who murdered Adnan Khashoggi, behead gays and have terrible human rights record, Mickelson then added, “Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
Bad idea, Phil. (He tried to claim he was misquoted, but that flopped.) Within hours, the entire golf establishment was condemning one of their meal tickets. Any players planning to defect to the Super League changed their minds. The Saudis flipped and Mickelson’s corporate sponsors dropped him like a busted four-iron. His legacy took a one-way trip to a dumpster fire.
Mickelson’s only defender was, predictably, Greg Norman, the former golf legend who has been an organizer of the ISL super league. Never known for his tact or timing, the Shark brazened out his longtime feud with the Tour. When PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced that anyone who went to the new circuit was banned from PGA Tour events, Norman was defiant. “Surely you jest,” Norman wrote to Monahan. “And surely, your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath.
“Simply put, you can’t ban players from playing golf. Players have the right and the freedom to play where we like. I know for a fact that many PGA players were and still are interested in playing for a new league, in addition to playing for the Tour. What is wrong with that?”=
Nice try, Greg. Getting Mickelson to front your proposed league was like having Tiger Woods give driving lessons. No player in his right mind will now go near your pipe dream for a long time. The only upside is that the Tour has been nudged into giving larger purses to the stars of the sport.
Not exactly what Phil or Greg were looking for. And other passenger on the bus of mixing politics and sport will learn that is nothing guaranteed when the rubber hits the road.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx