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More PGA players are making the jump to Saudi-backed LIV Golf

Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed are the latest PGA players to opt for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, and Yahoo Finance reporter Josh Schafer explains why.

Video Transcript

- Josh, since we have you here, another big story in the sports world with golf. We've talked about the Saudi-backed LIV series, here the golf series, that's getting underway this weekend. It started with just a couple of players who were making the jump and going to play. Now we're seeing more and more. Today the big news was Bryson DeChambeau and also Patrick Reed are going to be making the jump and playing in the LIV golf event this weekend.

Two questions here. What does this mean for the future of the tour? Because it puts the tour in a pretty challenging spot. And also for sponsors, because we've seen some sponsors sever ties with players, but others seem to be hanging on.

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JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah. So I think it puts the PGA TOUR in a very interesting situation because they're probably going to have to accept that golf is being successful at some point, or at least on the onset successful, right? Because they need these golfers. They can't go on without these golfers, these big name golfers. You need them in your business.

And so I spoke with a sports lawyer, Irwin Kishner and asked him about, what are the sponsors going to Do And he kind of said he doesn't think they're going to back out. He said there is strength in numbers. And really what the sponsors need to be careful of more than anything else is angering the PGA TOUR. And he said it's going to be the same thing when it comes to broadcast rights.

He thinks someone's eventually going to broadcast this, it's going to be ESPN, it's going to be one of those kind of companies. But all they're going to be worried about is not bothering the PGA TOUR. It has nothing to do with the public perception of this being a Saudi-backed league, he doesn't think that's going to matter. And this is the same sports lawyer that I talked to that said that the Chelsea sale and Roman Abramovich owning the team, it wasn't going to matter and public perception wouldn't matter and Chelsea would go for big money and it did. So maybe he'll be right about this one too.

- We'll see. Only time will tell. All right, Josh Schafer, thanks so much for hopping on here and joining us.