LIV Golf in its filing asserts that Thierry Pascal’s conduct prevented it from signing a rights deal in the U.S. in 2022Getty Images
Attorneys for LIV Golf at a deposition on Monday will claim that a top international media exec for the PGA Tour swayed potential broadcast partners against signing a media rights deal with the Saudi-backed league, according to new documents reviewed by SBJ. As part of a case filed by LIV against the Tour in the Northern District of California, LIV attorneys will depose PGA Tour SVP/International Media Thierry Pascal, claiming that he used illegal means to dissuade “numerous broadcasters” in international markets from signing contracts with LIV.
BEHIND THE COMPLAINT: LIV claims Pascal would communicate to media companies, via email or text, concerns that the PGA Tour had about negotiating any potential rights deal with LIV. LIV also asserts Pascal would then request a live meeting or phone call, so as to leave less of a paper trail. LIV claims that after such meetings or calls, “time and again,” potential broadcast partners pulled back from talks and informed LIV that negotiations could not proceed. In one case, LIV says it had a signed contract.
HURTING U.S. CHANCES: LIV in its filing asserts that Pascal’s conduct prevented it from signing a rights deal in the U.S. in 2022, and only “isolated and marginal international contracts.” LIV’s own filing also describes The CW, with whom LIV signed a media rights agreement earlier this year, as a “secondary network,” pointing to the league event in Mayakoba last month as The CW’s first live sporting event. Pascal, who is based in London, will be deposed there by LIV’s attorneys.
