More LIV Golf Regulations Revealed in New Court Filing, Including Player Suspensions and Media Rights
In response to an order issued by Judge Beth Labson Freeman, LIV Golf was forced to pull back the curtain on its operations and agreements with its players in a new court filing on Monday.
Arguing that certain information was proprietary and confidential business information, LIV Golf has always been careful regarding the amount of information it shared with the court and the public, redacting numerous parts of motions and filings in its antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
On Sept. 1, Judge Freeman ruled that certain information that the defendant (PGA Tour) had redacted in its original temporary restraining order (TRO) opposition brief filing on Aug. 3 did not meet the legal criteria necessary for such redaction, and that a newly drafted motion with certain previously redacted portions to be unredacted must be filed within 10 days.
“The Court finds that TRO Plaintiffs have not demonstrated compelling reasons to seal any portion of the Rules and Regulations,” Judge Freeman said in her decision on Sept. 1. “The redactions TRO Plaintiffs seek are substantial, and Mr. Loffhagen’s declaration (John Loffhagen is the chief legal officer for LIV Golf) lacks specificity regarding any competitive harm that TRO Plaintiffs or LIV may face if the Rules and Regulations are made public. Moreover, TRO Plaintiffs offer no factual support for their contention that their proposed redactions to the Rules and Regulations are narrowly tailored. The Court therefore denies without prejudice the motion to seal as to the Rules and Regulations.”
The two documents that were refiled by LIV Golf on Monday were the 31-page "Player Participation Agreement" for Talor Gooch and the entire 66-page "Rules and Regulations of LIV Golf."
The rules and regulations submitted in the motion are marked privileged and confidential and subject to amendment at any time.
The copy provided to the court indicates it is for outside counsel eyes only and is not dated, but Sports Illustrated reviewed the document and it is an early version, which has since been amended at least once after the opening event in London in June.
While much minutiae is in the nine section regulations, including prohibiting alcohol use during rounds and the elimination of green-reading materials at all times, several points stand out and some are clearly different than those on the PGA Tour.
> "All golf tournaments are to be scheduled to create optimal co-existence with professional golf and the majors." (This would back up LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, who has always maintained that his tour is not trying to compete with the other tours but is promoting world golf.)
> "Players may not make any statement or commit any act, nor make, post, publish or communicate to any Person or in any public forum any false, defamatory, libelous, or slanderous remarks, comments or statements, if such statement, act or failure could reasonably be expected to, or actually does, adversely affect (i) the Player’s public image and/or ability to participate in connection with any Tournament or Series event or (ii) the reputation or public image of the Series event, the game of golf, LIV Golf, and any other Player, any official partner of the Series, or any other sponsor of the Tournament."
> "Players are not permitted to gamble on any golf tournament, either directly or indirectly, this includes LIV Golf or other golfing events."
> "Player must make themselves available as required for the purposes of the conduct of all anti-doping regulations." (In different places in the regulations the term "anti-doping" is mentioned, but no policy or procedures are outlined for testing, therapeutic use exemptions or dispute resolution. Mention is made of promulgation of such anti-doping policies and procedures by CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman, but none were included in the filing.)
> "Players are required to comply with all reasonable requests to attend press/media interviews and to cooperate with the media immediately upon the completion of each round of a Tournament." (Nothing is included in the regulations about press activities off-site nor the need for permission to talk or clear media interactions or interviews.)
> "Players grant almost exclusive media rights to LIV Golf for LIV Golf events only, but are also allowed to sell, transfer their individual media rights specifically the value of his name, image, and likeness." (A more expansive explanation of media and commercial rights are outlined in a separate document—Commercial Guidelines, which was not made available as part of this submission to the court. Earlier this year Phil Mickelson was critical of the PGA Tour's business setup, suggesting the Tour was hoarding millions of dollars from players' media rights that should have belonged to the players.)
> "Any suspensions or disciplinary actions by LIV Golf regarding a player will be made public once the matter is final."
> "Caddies are expected to comply with any request by LIV Golf to wear a microphone."
Regarding the Gooch agreement, some interesting tidbits include the date the agreement was executed. According to the contract it was May 28, 2022, more than a week before he played in the first event in London. Gooch had maintained he played without a contract in the first event.
Gooch’s agreement also has a non-relegation clause until after the end of the 2025 season.
According to a source close to these Player Participation Agreements, Gooch’s non-relegation clause is not common in most agreements.
Other provisions include the need for players to mainly wear team apparel and a limited display (single mark or logo) of one third-party supplier of golf technical equipment on the right side of the player's hat or cap.
Players are also restricted from being accredited to act as a journalist or in any other capacity for any media organization in relation to the league or any tournament, or provide exclusive interviews or commentaries or entering into any agreements or arrangements involving exclusive interviews with or appearances in or on any media or social media of any kind in relation to any Event or League Activity in each case without obtaining the Specified Approval.