LIV-PGA Merger a Major Win for Saudi Arabia's Campaign to Dominate World Sports

The shock announcement on Tuesday that golf’s elite PGA Tour would merge with its Saudi rival LIV Golf prompted a wave of outrage and concern that Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most prolific human rights abusers, was succeeding in a quest to use sports to polish its public image. Dubbed “sportswashing,” the practice of attracting positive attention to a government known for criminal and/or immoral activity is certainly not limited to Saudi Arabia; with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, China may be the reigning champion of sportswashing. The sudden...