Producers’ Pick | Clay Travis Defends Phil Mickelson, Calls Out LIV Golf Hypocrisy

This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. Shake up your back to school routine at Whole Foods Market with fresh produce, snacks, supplements, and local favorites to jazz up any lunchbox or pantry. And with a big selection of ready-to-heat meals like vegetable lo mein and chicken tikka masala, it's easy to keep the family fueled up for the week. Always made with the high standards you trust from Whole Foods Market, like banning 230-plus ingredients from all food.

All the more reason to make the flavors of Whole Foods Market part of your routine. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Kilmeade. I respect and I understand their opinions. And I understand that they have strong feelings and strong emotions regarding this choice. And I certainly respect them. I respect that.

I respect that. You're on this, Brian Kilmeade. If you're smart enough to be watching Fox Nation, you see Clay Travis, familiar face here on the network. He's with the channel and also the founder of Outkick, which is part of the Fox family now.

And I actually had a chance to see Outkick's setup at the USFL. I was in Birmingham over the weekend. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I saw that you guys are rolling.

Got a chance to see Gary Schreier. Yep. Who was talking about how you guys are rolling out major programming. Yes. And I want to talk about that. But just on this, Clay, it was so fortuitous for us to hear. I'm fascinated by the backlash that Phil Mickelson's getting because he decided to go to the Saudi back league.

Are you? I'm not surprised that there's a backlash because this all started when Phil Mickelson spoke out and let it be known that he was aware of what had happened with the Washington Post reporter, with the pariah as it were. Yes, that's right. That entire storyline. And so it made him an easy target because sometimes athletes can just play dumb and say, hey, I'm not a geopolitical expert. And it allows them to avoid a little bit of criticism. But in the context in which most sports media have covered most sports related controversies involving foreign affairs, this did surprise me.

And let me explain why. The NBA certainly has been the wokest of woke sports leagues in the United States. Slogans on the jerseys, the decisions to not stand for the national anthem, outspoken coaches, players, everybody on a variety of different political issues, all from the left wing perspective.

Yet China, which is a multibillion dollar partner of the NBA, rejects and repudiates basic human rights, as you well know, with what's going on in Jingjiang province, with what's going on with the Uighurs and almost no one in the NBA media will even raise this as an issue. And so the precedent that had been set was we're not really going to grill anybody. And then Phil Mickelson kind of stepped in it with that quote. And from there, everybody else has been attacked. Now, my big theory that I have shared that I believe is going on here is I think the PGA Tour is using the media to do their dirty work. So they want to go after the live tour as a competitor. They see the biggest attack angle as being the Saudi connection. And so they are constantly feeding all of these American news media and international news media as well, negative stories, and that's leading to fairly confrontational press conferences as each of these guys join.

I do think it fades quickly because how long can you ask them about these questions? Sooner or later, everybody kind of reacts like Brooks Koepka did. I don't know if you saw this. He hasn't left for the live tour, but the U.S. Open is going on. He kind of threw up his hand.

He said, guys, I'm tired of talking about this. And I think that's where most golf fans and certainly sports fans are right now. Well, Maury McElroy fueled it over the weekend. He wins his tournament in Canada.

It's his 22nd tournament going ahead of Greg Norman who founded it. I have enough money in my life to retire now. I'm not all about money.

I talked to my wife about that. But I think there's something about Mickelson. But just to qualify this even further, listen, I was on the air on 9-11. No one has to explain to me radical Islam.

I get it. If you were at Fox and don't understand bin Laden, ISIS, everybody that was in Bazar Qawi, everybody that was linked to Saudi Arabia and other nations around there, you'd have to be living under Iraq or be totally disinterested. So the 9-11 families came out to condemn it.

But I would say this. And by the way, I know so many of these 9-11 families have become staples in and around Fox in this building. And you'll find that as we come up on the anniversary this year, we're marking the devastating attack. We combined with Saudi Arabia on the Abraham Accords. We gave them missile defense to protect them against Iran. We are working with them and now begging them next month in 2 weeks perhaps in July to pump more oil. We have relations with them as it relates to we provide them protection against Yemeni rockets that come in from the Houthi rebels. We've been dealing with them and their, I think in many ways, abhorrent regime since FDR. So why is this your line in the sand?

Well, I think that's a fantastic question. And also, why is the sports media holding golfers to a higher and more aggressive standard than Joe Biden himself is being held to? He called Saudi Arabia a pariah state. If the media is going to go after someone, then I think Joe Biden would be the one to focus all your ire on not as much golfers who, as we said earlier, are certainly not geopolitical experts when it comes to international affairs and relations.

Clay, I did not know this until some of this research has been dug up late to find out the relevance. But do you know the PGA told their golfers to go along to the Saudi international tournament as long as they came back and played in the AT&T at the beach? They never have a problem with that. And I'm sure you know that Europe, the European tour has taken Saudi money in the past and I guess Callaway, Titleist, Ping, as well as Nike do huge business in China as well as the UAE and Saudi Arabia. So, excuse me, I'm not against 9-11 families, but I just think Phil Mickelson's an easy target. He comes out and says I lost $200 million gambling. You know, he's the counter to Tiger Woods for the longest time. He speaks out. Remember that time he got in trouble for saying I'm going to go to a different state because I'm tired of playing California tax? Yes.

And he got in trouble for that? Yeah, look, I think Phil Mickelson is an easy target. I also think maybe I'm just already used to it because the thing that almost no one is discussing is has no one been paying attention to high level soccer for the last 20 years? I mean, Saudi oligarchs have gone into the English Premier League and other top European soccer federations and bought up some of the biggest and best franchises in those leagues and then started to pay all of these top players outlandish salaries that nobody else was making beforehand driving up the overall amount that soccer players are going to make. So my point on that is I haven't seen Messi or Ronaldo or a lot of the top English Premier League and European soccer stars being criticized for their affiliation with the Saudi oil money in that way either.

And I think it's maybe just a delayed reaction in my mind that this is where we are right now. So yeah, I think that's, I think you made a really good point. Also Abramovich, the oligarch, tight with Russia. And they made him basically sell it finally, but there's tons of Russian prior to the invasion of Ukraine. Those guys were laundering money like crazy by buying big times.

Because London was the best place to be. Oh yeah. Manchester City is owned by an Arab sheikh. You know, where the World Cup is going to be in Qatar, it's illegal to be gay.

You could be arrested, jailed, or thrown off a building, I understand. You mentioned Brooks Koepcke. We have that.

Cut 20. I'm ready to play U.S. Open. I think it kind of sucks too. Y'all are throwing this black cloud over the U.S. Open and I mean it's one of my favorite events and I don't know why you guys keep doing that. But the more legs you give it, the more you keep talking about it. I don't understand.

I'm trying to focus on the U.S. Open man. Like I legitimately don't get it. I'm tired of the conversations.

I'm tired of all this stuff. Y'all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks.

I actually do feel bad for them for once. I mean it's a ******* situation. We're here to play and you're talking about some event that happened last week.

Well there's events going to be going on now for the next foreseeable future. I know, but you can't drive a car looking in the rearview mirror, can you? I mean that's the way a lot of athletes think. One of the reasons, Brian, we've had so much success at Outkick is there is such a far left, I would say, slant from the sports media that a lot of these coaches and players just kind of throw up their hands and say, man, I'm here to play golf. I'm not necessarily here to opine on the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia and how that impacts the live tour, right? And there's this idea out there because far left wing sportswriters want their political opinions to be shared.

I think this is where it comes from. I think there's a lot of guys who go into sports media that are insecure about whether they're real journalists because you're writing and talking about sports for a living. And I think this is when they decide, oh, I've got to bow up and be serious on this topic instead of talking about whether a guy deserves a $100 million contract or not. Now I'm going to be an expert on the live tour and whether guys should be playing on Saudi Arabia related issues. And so I think this line of questioning is often elemental insecurity on behalf of many people in the sports media who also want their left wing political opinions out there.

Clay Travis here from Outkick. Last one, just to go full circle. Here's a Foreign Business Council chairman, I think he is, Richard Haass weighing in on why this is different. It is just about the money, no matter how they dress it up, it is. I think the reasons for President Biden to go to Saudi Arabia this summer are, shall we say, more worthy. You've got the common concern about Iran's nuclear program. You've got the possibility of Saudi Arabia following suit with other countries and creating a peaceful relations with Israel. We need greater Saudi output on oil. We want the Saudis to extend the ceasefire in the war in Yemen. We could probably get some political human rights promises from the Saudis about the future. So I think there's a legitimate reason for having a relationship with Saudi Arabia if you're the president of the United States. Is there a legitimate reason for Phil Mickelson to have this relationship with Saudi Arabia or for Greg Norman to know there's no serious purpose for it? Again, this is simply greed. No more, no less.

I just I mean, what is he talking about? Yes, the president's relationship with Saudi Arabia is more serious than a golfer's relationship with Saudi Arabia. But if China bought the NBA, and let's be honest, you know, it kind of feels like China has bought the NBA. But let's just pretend that, you know, all 30 NBA franchises were suddenly purchased by China or if China bought Endeavor's ownership of the UFC or the WWE or whatever it is. Is the argument that if a country we don't like is involved in owning a sports league, that American athletes aren't allowed to be employed there?

I mean, this is, I think, a legitimate question. I mean, let's use the UFC as an example, right? People who love the UFC, Endeavor owns it right now. But like anything, it's for sale, right? The price is right, I imagine.

So if someone offered a wildly exorbitant amount for the UFC, are we saying that American fighters shouldn't be participating in UFC events because it's owned by China or Saudi Arabia or some other country that we don't have great relations with all the time? That seems nonsensical to me. Absolutely. Clay, we're going to hold on. I know you're not used to doing breaks because a lot of times the Yao kicks a podcast, right?

Yeah, but I've also got the Clay and Buck show. So you understand breaks? Yeah, I understand how the concept works. Alright, we're going to come back. We've got to make money. I do want you to weigh in on NIL. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, 100%.

Alright, Clay Travis here. Don't move. This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. Shake up your back to school routine at Whole Foods Market with fresh produce, snacks, supplements, and local favorites to jazz up any lunchbox or pantry. And with a big selection of ready-to-heat meals like vegetable lo mein and chicken tikka masala, it's easy to keep the family fueled up for the week. Always made with the high standards you trust from Whole Foods Market, like banning 230-plus ingredients from all food.

All the more reason to make the flavors of Whole Foods Market part of your routine. Clay Travis is back with us. Outkick is now part of the Fox family. Clay, Tomi Lahren is getting a show on your channel.

Talk about where it's heading. I'm excited. You know, Fox bought Outkick last year. Almost exactly to this day they officially announced it and we got the deal done.

So if you've never heard of Outkick and you are remotely a sports fan, but you sometimes throw your hands up in the air and say, I can't believe this woke universe is driving me crazy, you will love Outkick. And so Tomi is the newest addition. We're going to have, by next year my plan is, I hope, to have 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. live streaming shows. And Tomi's new show, which I'm excited about, launches on Monday. And it'll be, Tomi Lahren is fearless. She's going to have great guests, fantastic studio.

I live in Nashville. Built it out for her. It's going to be great. Debuts on Monday. She's going to do multiple shows a week for us. We've got a lot of fantastic programming.

You'll also soon be able to stream it all through Outkick.com. It's going to be great. And you've got Bobby Barack, right? Oh, we've got, look, Bobby Barack, you may have had him on your show before.

I know you have. I mean, he's a super young, talented guy. Joe Kinsey, Armando Salguero, who a lot of people will know, covering the NFL. We have got a bevy of talented guys that are coming in and girls that are going to be producing some content that I'm really excited about. So we're talking to Clay, and Clay, you can talk about everything, but I just got to talk to you about another area of expertise, which is sports, and how it's going to be different this year. I mean, you did a college tour last year.

You did a tailgate party, right? But name, image, and likeness. Basically, we already thought if you wanted to transfer, this transfer portal was chain making free agents into everyone. Joe Burrows is now playing at Ohio State, goes to the transfer portal, ends up being maybe one of the finest young quarterbacks the NFL has seen in 20 years.

But he was stuck on the bench, so they got a little bit of freedom. But now with the NIL, name, image, and likeness, what's it going to do for the balance of power and what we see on TV? I think it's going to be a seismic change. The description that I've used is basically the Berlin Wall came down in college athletics.

And what I mean by that example is when the Berlin Wall came down, suddenly Germany went full capitalist. And what's happened is a raw, unvarnished capitalism now exists in college sports where before it did not. And so you are going to have top players, recruits, and then players who prove themselves in college able to sell their labor. Basically, as free agents to many of these different schools out there.

So the rich, and I mean the rich boosters, are going to be able to dictate the quality of talent that is coming into schools on a level that we've never seen before. I'm a billionaire who went to Texas A&M, and Clay Travis is this hotshot senior in high school. He lands in Texas, and you greet him. And the boosters greet him, and they let him know what? He's got a dealership deal.

He's going to have a sneaker deal. We've got other guys that will make you a part owner of a stakeout. Yeah, I mean look, what could end up happening... Texas A&M has everybody, right? Yeah, Texas A&M is doing great. Texas is doing great. University of Tennessee is doing really well. Basically, it's coming down to how many billionaires are big fans of your school.

And look... There's got to be rules though. Why didn't they come up with some rules? Well, the NCAA got destroyed in the Supreme Court, because basically what they determined was there was an antitrust violation when you're telling a kid all you can get is a scholarship, and you're not allowed to make any more money off your talent. And so the NCAA got destroyed to such an extent legally that I think they're terrified to try and implement any rules. So right now we're in the Wild West. I've written and talked about what I believe is a basic huge paradigm shift, as I said, the Berlin Wall coming down in college athletics.

At some point, there's going to have to be rules put in place in some magnitude. Because look, I mean what could happen? Let's pretend Elon Musk, instead of deciding to buy Twitter, the richest man in the world, was a huge fan of a particular college football team. University of Florida. Yeah, let's say he's a University of Florida fan. And he says, I'm going to give a billion dollars to this NIL fund, and we're going to buy every single year, everybody who signs with Florida is going to get a million dollars to represent NIL. Remember, NIL doesn't mean you have to make money, right?

There's lots of guys out there who can run businesses and lose money on it. And so in theory, you could have a situation, you can only sign 85 scholarship players for football, where every single one of them is making $2 million a year to play at Florida because a billionaire decided he wants the best possible team. Well then, that's why the NFL has collective bargaining agreements, right? Because otherwise, the richest owners would be able to sign all the best players. And competitive balance would be severely curtailed.

And so that is what is going on now. I think that a lot of people are suddenly realizing, wait a minute, we have free agency on a level. Look Brian, there are guys in college athletics who will make more money than they would as pros. And I don't think people have thought about this and really understand all of the permutations and outcomes that are in play now. And it just says, come one, come all, at least for five years, for the Purdue's, the Syracuse's, the ones that aren't the high profile, they could fall precipitously.

If you have a rich booster, you could elevate, or if you don't, you could fall very quickly. And if Clay graduated from your school, you're in luck, because this guy is a billionaire. Thanks Clay. Appreciate y'all.