The Record

LIV Golf’s third — and most controversial — event was held at Trump National in Bedminster a few weeks back. It was a circus for myriad reasons. And now a pair of New Jersey lawmakers are trying to make sure the renegade tour can never return to the state.

From NJ.com:

Just a few weeks after former President Donald Trump hosted the controversial LIV Golf tour at his Bedminster club, a pair of state lawmakers have introduced a proposal that would ban such an event from ever happening again in New Jersey.

The bill from state Sens. Andrew Zwicker and Richard Codey, both Democrats, would prohibit sports organizations that operate primarily with money from sovereign wealth funds from hosting sporting events in the Garden State.

The initial reaction is to dismiss this as a political stunt unlikely to ever come to fruition. And you would have to imagine the bill faces an uphill climb to become law. But Codey is very involved in sports statewide. And he has some stroke as a former governor and state senate president. So never say never.

That said, this bill would likely bring unintended consequences. It’s one thing to draw up a bill designed to stick it to Trump and Saudi Arabia. But it would also seem to ban elite European soccer clubs Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain (as well as Newcastle United) from ever playing at MetLife Stadium or Red Bull Arena while on tour. You may even have to cut through red tape to host an event as noble and non-offensive as the Invictus Games.

Is that really in the state’s best cultural and economic interest? There could be all sorts of exceptions built into the bill. But at that point it becomes proposed law designed specifically to hamper two parties — LIV Golf and Trump. Which may be a much harder sell.

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James Kratch can be reached at [email protected]

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.