One Mexican billionaire succeeds in stopping Trump
When U.S. corporations balked at sponsoring the PGA Tour's World Elite Golf Championship at Donald Trump's Miami resort, one Mexican billionaire, who has been an outspoken critic of the presumptive Republican nominee, seized an opportunity to score one for his country.
Ricardo Salinas offered roughly $16 million for his media conglomerate, Grupo Salinas, to become the new sponsor in a seven-year deal that moves the iconic golf tournament to Mexico. He offered the PGA Tour more than double what the event's previous sponsor, Cadillac, had offered last year.
The carmaker decided not to renew its sponsorship in 2015, and after a year of Trump's controversial campaign rhetoric, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said finding a replacement to share brand space with Trump had been a significant challenge.
"The politics might have contributed some since he's been running, but it's more than that, and he knows that," Finchem said at a press conference last week. "Trump is a brand -- a big brand -- and when you're asking a company to invest millions of dollars in branding a tournament and they're going to share that brand with the host, it's a difficult conversation."
While Trump lashed out at the PGA Tour's Mexico move, saying on Fox News, "I hope they have kidnapping insurance," a source tells CBS News that the billionaire businessman was given multiple opportunities to make up the funding gap and sponsor the tournament himself -- but he didn't.
So, he lost the golf tournament, which has been held since 1962 at the Doral resort, a property Trump purchased in 2012. He spent $250 million dollars renovating the course and the resort, once boasting on the Golf Channel, "I said we are blowing it up, we are building a new course -- it's just a tremendous feat."
Salinas began talks with the PGA Tour to bring golf to Mexico more than a year ago. And while those discussions progressed, Trump entered the presidential race, kicking off his candidacy with tough talk on immigration, alleging that Mexico sends rapists to the U.S.
Days later, Salinas -- who is, according to Forbes' ranking of billionaires, nearly as wealthy as Trump and one of the richest men in Mexico -- was asked about Trump's remarks about Mexicans in an interview with CNBC.
"He showed the worst face of America to the world," Salinas said. "It's a disgrace that someone could speak in those terms."
Salinas has long been a champion of his home country and had been pursuing another golf tournament with the PGA Tour to bring to Mexico, but it had fallen through. So he set his sights on Trump's iconic Doral.
Salinas declined to be interviewed by CBS News for this story. A spokesperson maintains this was a business decision independent of Trump, but he also said part of the impetus for the sponsorship was promoting Mexico internationally - and an added bonus was that it came at Trump's expense. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to a request for comment.
When news of the tournament's relocation broke on June 1, one of Salinas' own networks, TV Azteca covered it throughout the day.
"Today Mexico scored a victory against Donald Trump. The Professional Golfers' Association decided to hold one of its most important tournaments in Mexico City," said announcer Ruben Mendoza in one clip. Behind him, a panel can be seen: "Golpe a Trump - Trump Gets Hit."
In another clip, host Javier Alatorre repeated the line. "Listen, Mexico scored a victory against Donald Trump," he gloated, before tossing to a reporter saying, "Yes! Donald Trump, you have lost another battle."
Salinas himself tweeted a link to one of the stories, and tweeted this at Trump: