When Saudi Arabia first decided to exercise its influence on world sports five years ago, the Kingdom was still not the dominant force in its own region. It staged tennis exhibitions and second-tier motor races on occasion. The future appeared to belong to Its neighbors, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.
The past year, particularly the last week, has made plainly clear where the actual power and future of its sporting goals lay. The takeover of Saudi Arabia is well underway. It has completely come.
The LIV Golf circuit, which is supported by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, decided to merge with the PGA Tour on Tuesday, putting the country’s vast resources behind one of the most prestigious sports organizations in the United States. Following a public brawl, the United Kingdom’s money won out, and the administrator of the country’s Public Investment Fund is now the chairman of their joint venture.
Simultaneously, the Saudis are investing billions of dollars to increase their popularity in football, the world’s most popular sport. PIF has aimed to recruit the sport’s best players to the desert since owning Newcastle United in 2021.
Its efforts were initially mocked. Newcastle was seen as a low-cost acquisition at a time when the Premier League’s marquee clubs were unavailable. Newcastle’s fourth-place finish this season guaranteed the Saudi club a place in the Champions League for next season, necessitating even more costly roster changes. Newcastle’s shareholders expect to invest at least $100 million in the club this summer.
Saudi Arabia has also raised its domestic league ambitions. Cristiano Ronaldo was the first marquee football signing in January. He had failed to find a suitable European team to join after leaving Manchester United at the age of 37, but Al-Nassr offered him an annual salary of more than $100 million, making him the world’s highest-paid athlete. It was seen as Ronaldo’s last-ditch attempt to prolong his career.
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Now, more Titans are following. This week, Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema agreed to join Al-Ittihad for an equally expensive salary. This week, PIF gave a clear statement of purpose when it stated that it would acquire the top four clubs in the Saudi league through multiple businesses in order to finance a significant football talent raid.
The message from the Kingdom is clear, from the Middle East to Europe to the United States: Saudi Arabia wants to influence global athletics.
Existing institutions are already trying to address how the country’s expenditure is causing established paradigms to be distorted. When Lionel Messi signed with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami on Wednesday, Apple and Adidas stepped in to boost the superstar’s cash account and deflect Saudi interest. And, in an effort to stop the exodus of players to LIV last year, the PGA Tour upped prize money at several of its tournaments to previously unheard-of heights.
Only a few years ago, the country was a nobody on that stage. Formula One races will be held in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Tennis and golf were both interesting in Dubai. And, since 2010, the minuscule emirate of Qatar, which Saudi Arabia regards solely as an irritant, has been planning to host the world’s premier sporting event, the 2022 World Cup.
The country’s sports business began to develop only when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gained control of Saudi Arabia in 2017 and promised to expand the country’s global influence. Similar techniques had been used by the Kingdom’s neighbors to become cash-rich sports and entertainment attractions. However, Saudi Arabia, which had become more isolated from the rest of the world at the time, was a few years behind.
Prince Mohammed set out to address this issue as part of his bigger Vision 2030 agenda for the country. One by one, major sporting events began to materialize in the desert. In 2019, Saudi Arabia staged a heavyweight title fight in the desert outside Riyadh between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua for a $60 million prize.
“Today, all you have to do is to talk about the Middle East for the fighters to ask, ‘How much?'” According to Eddie Hearn, the fight’s British promoter at the time. There is no fight fee in the world that can match the amount of money that might be generated by bringing major athletic events to this region.
In the same year, the United Kingdom dabbled with golf by staging a European Tour event. It is no surprise that the PIF’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, is an enthusiastic golfer. PIF soon after had bigger plans: its own golf tour.
The LIV plan signified a dramatic shift in Saudi Arabia’s approach following the PIF-led takeover of Newcastle. It was no longer enough to bring world sports to the affluent Kingdom. The country will now use its money to establish itself internationally.
LIV Golf pitched itself as a way to transform golf by mixing small fields, shotgun starts, and a team component into events. The Saudis’ financial support, on the other hand, was unavoidable. Their tournaments provided competitors with substantial appearance fees in addition to record-breaking prize pools.
And, for a proposition that already appeared to be expensive, a series of events pushed the price even higher. Phil Mickelson’s explosive remarks from the previous year about his willingness to do business with the Saudis despite their widely criticized human rights record, such as the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, foreshadowed the public relations disaster that awaited anyone who signed on. When the PGA Tour threatened to ban anyone who joined the rebel circuit, everyone knew they were jeopardizing their place inside the golf establishment.
Nonetheless, despite getting such rich contracts, a number of elite performers signed on during the preceding year, paying much above the market for fewer weeks of competition. LIV’s roster included Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Cameron Smith by the end of its inaugural season. According to reports, some collected appearance fees in excess of a hundred million dollars.
Nonetheless, despite getting such rich contracts, a number of elite performers signed on during the preceding year, paying much above the market for fewer weeks of competition. LIV’s roster included Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Cameron Smith by the end of its inaugural season. According to reports, some collected appearance fees in excess of a hundred million dollars.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour launched an attack on its new challenger. According to Commissioner Jay Monahan, no one has ever “had to apologize” for playing on the PGA Tour, and LIV is a foreign monarchy “spending billions of dollars in an effort to buy the game of golf.”
However, it came to light that Monahan had something in common with the players who rejected to play on his tour after a feud played out in courtrooms on numerous continents and both parties suffered reputational harm. He was also willing to bargain with the Saudis if the price was right.
Monahan added on Tuesday, “I am aware that people will accuse me of hypocrisy.” “I concur with your criticisms.” However, conditions do change.”
The two parties were able to address many of their shared legal difficulties and end their litigation against one another as a result of the PGA Tour’s surprise decision to forge a relationship with PIF. The shrapnel from these confrontations, however, affected other sections of Saudi Arabia’s sports portfolio. LIV’s allegations in US courts about PIF’s tight ties to the Saudi Crown appeared to contradict PIF’s assurances to the Premier League that the football club would be free of government interference.
Since sanctioning the $380 million agreement, the league has made no remark on the ownership structure. Newcastle’s fame has grown faster than Manchester City’s since 2008 when it was purchased by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. When the team was awarded a place in the Champions League, Rumayyan, the governor of PIF, the director of Newcastle, and the de facto boss of LIV was present in the locker room.
