Saudi Arabia's Sports Takeover: A New Era Unfolds

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has emerged as a formidable force on the global sports stage, channelling its vast wealth into football, boxing, golf, and snooker among other sports. This article delves deep into the Kingdom's ambitious takeovers, shedding light on the motives, impacts, and prospects. Whether you're intrigued by the strategic moves or concerned about the implications, understanding this seismic shift promises valuable insights into the evolving world of sports.

The Saudi Sport Takeover

If you have kept even just half an eye on the world’s sporting landscape over the past few years, you will be fully aware of the increased involvement from Saudi Arabia. Labelled as a gold rush by some quarters, sportswashing as others, it seems that the final frontier in terms of wealth has now been found.

A frontier that looked all but impenetrable just a decade or so ago but with sport now being used as a vehicle for change in Saudi Arabia and more importantly, how the country is viewed around the rest of the world, the pipeline of money has been turned on and is gushing out in all directions.

With an almost unlimited amount of money to distribute, the Saudis have wasted no time in setting up new leagues, taking over clubs or transforming sports as a whole. Whether that transformation is positive can be argued, the one thing that cannot be argued is this unprecedented level of wealth.

St. James Park, Newcastle, now under Saudi ownership
yellow book ltd, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Wealth that has been directed to Newcastle United after their takeover by the Private Investment Fund (PIF) and although fans of the Magpies thought they may have won the football lottery in October 2021, the realisation of how FFP is now coming back to bite them.

All the money in the world, not the ability to spend it at present. That is the frustration for Newcastle supporters as the plan to break through the Premier League’s glass ceiling has been halted – then again where the Saudi’s are involved, you get the feeling this halt will only be temporary.

Football - Saudi Pro League

At the same time, there are no restrictions when it comes to spending on their own Saudi Pro League and with the same PIF taking ownership of the four biggest clubs in the country, the summer of 2023 saw a bonanza in terms of transfer spend.

A bonanza that was worth as much as £828.7m in transfer expenditure and 87% of that spend came from the four highest spenders alone. Unsurprisingly these four clubs are the same quartet that are owned by the PIF. 

But the PIF-owned clubs are not the only big spenders at the table and although there is a step change from Al-Ittihad in fourth to Al-Ettifaq in fifth, the latter did manage to snare the talents of Jordan Henderson in the 2023 summer break.

Signed in the summer of 2023, gone by the winter of 2024 and the subsequent move of Henderson to Ajax just a few months later highlighted that for all the money in the world, you cannot build a competitive league overnight. 

Jordan Henderson found himself lured to the Saudi Pro-League for a short period.

Henderson’s departure is perhaps a sign of growing pains for the Saudi Pro League at best and signs that their bold experiment is already failing at worst. Then again, there is still plenty of time to build the infrastructure of football in the country and to be honest, they will have to.

Not only because football in the Middle East is nowhere near the gold standard of the European game but there is also the small matter of the FIFA World Cup coming to Saudi Arabia in 2034 - once again, it seems as if money has talked the loudest when it comes to staging this big sporting party.

Another World Cup going outside football’s heartlands, the purists will say it is another sign that the sport has sold its soul, the progressives will say that this is an opportunity to expand football’s footprint even further.

In all honesty, the truth arguably lies somewhere between the two but with the amount of Petro-dollars that FIFA will be collecting after signing a sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabia’s state oil firm Aramco, they will not care where the truth lies.

There is certainly a logical sense in the Saudis getting into bed with FIFA and if you can land influence within the biggest sport in the world, then the softening of your image starts to become far easier. However, why just stop there, why not hoover up some other sports as well?

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Golf - LIV Tour

None more so than golf and with the LIV Tour sending seismic shockwaves through the sport, the ripple effect is still being felt since Greg Norman’s monster was created back in 2021 – a monster that has been responsible for creating a civil war in the land of ‘Fore’. 

Not that those who have jumped ship will care all that much and in 2024, the high-stakes LIV Golf League is set to host 14 events worldwide, providing players with the chance to pocket substantial sums of money.

Dustin Johnson has seen the benefits of Saudi influence on Golf

Despite adjustments to the rebel series this year, the prize pool remains remarkably generous. Each of the 12 regular season events offers a purse of $25 million, with $20 million allocated to the individual competition and $5 million to the team competition.

After the recent event in Las Vegas, Dustin Johnson picked up $4m after winning by a single shot at the expense of Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein. However, the two players who tied for second would also be well reimbursed for just falling short:

Here we can see that $12.6m was shared to the top 11 players alone and for who have defected to the LIV, any regrets of leaving the more established tours behind will be quickly forgotten once their bank balance has been looked at.

Especially when you look at the overall earnings at the end of 2023: 

The figures above include all prize money won by the golfers, including individual winnings, team earnings, and bonuses earned based on their finish in the individual and team standings. It does not include other money earned as part of their contracts with their teams and LIV Golf.

The top 10 LIV earners from 2023 have amassed just over a quarter of a billion dollars. $252m to be exact and this highlights just how much money is on offer within this newfound sporting creation and when the Saudi’s are involved, you get the feeling the sums are only going to get bigger.

Boxing - Huge PPV Events

The sums getting bigger, the reach getting even wider and it is reach that has already grabbed hold of boxing. With the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Oleksander Usyk stepping ring, the city of Riyadh is quickly becoming the new mecca for the sweet science.

Tyson Fury has fought in Saudi Arabia

What used to be Las Vegas, is now the Middle East and with the geographical location being kinder to European eyes in terms of time zones, a high-profile heavyweight fight can be done and dusted before bedtime. 

No more staying up until 5 am to watch the likes of Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, now 11 pm is the new 5 am and as a consequence, boxing fans on this side of the Atlantic Ocean have never felt more connected to the sport.

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A thumb in the eye for American promoters but manna from heaven for the likes of Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren as they can now earn more in the PPV revenue due to more favourable slots in terms of broadcasting.

F1 and More - Olympics next?

A knockout for boxing, a green light for Formula One and with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix now being established on the annual calendar, it is also another opportunity for Aramco logos to be plastered on sponsorship boards.

While the PIF did even invest in McLaren back in 2021, a £400m fee was nothing more than small change for this fund. Two years later, that same investment was subsequently sold on Bahrain’s Sovereign Fund and it would not have been sold at a loss either.

Money that can be recycled into plenty of other sports and although a relationship between the UFC and the PIF turned rather sour, that has not stopped them from returning to the world of MMA and investing in the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

Investment that comes in the form of a minority stake purchase worth $100m and with this investment, you get the feeling that the PIF will not be willing to simply sit back and be a silent partner, the end game will be to get the UFC to tap out.

The PIF’s portfolio getting wider by the month and with still plans to grow further, they have already embarked on a partnership with the World Snooker – one that will include the opportunity to pot a new maximum break of 167 and one that has not gone down to well with fans of the sport.

Which begs the question, where next? If you believe the reports and use some logic then English rugby could be the next destination. With Premiership teams on their knees when it comes to finance, the saviour could be of a Saudi-persuasion. 

The PIF is aiming to make significant investments in English rugby through its discussions with four top-flight clubs: Gloucester, Leicester Tigers, Northampton Saints, and Newcastle Falcons. The reported deal, valued at approximately £60 million, could well be given a try sometime soon.

While there are also rumours that Saudi Arabia want to host the Olympics and with costs now becoming problematic for most nations, this could be the ideal stage for the Middle Eastern nation to step in.

There would be no concerns regarding legacy and the costs attached to it, a future Olympics in Saudi Arabia would be underwritten by a blank chequebook. Therefore, you get the feeling, that it is not if the games are staged in Riyadh but surely a case of when.

Editorial Info and Sources

Dan Tracey

Data scientist and football editor

Dan Tracey is a multi-talented writer, data analyst and podcaster whose six-year career in the sports data sphere has seen incredible successes. From helping UEFA create their annual technical reports to writing articles for Sports Betting Websites including sites like TheLinesUS and Goal - there's no shortage of areas where his expertise shines through! In addition, he can be heard on podcasts lending an insightful voice as well as providing weekly betting angles - all culminating with him teaming up OLBG.com in the present day. Simply put: wherever you find angled data being crunched? You'll also likely find Dan not far behind!

👨‍🏫 Specialist Subjects🔬📚

Dan's specialist area is data; and lots of it! Wherever we need numbers to create our unique deep dive articles, Dan is our go-to. Dan is also a Tottenham Fan and a football commentator for Newcastle Blue Star

Sources:

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/saudi-professional-league/einnahmenausgaben/wettbewerb/SA1

https://www.todays-golfer.com/news-and-events/tour-news/how-much-do-the-liv-golf-invitational-series-players-get-paid/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIV_Golf

Data correct as of 14th Feb 2024.