I’m sure that many of you are familiar with the tournaments and leagues that have been popping up in the Middle East or that have recently received a sizeable investment from a Middle Eastern government. Most of all this is occurring in Saudi Arabia. The competitions vary from sports such as football and rugby to golf and tennis, covering the majority of the popular sports played around the world. All of these sports have a loyal following that the Saudi Arabian government want to attract, hence the investment into tournaments that try to attract some of the most famous and popular players like Cristiano Ronaldo.
What Competitions Are There?
There are many different sports that Saudi Arabia has put money into, but most notable are football, golf, and tennis, along with rugby, F1 and boxing. The Six Kings Slam is a tennis tournament where the top 6 tennis players in the world compete to win the top prize of a staggering $6m, currently on Netflix, the tournament brings in thousands of viewers to Saudi Arabia and many more online. In football, Saudi Arabia has acquired large stakes in some of its foundational football clubs in the King Cup of Champions to help entice famous football players like Ronaldo and Karim Benzema into joining the teams. As for golf, the Saudi International golf event is part of the Asian Tour, after ceasing to be part of the PGA and European tours. The Saudi Government is a large stake holder in the event, with the prize fund totalling $5,000,000.
Why?
Like Australia, Saudi Arabia was blessed with abundant natural resources, but most of all oil. Oil has single handedly made Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries some of the wealthiest in the world, but now the Saudi Arabian government has decided that it’s time for a change. Given that oil is a non-renewable resource, Saudi Arabia’s reserves are being used up and eventually, whether that be in 10 or 50 years, the country will run out of oil, so the government has made the decision to diversify and start investing in other sectors, resulting in a mass influx of money into sports by the Saudi Arabian government. This large investment is largely coming from its Public Investment Fund, which invests money around the world on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia. The investment not only diversifies the country’s economy, but it also creates jobs and boosts the tourism sector, meaning that the investment in sports has a multi-faceted positive impact on the country and its economy.
Will It Have an Impact on Your Favourite Sport?
The simple answer is probably not; most athletes are deciding to stay with their current teams and leagues and only a few are moving over to different ones. However, in sports like tennis it simply means that there will be more tennis to watch – so all the better! In the end more investment in sport is simply that – more money for the teams and sports to use to improve the game and provide a better experience for everyone watching. So, it really just comes down to preference as to whether you personally want to watch the championships/tournaments in the Middle East or stick with the well-known international ones.