What’s Going On With Sports?
Photo by Kenny Leys on Unsplash
F1, soccer, golf, wrestling—besides all being sports, what do they have in common? One thing—recent large-scale funding through the investment of the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The Saudi Arabian government is determined to change their public image, to distract from their human rights record, and gain public support through their financial betterment of globally watched sports.
What is the PIF?
The PIF, established in 1971, was set up as a government holding company, but as Saudi Arabia’s interests turned global, the PIF began to be used as a global investor. They have invested most heavily in the professional sports industry, which has already begun to change the landscape of individual sports.
This investment is one of the elements of the broader Saudi infrastructure development strategy, a plan that has been titled Vision 2030. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz has been heavily involved in the implementation of this plan, and states, on the official Vision 2030 website, that the government is “determined to reinforce and diversify the capabilities of [the] economy, turning [their] key strengths into enabling tools for a fully diversified future.” Their plan specifically states that the goal is to “transform the Public Investment Fund into the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.”
So far, through the PIF, Saudi Arabia has secured their influence in F1 by sponsoring the Aston Martin team, as well as by signing a 10 year, $55 million contract for the continuation of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In golf, the PIF has established the LIV Golf series which has poached many professional golfers from the PGA Tour, and in soccer they have successfully purchased Newcastle United Football Club which has seen overwhelming success following their increase in funding.
The Saudi government knows that the popularity of sports, worldwide, as well as the ability of sports to create national and team belonging is a strategically subtle way to change their controversial global image, and so far, it has been successful for them.
They are investing an unprecedented amount of money into these professional sports, securing their desired power and influence in the lucrative industry. They aren’t stopping there. I truly believe that this is just the beginning of Saudi investment and that the world will see more and more of their influence throughout different global industries.