“The region is more than capable of being part of this global phenomenon, recent phenomenon of the rise in sports as part of the global economy,” Al-Falih said of the Middle East.
The PIF is rapidly expanding into sports, hosting a Formula One Grand Prix and major boxing matches, and buying British Premier League soccer team Newcastle United.
The two-year-long fight between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf ended with a stunning announcement last week the arch-rivals would be joining forces.
Saudi Arabia interested in ‘any sport that has consumers globally and domestically’
The controversial mega merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf is just one step in the kingdom’s ambitious tourism and investment strategy — and its pursuit of big-name sports is just getting started.
“We’re sort of a proponent to find ‘all of the above’ strategy in sport,” according to Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih told.
“Any sport that has consumers globally and domestically is a sport we’re interested in as an investment opportunity, to not only create commercial returns for the investors, whether it’s the PIF or private investors, but also as an upgrade to the quality of life of Saudi Arabia, it’s part of our tourism agenda.”
The PIF is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, a $600 billion sovereign wealth fund controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It’s being wielded as an economic tool for Vision 2030, a years-long project aiming at modernizing and diversifying the kingdom’s economy away from oil.
News that the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf were joining forces last week brought an end to a two-year battle between the archrivals.
The agreement, which includes the DP World Tour — also known as the PGA European Tour — will combine the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf into a new, yet-to-be-named for-profit company.
Founded in 2021 with the goal of becoming the world’s premier professional golf tour, LIV Golf was backed by the PIF and had lured some of the biggest golf stars away from the PGA Tour with huge paychecks. That spurred lawsuits between the two entities until the decision to merge, which ended all pending litigation.
“The region is more than capable of being part of this global phenomenon, recent phenomenon of the rise in sports as part of the global economy,” Al-Falih said of the Middle East. “And golf is part of it, is a significant part of it, and it addresses an important segment of the population who also play and follow golf.”
As part of the PGA-LIV merger, the Saudi PIF is now the exclusive investor in the new golf entity, and it has the right of first refusal on any new investment.
The PIF is rapidly expanding into sports, hosting a Formula One Grand Prix and major boxing matches, and buying British Premier League soccer team Newcastle United.
Saudi Arabia also lured soccer legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema with contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to play in local Saudi leagues, and it’s expected to bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
In the past few years, the mammoth PIF fund has also bought up stakes in major blue chip companies including Amazon, Uber, Alphabet, Microsoft, Boeing, Bank of America, and Disney.