Rumours of Saudi PIF buying the WWE takes us to the question of Middle East’s oil money owning sport. The Middle East with ‘blitz’ life has been attracting people from all over the world to its flashy cities in the midst of the desert.
With the world transitioning to cleaner energy sources, the middle east is taking steps to create alternative sources of revenue and tourism is an alternative. The middle east is working aggressively to boost its tourism sector and sports is a means of attracting people into the country.
The FIFA world cup just ended in Qatar and Saudi has applied to the FIFA to co-host the 2030 world cup. Racing events such as MotoGP, Formula 1, Formula E and Rage of the Red Sea has attracted tourists.
The middle east is also investing in building world class arena to host MMA and Boxing fights. MMA’s dominant promoter UFC has been hosting caged fighting events. Other combat sports such as WWE and Boxing including the title heavy weight fight between Andy Ruiz Junior and Anthony Joshua at the end of 2019.
Earlier debate has been raised of the middle east’s influencing in the world of club football. The key contention is the undue advantage of deep pockets impact on a club and how extravagant money is beginning to factor into dynamic of the legacy leagues. A prime example of this was seen in the English Premiere League with Newcastle United being sold to Saudi’s Public Investment Fund making it one of the richest while its performance has been consistently poor for a few decades. Manchester City is owned by UAE’s Sheikh Mansour, PSG is owned by Qatar’s Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Aston Villa by Egypt’s Nassef Sawiris, and Sheffield United by Saudi’s Abdullah bin Mossad bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. State owned aircraft carriers Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways own major deals with European clubs. The record deals have been witnessed since with clubs like PSG paying exorbitant sums, nearly €222 million for Brazilian star Neymar and continuing to purchase Messi and retain Mbappe, three world class players in the same team. In a recent deal, Saudi’s Al Nassr signed Cristiano Ronaldo for $210 million. 
Saudi Arabian Investor Dr Abdullah has reportedly struck a deal with UK’s GBM sports to show GBM sporting events all over the UK with a condition to also bring events to Saudi Arabia.
The Indian Premiere League also witnessed two seasons amid the covid lockdowns being hosted in UAE. UAE has been a neutral zone for cricket matches held between India and Pakistan.
In its rapid expansion and growth projects, sporting events are kept as a vital part of ensuring a steady flow of tourists to the middle east and the countries are taking all steps possible to increase their share in hosting and owning sporting events.
