Golf, football, F1: Saudi Arabia’s big sports bet

If you are a sports fan, you may have noticed that Saudi Arabia has billions of dollars in investments in everything from Formula 1 to professional tennis. In two high-profile moves, the Saudis backed LIV Golf’s merger with the PGA tour earlier this month and recruited soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to the Saudi Professional League for a reported $200 million a year in January.

Critics say the reason for this investment in sports is “sportswashing”: a deliberate move to build international prestige and distract from the actions of Saudi Arabia’s repressive regime, known for its torture, mass executions and suppression of civil liberties.

Saudi officials claim the investment, which comes largely from the country’s more than $600 billion state fund, is intended to diversify the oil-dependent economy.

This week we talk about Saudi Arabia’s big bet on sport, what it means for the economy and what Saudi citizens think about it.

of:

• Ahmed Al Omran, Saudi journalist and former correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

Nothing is foreign, a podcast from CBC News and CBC Podcasts, is a weekly journey to where the story unfolds. It is hosted by Tamara Khandaker.