Saudi Public Investment Fund in Discussions With ATP Tour on “Investment”

[Seaofred92]

Saudi Arabia’s bid to take over sport has moved on to tennis as the head of the men’s tour revealed he held talks with the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia have already swallowed up golf, taken over Newcastle United, lured star footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to their own domestic league while there are reports of a £16billion offer to buy the rights to Formula One.

Mail Sport reported last month that tennis’s NextGen finals, the end-of-year competition for the world’s eight best under-21 players, looks set to move to Jeddah.

ATP Tour chair Andrea Gaudenzi said he held ‘positive’ discussions with PIF over potential investment in tennis. It was only a few weeks ago that golf’s PGA Tour finally relented in their civil war with breakaway Saudi-backed LIV.

Gaudenzi warned any investors must ‘stick to respecting the history of the sport and the product, working with the current stakeholder rather than against’.

Saudi Arabia bid to buy into tennis as they hold talks with ATP chief

Saudi Arabia's bid to take over sport has moved on to tennis as the head of the men's tour revealed he held talks with the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Seems inevitable at some point that they’re going to try to get directly involved in American sports, no? MLS would seem like a pretty good opportunity for them to flex their muscle to a degree where you can buy/sell global players and they’re in fairly desperate need of a shot in the arm for global relevancy

 

[Bootleg11]

PIF wants to fund Nebraska's NIL...you ok with that? I mean it's just a matter of time before they do it with some program. Hell maybe A&M already dove head first into that pool.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

PIF wants to fund Nebraska's NIL...you ok with that? I mean it's just a matter of time before they do it with some program. Hell maybe A&M already dove head first into that pool.

My understanding is that these government backed funds want to make money and NIL seems like it's about as far away from a money making endeavor as one could get without just burning money

 

[Snockered69]

Saudis gonna own all the major sports

 

[Seaofred92]

It’s coming - I wonder who will be desperate enough to do it. It would be hilarious if someone like UMass partnered with them and became good

 

[Snockered69]

It’s coming - I wonder who will be desperate enough to do it. It would be hilarious if someone like UMass partnered with them and became good

 

[Ext. 55]

Why not just use our imperialistic nature and go take over Saudi Arabia, make it a new state and take the oil wealth for ourselves?

Let’s have some fun around here.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Why not just use our imperialistic nature and go take over Saudi Arabia, make it a new state and take the oil wealth for ourselves?

Let’s have some fun around here.

 

[Ext. 55]

Monahan is that you?