Saudi Crown Prince downplays controversy as he invests in sports

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman insists he will not back down from a deal with the PGA Tour that has been accused of using sports to cover up human rights abuses.

Saudi Arabia is notorious for "sportswashing" - pouring money into sports to cover up and hide scandals, especially regarding human rights and gender equality. However, Crown Prince Bin Salman does not care about that.

"I'm going to continue to pursue that policy, if it's increasing my per capita income by 1. If it's that way, I'll aim for 1.5 percent growth. I don't care what you call it," he told Fox News on Thursday. 9/20

Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman. Photo: SPA — Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman. Photo: *SPA*

This is the first time Bin Salman has spoken to a US media outlet since the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced in June that its LIV Golf League, which it owns, would form an alliance with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. The preliminary agreement states that all three arenas will merge their commercial operations and operate under a common enterprise.

According to the Saudi Crown Prince, this deal will change the golf industry, benefiting both players and fans.

In the current Saudi government, Bin Salman serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. But in reality, he is running the country on behalf of King Salman bin Abdulaziz. It was Bin Salman who introduced “Vision 2030,” which aims to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil by diversifying the economy and reforming public services.

In that strategy, investment in sports is a priority group implemented with funds from the Saudi PIF, in the form of bringing major tournaments to this country, in boxing, tennis, freestyle wrestling, F1. Recently, Saudi Arabia announced its participation in the competition for the right to host the Women's Asian Cup - the Asian women's football championship.

In addition, the Saudi PIF, which has a net worth of $650 billion, has also expanded internationally - in 2021 it acquired 80% of the shares of Premier League club Newcastle, and in June 2023 agreed to do business with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour after nearly two years of intense conflict. The parties are now set to finalize specific terms by the end of this year.

However, this deal is being blocked by the US government, shown through suspicions of violating antitrust laws from the Department of Justice, economic interests and national security from the Committee on Foreign Investment as well as the subcommittee on investigations in the Senate.

During a July hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal asked PGA Tour officials to estimate the investment from the Saudi PIF, which he estimated at more than $1 billion, nearly equal to the PGA Tour’s total net worth at the end of 2022.

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