Golf, the last blow of the Arab millionaire offensive sport

clubs such as City of ManchesterThe Paris Saint Germain or the Tottenham. Great sporting events as evidence of Formula One, MotoGP or the next Soccer World Cup. And now, tournaments that are destroying the ‘status quo’ of their sport, such as Premier Padel and the newborn LIV Golf Invitational. They all have one thing in common: the financial support of the Arab countries Persian Gulf.

The Golf This is the latest stage of these countries ’unstoppable offensive in the sport. An investment beyond $ 2 billion (1,880 million euros) of the Saudi sovereign fund PIF (Public Investment Fund) has awarded the LIV Golf Invitational, a circuit with eight events planned for this year, ten in 2023 and 14 in 2024 and 2025, aimed at winning world hegemony.

with the former golfer Greg Norman as commissioner and figurehead –Jack Nicklausanother 18-majors-winning holeshot legend, refused to play that role — and a prize purse of $ 255 million (239 million euros) for this season, the new circuit, which is arguably its first stop at Centurion Golf Club in London, has Americans Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelsonthe English Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood or the Spanish Sergio Garcia.

‘Jaws’ Norman went on to higher goal, the winner of 15 majors Tiger Woodswhere they would have offered a “nine-digit” number, that is, close to 1,000 million dollars, to join the new tournament, as the commissioner of the LIV Golf Invitational told the American ‘Washington Post’.

On its first stop in London, LIV will be giving away $ 25 million (23 million euros), of which 4 million dollars will go to the winner, which exceeds 3.6 million for the ‘Players Championship’ or the 2.7 million for the Masters, or the approximately two million where the award goes to the US winner Open and the British Open.

The reaction of the American circuit, the PGA, has suspended 17 golfers participating in London and some who plan to participate in future contests; but it remains to be seen if they will be welcomed by large tournaments organized by non -PGA entities, such as the United States Open and British Open (the Augusta MAsters have already played).

Soon, another sport was hit by a similar earthquake: the circuit Premier Padelorganized by the International Padel Federation and funded by Qatar Sports Investments, owner of Paris Saint-Germain, showed up at the start of the year promising a prize of 525,000 euros in its four main tournaments, higher than that offered by the Mundo Padel Tour , the world’s dominant circuit for the past decade, organized by the Spanish company Setpoint Events.

The new tournament has the support of the Professional Players Association (PPA), which brings together nearly a hundred players, and many of the key figures on the men’s circuit have participated in the two stops played so far. time of the new competition, in Doha (Qatar) and Rome (Italy), with the next one scheduled for Roland Garros courts in Paris (France), between July 11 and 17, in conjunction with their ongoing competition on the World Padel Tour, despite warnings and claims by their organizer regarding the inconsistencies they signed through contract.

The last links in a long chain

These two tournaments are not, far from it, an exceptional record, but part of a sports policy that began more than a decade ago. The Qatari sovereign wealth fund took over Paris Saint-Germain football in 2011 for a figure that now seems ridiculous: 50 million euros, but it is estimated that he has invested more than 1,400 million euros in signings since then, according to the CIES Football Observatory.

Three years before that, in 2008, Abu Dhabi United Group took over City of Manchester for approximately 200 million pounds (247 million euros at the time), and since then he has spent more than 1,700 million euros on signatures, according to CIES. The ‘skyblue’ club is now part of the conglomerate City Football Group, to which they belong City of Melbourne, New York Cityand has shares in Girona Spanish or the Yokohama Marine Japanese, among other clubs. Qatar will also be the organizer of the next Soccer World Cupwith a revolutionary change in the calendar, as it will take place between November and December.

The newcastle This is the last great club acquired by a sovereign wealth fund in the Persian Gulf, in this case PIF, the same funder of the LIV Invitational de golf, which disbursed in October 300 million pounds (340 million euros) to take over the club of ‘magpies’, where he added another 100 million to sign reinforcements in the winter market, where he retained the Premier League category.

What are these countries looking for in sport? “International promotion”, he explained to EFE Javier Nephewprofessor at Comillas Pontifical University and expert in sports diplomacy. “Sport transcends borders, you can do a very natural management of diplomatic and international relations through sportand in sports you don’t have to explain (…) I think the Persian Gulf countries are the ones who understand it the most, and I’m very angry that in Spain we don’t understand it so well, ”he reflected.

Unlike Qatar, which has “since 1995 creating an international positioning strategy with investment in major sporting events”Remember Xavier GinestaProfessor of sports marketing at the University of Vic, Saudi Arabia implemented this policy recently, not only at the LIV Invitational in golf or Newcastle, but also at the Spanish and Italian Super Cups in football.

“Saudi Arabia has a geostrategic need for international positioning, knows it’s not an internationally approved democracy, and is doing what some call ‘sportwashing’, but I don’t know to what extent a well-thought-out strategy like Qatar, which has been linked to making its economy that not dependent on hydrocarbons. I don’t see it in Saudi Arabia, ”he learns.

This is not, far from it, an original approach, as many countries in contemporary history have used sport as a way to legitimize themselves around the world, pointed out John Anthony SimonProfessor of Sports History at INEF in Madrid.

“Even the Franco regime in Spain has tried to do the same. Since 1960 they have seen that organizing sporting events can be interesting. Spain did not play in the final of the 1960 European Championship because it was against the Union Soviet, but later organized it. The last stage of 1964 and He won it, certainly against the USSR, and in 1965 he presented a candidacy for the 1972 Games. Then came the 1982 World Cup “, explanation of the historian.

A skillful jump

A long term process that could make a qualitative leap in recent months with examples of paddle tennis or golfbecause the strategy has shifted from funding clubs or hosting major events towards creating new competitions that radically change the competitive structure of their sport.

For Javier Sobrino, this move may have been made because they are sports with “less rooted” competitions. “Paddle tennis is a great example, it’s a growing sport, the WPT is the international circuit, but it’s not as combined with the ‘Champions League’ or the tennis Grand Slams. I don’t see these countries doing a tennis tournament that competes in a Grand Slam, for example, ”he said.

“If you break the status quo of the discipline in which you invest, you will be the benchmark,” Ginesta added, considering that this intention to destroy the established order is beyond these last contests. “Didn’t PSG break the ‘status quo’ by buying Neymar for 222 million euros from Barcelona? At that time, a superinflation had formed in football that was detrimental to all who could not make capital increases, ”he said.

The danger of these new competitions or clubs could be the reliance on these big financiers, as happened with the wave of Chinese tycoons who bought clubs at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, and then has retreated as the Chinese government limits investment abroad. . “It’s really different, because in that case not the state of China, but Chinese businessmen are investing, here they are sovereign wealth funds“, explained Sobrino.

Both experts believe that this trend will continue, both because of the economic potential of these countries and their strategy. “These countries see that it is bearing fruit, how many protest actions have taken place against the World Cup in Qatar or the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia?” Ginesta remarks.

What could be the next sport to experience Arab -funded disruption? “Cycling may be a case in point, now they come in with teams, but someday they can create ‘ad hoc’ competitions.“, says Javier Sobrino. Only competitions that” will surpass their participants “, such as the Champions League, the World Cups, the tennis Grand Slams, their future is uncertain, says the expert, where this dynamic is a major threat to sports federations. “The federative model needs to be renewed in the evolution of the sports sector towards entertainment”, he concludes.