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Saudi Arabia has been heavily investing in various sports in recent years, as it has spent loads of money improving its domestic football league by bringing in many star players from Europe. The Saudis have also used a significant percentage of their Public Investment Fund into partnerships with Western institutions like the PGA, Formula One, and World Wrestling Entertainment.
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Such large amounts of investment into the sporting world from just one country in such a short period brought up sports-washing allegations. But the Crown Prince of the country, Mohammed bin Salman, has said that he doesn’t care about the term and will continue their investment in sports.
Sportswashing refers to a practice wherein organizations, be they state or private entities, utilize sporting events to ‘clean’ their reputation and stature while deviating attention from dubious operations. Saudi Arabia has a rocky reputation because of various issues like women's rights abuses, the criminalization of homosexuality, the restriction of free speech, and the war in Yemen.
"If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by 1%, then we'll continue doing sportswashing," Bin Salman said. He told Fox News: "I don't care [about the term]. I have 1% growth in GDP from sport, and I am aiming for another 1.5%. Call it what you want - we are going to get that 1.5%."
Saudi Arabia is ranked 155th among 165 countries in human freedom score (according to World Population Review), and many corporations are opting not to have any ties with the state following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Since their heavy investment in sports, their reputation is slowly changing, but there is still opposition from many parties.
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Arabia will continue their investment in sports as Tennis will hold a professional event in Saudi Arabia for the first time this year after a five-year deal was agreed for Jeddah to host the Next Gen ATP Finals. Saudi Arabia has also held talks with the women's tour about hosting its end-of-season WTA Finals.
