Not too long ago, it might have seemed inconceivable that multiple NBA superstars would become aware of the goings-on in Saudi Arabian professional soccer. Yet over the summer, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo both weighed in on Al Hilal’s pursuit of French star Kylian Mbappé, as reports emerged that the club was willing to commit more than $1 billion for a year of his services.
It was a stunning figure for anyone, including exorbitantly wealthy basketball players — and it’s easy to see why. The highest-paid NBA players — playing in one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world — earn roughly 5% of what Al Hilal was prepared to spend on Mbappé.
The players’ social media posts came in jest — James posted a Forrest Gump GIF to insinuate how fast he would run to accept a similar offer; Antetokounmpo jokingly insinuated he could pass as Mbappé — but regardless, it represented another breakthrough into the American sports’ consciousness initiated by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Weeks later, James traveled to Saudi Arabia and visited with Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, the Saudi minister of culture. James has not commented publicly on the reason for his trip.
These moments have become more frequent in recent years, especially in the wake of LIV Golf’s creation, but they did not arrive overnight. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has used sports and high-profile athletes to launder its global image — what critics have called sportswashing — for decades and appears set on ramping up those efforts in the coming years.
“We are in a really huge transformation, softening the image,” Majed Al Sorour, chief executive of the Saudi Golf Federation, said on the sideline of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh in October.
After Cristiano Ronaldo announced he would be signing with Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr, Amnesty International put out a statement saying the move “fits into a wider pattern of sportswashing in Saudi Arabia. It is highly likely that the Saudi authorities will promote Ronaldo’s presence in the country as a means of distracting from the country’s appalling human rights record.”
Here’s a timeline of some of the most pivotal moments of the country’s foray into the sports world — specifically golf, soccer, Formula One, tennis, boxing and WWE — and where things could go from here. — Kyle Bonagura
Additional reporting by Tom Hamilton, Laurence Edmondson, Austin Lindberg, Mark Ogden and Mark Schlabach
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