The Future of Sportswashing

Wealthy businesspeople have invested in sport throughout history but the current dynamic driven by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has created a sense of uncertainty about the future of many sports

Phil Mickelson and Cristiano Ronaldo are currently on the Saudi Investment Fund's payroll and the ATP Tour could be next

From Michael Jordan to Mohammed bin Salman and Ryan Reynolds to Roman Abramovich, sports teams have been an avenue for the extremely wealthy to invest some of their money.

For many years we saw any investment into sport as a means to better our beloved games, however the social and political climate is developing into one where the source of funding is a very contentious topic. Sportswashing is a form of propaganda where groups use sporting events as a means to improve their pretty terrible reputations to redirect public attention away from their reported unethical behaviour.

The highest profile act of sportswashing throughout history would be the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The event was used as a perfect opportunity to display Nazi propaganda and used to show the world of a "new and strong Germany".

In recent years, sportswashing examples include the Saudi backed LIV Golf, F1 in Bahrain, the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the rise in footballers going to Saudi based clubs.

Take #1: Sportswashing will end… somewhat

Newcastle United was acquired by Saudi's Public Investment Fund in 2022 (Credit: Getty Images)

The geopolitical issue of where investment originates from has been combatted in many scenarios over the last two years such as Chelsea's forced sale, several boycotting the 2022 Qatar World Cup (or at least speaking out against human rights treatment) and obviously the most high profile case, Everton's split with major sponsor USM.

The protesting will continue to rise over the near-term and reduce the prevalence of sportswashing. Do I think it will reduce over the next couple years? Probably not materially but over the long term it will as human rights becomes an increasingly important social and political issue, I think we could see drastic actions taken by sports to reduce the impact.

Whilst in some situations, it is virtually impossible to reduce such as footballers leaving to play in Saudi Arabia as the FIFA body does not ultimately have the level of power to disallow sport to be played in certain countries, at this stage…

The areas we will see a reduction in sportswashing is club ownership and I think Newcastle United could be force sold over the next 10 years unless Saudi Arabia address their human rights issues.

The location of events will be a consideration and I suspect that there will be reduced F1 Grand Prix's and other major sporting events in the contentious locations in the future.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix took place for the third time earlier this year (credit: F1)

Sponsors will also come under fire, much like Russian company's did when the nation invaded Ukraine, and I am predicting there will be much more transparent reporting of sponsorship and endorsements as we transition to a bit more of a social conscious world. The increased transparency is already in action as Man City came under fire in 2022 for a mystery £30m investment.

Take #2: A Saudi backed tennis tour would not work

The ATP tour held talks this year with the Saudi Arabia Investment Fund over a potential buyout of the tour or form a breakaway tour similar to LIV Golf which attracted stars such as Phil Mickelson and detracted many such as Rory Mcilroy who was most vocal against the separate tour

Novak Djokovic holds his 24th Grand Slam trophy after he beat Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final a few weeks ago (credit: Reuters)

I don’t think a Saudi backed men's tennis tournament or tour would have the same lure as LIV Golf. The reason being that excluding Djokovic and Alcaraz, the rest of the current top mens tennis players are not exactly superstars in their own right. Some are well known for sure but they're not big ticket players like LIV Golf was able to achieve with Phil Mickelson and Cam Smith.

For example, I don’t see Alex Zverev selling out a stadium in his own right week in week out unless there was a remarkable marketing campaign.

Take #3: ATP and WTA will merge

Roger Federer and Serena Williams taking a selfie after playing against each other in the Hopman Cup several years ago (Credit: Tennis Australia)

A scenario that I think is more likely and one that makes more sense is the WTA and ATP to merge. The idea of bringing men's and women's tennis under the same umbrella has been spoken about for years but ultimately I expect it to reach a climax over the next 12-24 months as the ATP tour continues to come under threat of investment by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

The Next Gen Finals have been announced to take place in Saudi Arabia for the next five years, proving the country's ambition to target tennis as its next sportswashing target after appearing satisfied with its investment in football, F1 and golf.

Tennis is already a leading sport for equality between men's and women's sport yet pay still isn't ultimately 50/50 outside of the grand slams.

A means to remain as the number 1 sport by this metric is to bring the ATP and WTA under the same ownership to split finances and benefits equally amongst men and women.

The timing makes sense from an ethical perspective but also from an ATP Tour's financial perspective as stats show that viewership for the women's US Open final has been much greater than that of the men's for the last three years.

See you next week for another edition of Ollies Takes

P.S. Special Take #4: this Cooper Connolly kid can hit a cricket ball