What’s next? Power, not sportwashing, behind Saudi accumulation
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On November 15, 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” — a haunting oil painting depicting Jesus Christ — went to auction at Christie’s in New York.
The bidding lasted only a few minutes as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman weighed in with a bid of US$450 million (A$675m), making it the most expensive piece of artwork in the world.
Soon after, the Salvator Mundi found a home on bin Salman’s US$400m (A$600m) superyacht. Recent reports suggest an extravagant art gallery is being built so there’s somewhere to hang it.
At the time, many wondered why the Ruler of Saudi Arabia, a country that strictly observes Islamic law, would literally spend a king’s ransom on a piece of Italian Renaissance art that pays homage to Jesus H. Christ himself.
The way the Saudis have devoured golf — with an eye firmly on football and other sports — provides us with the answer.
Because he can.
Former US president Donald Trump with LIV architect Yasir Al-Rumayyan.Credit: AP
The sporting world is still unpacking the events from earlier this week when PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan rolled over like a puppy dog wanting his belly tickled, allowing Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to essentially take over both the US and European tours while welcoming the rebels from LIV Golf back into the warm bosom of grown-up, 72-hole golf.
How the unholy marriage will work remains unclear but what we do know is money prevailed ahead of morality. Couldn’t see that coming, eh?
While Monahan has become the face of the PGA’s treachery, reports are emerging about the decisive influence of Jimmy Dunne, an investment banker and golf powerbroker of sorts.
Dunne had been against the idea of LIV from the very beginning. For starters, his firm lost 66 employees when hijacked planes slammed in the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 – with the majority of hijackers from Saudi Arabia. When PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan made the famous remark that any LIV golfer who shot 54 would receive $54 million, he told SI.com: “This is the guy that’s running the event? I mean, come on. That’s like something you’d see on Saturday Night Live.”
The “Salvator Mundi” on display at Christie’s auction rooms in London in October 2017.Credit: AP
But, in the past few weeks, things changed. Dunne came to understand that the Saudis had far deeper pockets than the PGA, which was squeezing sponsors for more money to fund litigation against the rebel tour.
According to various reports, the PIF was going to litigate the PGA into oblivion. Dunne met with Al-Rumayyan to broker a truce before taking the idea of a merged entity with the Saudis as the “exclusive investor” to Monahan and the deal, within days, was done.
Which is all a bit of a worry, of course.
Billionaires, oligarchs, and media moguls buy up clubs and codes all the time, but this is different because of the motives. Kerry Packer started World Series Cricket over TV rights, just as Rupert Murdoch sparked off the Super League War as a vehicle for subscription TV.
Rory McIlroy at the RBC Canadian Open this week.Credit: Getty
Saudi Arabia seems less concerned about using sport to wash away its appalling human rights record than making it a tool by which they can attain power, prestige, and something to play with on a global scale.
It’s been said the only reason the PIF went after golf was because Al-Rumayyan is obsessed with it, although the haste with which he abandoned Greg Norman’s vision for a McHappy Meal version of the sport reveals his true motivations.
That point was seemingly forgotten by LIV-aligned golfers who immediately started beating their chests — on Twitter, no less — when the PGA deal was struck. They quickly abandoned what they were fighting for.
What happened to enticing a young, vibrant fan base to a stuffy old format followed by old, rich men? What about the loud music, getting hammered on the “watering hole” and eschewing long pants for shorts? What now of LIV’s bold mantra about it being “golf, but louder”?
About the only thing that will live post-LIV is the team component — possibly — because Al-Rumayyan likes it. He’s paying the bills so expect it to happen.
With golf now in the PIF’s back pocket, what’s the next sport or fancy-schmancy painting on the shopping list?
Two of the world’s best footballers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, have signed deals that look like telephone numbers to join the Saudi Pro league, although Lionel Messi on Thursday morning rejected an offer from Al-Hilal to join Major League Soccer franchise Inter Miami in the US. Less than six months after the World Cup in Qatar, the latest reports suggest a joint Saudi bid for the 2034 tournament if not four years sooner.
Cricket appears to be the next in line. As reported by this masthead in April, representatives of the Saudi Arabian government have lobbied Indian Premier League owners about setting up the world’s richest Twenty20 tournament in the gulf state. Watch this space.
‘That’s like something you’d see on Saturday Night Live’
Via oil giant Aramco, Saudi Arabia is also a global partner with Formula 1 racing. Aramco made a profit of $240 billion in 2022.
Look, there’s nothing new about countries using sport to flex their nationalistic muscle, from the 1936 Olympic Games held in Nazi Germany to Rocky IV, the supreme example of Cold War propaganda.
But no! Sport can’t and shan’t be some toy for those with riyals to burn. It might be a losing battle but some of us will rail against the nefarious influence of money on sport until we die or retire or find something else to gibber about.
Footnote: If you intend to write an angry email in response to the above, please come up with something better than silly whataboutism about buying petrol and using Uber, in which the Saudis have invested a large chunk of change along with other US companies.
I can’t remember to charge my phone let alone a Tesla, and I’d take Maccas off the Devil if he delivered it to my front door while cradling a hangover.
Ange Postecoglou celebrates Celtic’s Scottish Cup final win at the weekend.Credit: Getty
Spurs in for a treat with Ange’s orations
Ange Postecoglou’s appointment as manager of Premier League giant Tottenham Hotspur is the best thing to happen to Australian football since he won the Scottish treble with Celtic five days ago.
The 57-year-old has many favourable attributes that make him a great operator, but I’ve been told several times — by players, coaches, and officials — that his strongest is his ability to rip out a match-day oratory that would put Al Pacino in the final scenes of Any Given Sunday to shame.
Ange Postecoglou after the 2015 Asian Cup final.Credit: Brendan Esposito
When he was coaching the Socceroos in the Asian Cup final in 2015, all seem doomed when South Korea scored in the first minute of injury time.
Postecoglou dragged his players to the sideline and huddled them together …
“This,” he told his crestfallen side. “THIS will make it even better.”
And it was. James Troisi scored in the 105th minute to secure the title.
Buddy’s book – and retirement – nears
Sydney Swans spearhead Lance Franklin is inching closer to his final game — and the release of his autobiography on October 4.
News Corp’s HarperCollins was very keen on the book, but Franklin decided to go with Hardie Grant.
Franklin has been aloof for most of his career, rarely giving much away even when he has spoken publicly. We wonder if he’ll lay bare the more controversial moments of his life and career in his book.
Dylan Brown and lawyer David Newham.Credit: Nick Moir
Lawyer no stranger to the limelight
Parramatta five-eighth Dylan Brown let his lawyer, David Newham, do all the talking outside the Downing Centre on Wednesday morning after appearing in court on sexual touching charges.
We wonder if the 22-year-old knew about his legal representative’s colourful background as a former cop and then Hollywood actor.
After working as an undercover drug squad operative and then police prosecutor, Newham pivoted into acting, gaining entry to the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which counts Robert Redford, Danny deVito and Adrien Brody among its alumni.
Two years after quitting the police force, he landed a role as a deranged murderer in the 2006 movie Isolated, a psychological thriller.
“It was strange playing the sort of person I used to arrest,” Newham told this masthead in 2005.
The Quote
“Keep booing. This is the biggest moment in your year, seeing me.” — AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Verona fans while giving his farewell speech.
Thumbs Up
Such sad news this week that Wayne Smith, a veteran sports reporter and, most recently, a Herald columnist, had passed away. The 69-year-old was feisty, passionate, and widely respected. Love this from his long-time colleague, Jim Tucker, in The Australian: “If rugby is serious about honouring him, they will ban his pet hate, the rolling maul try, for a full weekend of games.”
Thumbs Down
The cold and (mostly) lonely winter nights will be warmed up over the next six weeks with the World Test Championship and Ashes series, but it’s shameful how the six matches have been jammed into the schedule to accommodate the IPL and The Hundred. With every passing summer, the grand old dame of Test cricket is slowly being strangled out of existence.
Jed Holloway and the Waratahs are in the finals.Credit: Getty
It’s a big weekend for … the Waratahs, who meet the Auckland Blues on Friday night in their Super Rugby quarter-final at Eden Park, where they haven’t won since 2009. The Tahs have injury and form concerns, but they have the incentive of keeping Michael Hooper’s Super Rugby career going one more week.
It’s an even bigger weekend for … Manchester City, which is chasing the rarest of trebles: the Premier League title, the FA Cup, and the Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s men meet Inter Milan in the final on Sunday in Istanbul. As he told his players: “To be recognised as something good, you have to win in Europe.”
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