Quote:
Originally Posted by flere-imsaho
In general, sportswashing (see also: LIV, Newcastle United). In specific, they want to build up a good domestic league from scratch. Bootstrap it a bit, apply to switch confederations from AFC to UEFA, and maybe one day you can be on par with a mid-size UEFA league (Portugal? Holland? Belgium?).
Also likely they just have more money than they know how to spend but I like my speculation better.  |
I am beginning to believe that sportswashing used to be the goal but no longer is the goal. I do think they see sports as another avenue into becoming seen as a more "mainstream" country specifically and show the Middle East in that light in general. I mean in the way the Soviet Union, East Germany used to be and of course how China is now. You may not like our politics but you are going to deal with us. Not because we have a billion people or nukes, but we have cash and we know you like cash. That is where things have changed IMO.
They are okay adding enough zeros to the checks to get people to be at the very least silent about the faults. It wasn't the Saudis but we just had a dry World Cup where the hosts told Budweiser they were not allowed to sell alcohol. After that the FIFA president gave his "I feel like a migrant worker" speech and the people who have Budweiser as the official beer of the World Cup were excoriating football fans for wanting to drink and telling them it would be good for them to be sober for a few weeks.