A new professional basketball league is in the works courtesy of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Earlier this month it was reported that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) would be investing in the endeavor, joining other financial backers including long-time LeBron James business manager Maverick Carter, Skype cofounder Geoff Prentice, VC firm Quiet Capital, and even the government of Singapore.
The new proposed league would be comprised of six men’s teams and six women’s teams, playing in a total of eight host cities around the world, with teams spending two weeks in each location. It could be an attractive option for players given the lack of burdensome travel, moderated game schedules, and potentially even meaningful equity offers from the teams themselves. It may also offer a contrast to the day-to-day athlete experience in the National Basketball Association (NBA) — a league in which many players admit to being chronically exhausted. And while it’s unlikely that this new league would be able to meaningfully challenge the NBA’s position atop the sport, it may, in the short term, provide a more attractive option to athletes on the league’s fringes, potentially even poaching some of its middle-ranking athletes.
This new development shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. In the last decade, Saudi Arabia has made inroads in everything from global football to the WWE, to golf, mixed martial arts, boxing, and basketball. They’ve managed to change the face of golf by proposing a merger of the PGA tour with the PIF-owned LIV Golf in 2023. Al-Nassr Football Club, sitting currently in fourth place in the Saudi Pro League, employs the highest-paid and most famous athlete in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo. And for the moment, Riyadh has usurped Las Vegas as the go-to location for premier boxing events. Financially, the Saudi fund is in a league of its own: the PIF holds over $5 trillion in estimated assets, and
Auteur: Jack Bedrosian
