Driven by its “Vision 2030” plan, Saudi Arabia is actively attracting foreign investment, aiming to promote the commercialization of its emerging sports industry, diversify away from oil dependence.
Bassim Ibrahim, director of sports investment development at the Saudi Ministry of Investment, said Saudi Arabia has already put its soccer clubs up for sale and is now preparing to sell stadium rights and explore more business opportunities.
Saudi Arabia is not only looking at traditional sports, but is also targeting cricket and American football. These two sports, which are not yet prevalent in Saudi Arabia, are expected to become part of the country’s sports investment portfolio.
This expansion becomes foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia, which has an annual target of $100 billion and $33 billion by 2022. It marks a new phase in Saudi Arabia’s exploration of the sports sector, heralding the possibility of more international events taking root here.
Ibrahim said that despite progress in building world-class stadiums, Saudi Arabia still has a lot of work to do in privatizing and maximizing revenue from its assets through regular events.
“The problem is the utilization and commercialization of these facilities,” Ibrahim noted at the recent UK-Saudi Sports Investment and Innovation Forum, ”which remains an untapped market.” Saudi Arabia is thus actively seeking solutions, including offering stadium naming rights.
The Saudi sports industry is broken down into 17 sub-sectors and 88 investment areas. The size of the sports sector is expected to jump from SAR 30 billion (about $8 billion) to SAR 84 billion by 2030.
However, Ibrahim also pointed out some gaps in sports facilities, such as the lack of specialized sports universities and hospitals, as well as the absence of a local sports equipment manufacturing industry, which are priorities for future development.
Saudi Arabia is actively exploring new sports programs that promise to bring more major events. Cricket, American football, baseball and even more motorsports and major events will soon be added to the Saudi sports calendar.
Saudi Arabia’s ambitions are aimed at revolutionizing and expanding the sports sector to help it achieve its goal of becoming one of the world’s seven largest economies, with tourism expected to contribute 10% of GDP.
