There are several analogies that could be used to illustrate the hubris of Fox Sports partnering with the Saudi Pro League, and as easy as it would be to use the retirement tours of big name soccer stars, and the marginal effect they’ve had on MLS here in the states, Lionel Messi is on a barnstorming tour across the league. So, instead, I’ll use movies. Star power does not make a blockbuster; it simply guarantees that the outcome — good or Babylon — will be noteworthy.
A quick glance at the best talent Saudi blood money can buy gives off strong Expendables 3 vibes, with Cristiano Ronaldo playing the role of Sly Stallone, while Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane, Jordan Henderson, and the other Liverpool defectors grasp for the remaining one-liners. (It’s really brutal for LFC fans watching a group of guys who played a big role in bucking Anfield’s EPL title drought sully that memory.)
Nobody wants to entertain this farce. A buddy cop comedy with Fabinho and Roberto Firmino might sound good in theory, but this is Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Righteous Kill if Pacino and De Niro were supporting actors.
It’s LIV Golf, but with the world’s game, and also competing with it. There’s a seven-hour difference between Saudi Arabia and the East Coast of the U.S., so games will be roughly in the same time window as the big European leagues. Plus, the Saudi Pro League’s calendar overlaps with not only the EPL, the Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, and Ligue 1, but also the NFL and college football.
Fox should ask the CW how its last LIV event rated, because Nexstar — the parent company of the golf league’s TV partner — just posted a $72 million loss in Q2. Now Nexstar says it’s going with a “Moneyball” content strategy that sounds a helluva lot like what Netflix did with Nic Cage. (There’s no better indication that the ACC will be the next conference to go the way of the Pac-12 like a partnership with the CW, which is barely a step up from a streaming service.)
In May, before the merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund was announced, LIV Golf stopped reporting its TV ratings. With the deal still not finished for predictable reasons that PGA commissioner Jay Monahan overlooked or ignored, LIV Golf is in limbo, and viewers are likely even more apathetic toward it. And that’s if they can get past the Saudi’s human rights record in the first place.
People know what sportswashing is. I hesitate to even use the word because it’s probably something Ron DeSantis considers woke, but the fact that you can say “sportswashing,” and people know what you’re talking about shows that the public is keen to what Saudi Arabia is trying to do.
The accessibility of the Saudi Pro League and these stars is the opposite of Messi in Miami: the Argentine’s snub of the league brought his approval rating even higher, and it’s what fans wish all players would do. There seems to be something about obscene wealth that makes people who have it, crave even more of it. Hey, almost like an addiction, so we are the same.
Be that as it may, most of the world doesn’t see a tangible reason to support Al-Nassr, or Al-Ettifaq. There are any number of better things to watch, including Expen4bles; set to release in theaters(?!) next month, starring 77-year-old Stallone, 50 Cent, Megan Fox, among others, and sure to bomb as hard as the Saudi Pro League on Fox Sports.