{"id":71407,"date":"2024-06-12T15:56:23","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T15:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/12\/saudi-arabias-next-billion-dollar-sports-play-a-boxing-takeover\/"},"modified":"2024-06-12T15:56:23","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T15:56:23","slug":"saudi-arabias-next-billion-dollar-sports-play-a-boxing-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/12\/saudi-arabias-next-billion-dollar-sports-play-a-boxing-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s Next Billion-Dollar Sports Play: A Boxing Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/12\/multimedia\/12saudi-boxing-top-fzvm\/12saudi-boxing-top-fzvm-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Saudi Arabia\u2019s Next Billion-Dollar Sports Play: A Boxing Takeover\" title=\"Saudi Arabia\u2019s Next Billion-Dollar Sports Play: A Boxing Takeover\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Saudi Arabia has already launched a hostile takeover of professional golf. It has invested billions of dollars in world soccer. Now it wants to own professional boxing, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An ambitious and expensive Saudi plan that would reshape the economics, structure and future of boxing is in the final stages of approval, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Saudi Arabia\u2019s giant sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, would finance the project. The fund is holding final negotiations about dispersing the initial investment \u2014 said to be as much as $2 billion \u2014 that the plan would require, according to the two people involved in the planning. Both people declined to be identified because the project does not have final approval.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Public Investment Fund, known as the P.I.F., declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Under the Saudi proposal, about 200 of the top men\u2019s boxers in the world would be signed and then divided into 12 weight classes in what would amount to a global boxing league.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Each class would include about 15 fighters each, allowing the best talents to regularly face off. The move would effectively create a single boxing entity that would replace the sometimes chaotic and frustrating system of dueling promoters and warring sanctioning bodies. The new entity would have the resources, and the fighters, to stage high-profile cards around the globe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And unlike many of the sports Saudi Arabia has previously attempted to disrupt, professional boxing may be ripe for reimagining. The sport has lost its luster and some of its allure in recent decades and is currently run by a tangled web of rival promoters and disparate sanctioning bodies that arrange their own fights and award their own titles. That leaves fans to sift through a confusing system that frequently stymies meetings between the best boxers and one that boasts multiple \u201cchampions\u201d in the same weight classes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The new series would operate under one brand name, an arrangement similar to the business model of the hugely popular Ultimate Fighting Championship, which has steadily eroded boxing\u2019s global popularity. In the U.F.C., 15 fighters are ranked in leagues per weight division as well as one ranking for the best \u201cpound-for-pound\u201d fighters. In the Saudi-backed event, boxers would be able to move up the rankings tables but also be eliminated from the series and replaced by new talent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The project has been under discussion for more than a year, and developed with the help of multiple consultancy firms, including Boston Consulting Group, which helped shape the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series. Should an investment decision be confirmed in the next few weeks, the series could start as early as the first half of next year, according to one of the people involved in the planning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At that point, the P.I.F. would again provide what the project needs most: money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For years, the fund has been the vehicle Saudi Arabia has used for its cash-soaked assault on the sports industry. Its moves have plowed huge amounts of fresh capital into clubs, teams, events, federations and sporting organizations. But they also have unsettled entire industries, from professional golf to soccer to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/09\/09\/business\/dealbook\/tennis-business-saudi-arabia.html\" title=\"\">tennis<\/a>, and brought criticism that Saudi Arabia has sought to reshape perceptions of the kingdom through what is derided as \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/12\/02\/business\/economy\/saudi-arabia-image-sports.html\" title=\"\">sportswashing<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The biggest sticking point to the Saudi plan for boxing may be long-term contracts that some of the best boxers already have with high-profile promoters, many of whom are often separately tied to different television networks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To resolve that issue, discussions have already begun on the possibility of full or partial investments from the P.I.F. in several of the biggest boxing promotion companies, according to the planners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Two of the biggest promoters, Top Rank and Queensbury, declined to comment on any talks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Partnerships are also under discussion with some of boxing\u2019s traditional organizations, which control the rights not only to key boxers, but also to highly valuable intellectual property like archival video, historic results and the title belts once held by boxing royalty like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the new series, there would be a requirement for boxers to perform in a minimum number of events per year, a move designed to prevent some of the top boxers from taking prolonged time away from the sport, a cause of frustration among boxing fans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Should the plan for the boxing league go ahead, a P.I.F. entity called Sela has been earmarked to promote the events, which would be held not just in Saudi Arabia but around the world. Sela, a sports events company, has already staged boxing events in Saudi Arabia, including the recent heavyweight unification bout between Britain\u2019s Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In that fight, Usyk became the first unified heavyweight champion in more than a generation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sela declined to comment on the new Saudi boxing plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That fight was just the latest in a series of high profile boxing cards held in Saudi Arabia in recent years, turning the kingdom, thanks to the richest purses in the sport, into the top destination for the biggest bouts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Saudi and Sela will soon be branching further afield, with events under the headline <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.matchroomboxing.com\/news\/he-turki-alalshikh-announces-riyadh-season-to-host-first-overseas-event-in-los-angeles-as-crawford-takes-on-madrimov-for-world-super-welterweight-titles\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Riyadh Season<\/a> now set to take place overseas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The first of those fight nights will be in August in Los Angeles, when Terrence Crawford and Israil Madrimov meet for the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organization super-welterweight title. That may be followed by an even bigger event at London\u2019s Wembley Stadium featuring Britain\u2019s former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That event has already been talked up by the Saudi official who has quickly become the most prominent figure in boxing, Turki al-Sheikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Al-Sheikh is at the center of the plans to restructure boxing, and alluded to as much in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/40093719\/turki-alalshikh-big-plans-canelo-crawford-fury\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a recent interview with ESPN<\/a> in which he reportedly said he planned to \u201cfix\u201d a \u201cbroken\u201d sport. The interview did not reveal details of the new Saudi league.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/12\/world\/middleeast\/saudi-boxing-league.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia has already launched a hostile takeover of professional golf. It has invested billions of dollars in world soccer. Now it wants to own professional boxing, too. An ambitious and expensive Saudi plan that would reshape the economics, structure and future of boxing is in the final stages of approval, according to two people [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/12\/multimedia\/12saudi-boxing-top-fzvm\/12saudi-boxing-top-fzvm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44676,21364,3751,1557,8576,1023,1290],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71409,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71407\/revisions\/71409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}