“The Saudis are talking to a lot of people and a lot of different sports right now,”said. “I think everybody’s evaluating what this means and: How do you move forward with that?”
The men’s tennis tour, the ATP, has been in contact with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, officially named the Public Investment Fund. The PGA Tour, European tour and the fund, which backed the LIV Golf series, said on June 6 they would combine their commercial businesses. Saudi soccer clubs have been bringing in top players from Europe.
These sorts of deals have been pointed to as examples of “sportswashing” - efforts to rebrand a nation’s troubling public image through what happens on fields of play.