September 12, 2023

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Football season is in full swing, but Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented investments in soccer continue to disrupt the international sports scene.

In other news, the NBA is getting serious about stopping load management, and the Rays’ stadium saga takes a positive turn.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]]

Saudi Arabia’s Spending Power On Display In Transfer Market [[link removed]]

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Saudi Pro League clubs spent nearly $1 billion on bringing new players to the competition in the recently concluded summer transfer window.

The $957 million spent by SPL clubs was a record for the league — more than any other except for the Premier League, which spent $1.39 billion, according [[link removed]] to a new report from Deloitte.

The SPL was responsible for almost half of overseas transfer fees received by EPL clubs, shelling out $312 million for players [[link removed]] like Ruben Neve ($59 million), Aleksandar Mitrovic ($56 million), Fabinho ($50 million), and Riyad Mahrez ($37 million).

SPL clubs sent $148 million to Ligue 1, $122 million to Serie A, $116 million to La Liga, and $32 million to the Bundesliga.

Saudi Spending Just Getting Started

Saudi Arabia’s disruption of European soccer has been a major topic as new seasons began across the continent.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was particularly concerned [[link removed]] with the SPL’s pursuit of his star player, Mohamed Salah. The attempts came shortly after Saudi club Al-Hilal paid [[link removed]] $98.5 million to facilitate Neymar’s transfer from French side Paris Saint-Germain.

“The budgets are in place for a number of years,” SPL board member Peter Hutton said [[link removed]] recently. “I don’t see this slowing down.”

Meanwhile, the SPL has been exploring [[link removed]] potential paths to competing in the UEFA Champions League, and Saudi Arabia has asked [[link removed]] European soccer leaders for assistance in the country’s bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

PODCAST

“The NFL is based in New York. The networks are based in New York. If they have a choice to put their favorite team into the national slot and justify it by saying that New York is … finally winning, they’re going to do it.”

— Michael McCarthy, Front Office Sports senior writer, on the Jets and the Giants having a combined 11 primetime games this season. To hear more from McCarthy on the “New York phenomenon,” check out the latest episode of FOS Today.

🎧 Listen and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], and Spotify [[link removed]].

Rays Have New Hope Of Finally Completing Stadium Deal [[link removed]]

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Rays have renewed hope for a stadium deal after nearly two decades of fruitless efforts to develop a successor facility to Tropicana Field.

Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg — who has faced years of criticism over a seeming inability or unwillingness to complete a local stadium deal — said [[link removed]] he is “highly optimistic” of finally reaching an agreement on a $1.2 billion ballpark in St. Petersburg by the end of the year.

Sternberg also said he’s willing to pay more than half of that stadium cost, a notion that has led the owner to seek out investors in return for minority equity in the team. That pursuit, however, has turned into months worth of unsolicited inquiries [[link removed]] about buying a majority stake in the Rays — something that doesn’t currently interest Sternberg.

“When you’re talking about people raising potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, they’re going, ‘Well, maybe we can buy the whole damn thing.’ So they take a run at you,” Sternberg said to the Tampa Bay Times.

Beneath Sternberg’s hopeful outlook, though, was a revived threat that the team could ultimately leave the Tampa area if the stadium deal isn’t completed.

“If I can’t get something done here, the best buyer will be somebody from somewhere else, and the team will be sold,” he said.

Despite again fielding [[link removed]] MLB’s fourth-smallest payroll and ranking [[link removed]] 27th in average attendance, the Rays have the American League’s second-best record, are poised for a fifth straight postseason appearance, and haven’t had a losing season since 2017.

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NBA Teams Could Be Fined Millions For Resting Stars [[link removed]]

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Financial penalties are likely to be much steeper for NBA teams who rest healthy players this coming season.

The NBA’s board of governors is set to vote on new rules Wednesday that would see teams fined well over $1 million for certain load-management offenses, according to multiple reports.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver currently has the right to fine teams on an individual basis if he feels they’re not acting in the best interests of the league.

For years, fans and media have criticized the league for allowing teams to sit star players during the 82-game regular season, even when fully healthy. The new guidelines are built to combat those moves, especially for nationally televised matchups and in-season tournament games.

If the rules are passed, teams may not rest more than one healthy player who has made an All-Star or All-NBA team in the previous three seasons in any game — and must play all their healthy stars during games on national TV or the in-season tournament.

It’s All About TV Money

In 2024, the NBA will begin negotiating new media rights deals that would take effect in 2025. A guarantee that its best players will be on the court could help the league in its attempts [[link removed]] to reach $75 billion in media revenue.

Additionally, the in-season tournament debuting this fall could be sold [[link removed]] as its own package of games — a move which would place even more importance on NBA star power.

Italian Soccer Can’t Seem To Figure Out Its Billion-Dollar Business [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The turbulent, often dysfunctional nature of Italian soccer has now extended to uncertainties surrounding the long-term future of Serie A’s most decorated club.

The ownership group of Juventus has pushed [[link removed]] back on a local report claiming it was preparing to sell the club in the wake of poor recent financial performance — a rumor that spiked [[link removed]] the club’s shares nearly 5%.

Owned for the last century by the Agnelli family via holding company Exor, Juventus was valued [[link removed]] at $2.16 billion by Forbes this year — making it the 11th-richest soccer club in the world. Juventus’ 36 Serie A titles are the most in league history.

Tough Business

Juventus’ plight is just the latest precarious situation plaguing the increasingly complicated business of Italian soccer, where the promise of international investment often runs up against the reality of local roadblocks.

Since 2019, the other two most popular clubs in Italy, AC Milan and Inter Milan — which are respectively owned by American firm RedBird Capital Partners and Chinese company Suning Holdings Group — have been planning to build a new $1.3 billion stadium together, replacing the 96-year-old San Siro stadium they currently share.

But now, the clubs are both considering separate projects because local officials are blocking their joint plan. “It’s challenging because, in Italy, it’s difficult to build anything,” AC Milan co-owner Riccardo Silva told [[link removed]] Front Office Sports. “In the last 20 years, only two stadiums were built. It’s all very complicated.”

Meanwhile, Serie A has had to delay [[link removed]] negotiations for its next set of media rights deals as recent bids were not meeting the $1 billion-plus threshold the league seeks.

Conversation Starters ESPN signed Marcus Spears to a new deal, extending [[link removed]] his tenure with the company beyond 10 years. On Monday, he began a new role as part of ESPN’s revamped “Monday Night Football” coverage. Check out the aerial view [[link removed]] of NFL Week 1 from Stadium Swim in Las Vegas. If you watched NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube — which debuted without a major hiccup or outage — what did you think of the coverage? Take our poll [[link removed]].

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Editor's Picks Washington State, Oregon State Take Small Step Toward Saving the Pac-12 [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]A small victory for the two remaining schools in the conference. University of South Florida Gets Approval for $340M Football Stadium [[link removed]]by Andrew Cohen [[link removed]]USF plans to borrow $200 million to build its new on-campus stadium. Inter, AC Milan to Leave San Siro For Separate Stadiums [[link removed]]by Andrew Cohen [[link removed]]The new stadiums could support Italy's bid for the 2030 World Cup. Question Of The Day

Do you rent or own your current place of residence?

Rent [[link removed]] Own [[link removed]] N/A [[link removed]]

Monday’s Answer

31% of respondents prefer whiskey, 28% prefer vodka, and 20% prefer tequila.

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