Why Saudi Arabia Is Spending Millions on Soccer Stars
Odd Lots23 Juni 2023

Why Saudi Arabia Is Spending Millions on Soccer Stars

Saudi Arabia has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars snapping up international soccer stars in recent months, including legendary players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, to boost the rosters of its Saudi Pro League. It's not the first time we've seen a country spend a lot of money to try to build up a domestic sports league, but it does have some key differences to previous attempts like we've seen in China, or in the US with Major League Soccer. For a start, the kingdom is spending a lot of money, opening up thorny questions about competition worldwide and Financial Fair Play rules in Europe, specifically. More importantly, it's also doing this at a governmental scale, with the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund and state-owned oil giant taking active roles. So what exactly is Saudi Arabia trying to accomplish and will it succeed? And what does this huge influx of money mean for soccer in the rest of the world? On this episode, we speak with Michael Caley and Mike Goodman, co-hosts of the Double Pivot Podcast, to discuss the big business of football and why turning a profit is not always the primary goal.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Avsnitt(1184)

Why NASA Hired a Chief Economist

Why NASA Hired a Chief Economist

This week, NASA is scheduled to launch Artemis II, a mission that will send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. But this comes at a time when the space agency is facin...

31 Mars 49min

Goldman CIO Marco Argenti on the Warp-Speed Improvements in AI

Goldman CIO Marco Argenti on the Warp-Speed Improvements in AI

When we last spoke to Marco Argenti, chief information officer at Goldman Sachs, we were talking about how the bank was deploying AI, including the development of its own internal tools. But that was ...

30 Mars 52min

Anthropic, the Pentagon, and the Future of Autonomous Weapons

Anthropic, the Pentagon, and the Future of Autonomous Weapons

The last big story right before the war in Iran started was the collapse in the relationship between the Pentagon and Anthropic, with the latter objecting to any potential use of its models in either ...

28 Mars 51min

Now There's a Helium Shortage and It Affects More Than Balloons

Now There's a Helium Shortage and It Affects More Than Balloons

Ripple effects from the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continue to widen. There's yet another brewing shortage, this time in helium. While most people associate helium with balloo...

27 Mars 50min

This Is How Big Money Is Trading the War in Iran

This Is How Big Money Is Trading the War in Iran

Markets are often said to be "headline-driven," but that cliché has rarely felt more true than it does right now. A single tweet or Truth Social post can send prices sharply higher or lower, and inves...

26 Mars 39min

The Petrochemicals Shock That's Already Rippling Through Plastics

The Petrochemicals Shock That's Already Rippling Through Plastics

Everyone knows by now that war in Iran is curbing the flow of oil around the world. But oil isn't just a gasoline and jet fuel story, of course. It's also a crucial feedstock for a bunch of petrochemi...

25 Mars 53min

David Shor and Byrne Hobart on the Politics of a White-Collar Wipeout

David Shor and Byrne Hobart on the Politics of a White-Collar Wipeout

Nobody knows when or if AI will lead to mass displacement of white-collar work. But the anxiety is clearly here now, and there's very little evidence that our politicians are taking it seriously. Of c...

24 Mars 55min

What the Iran War Means for Dubai's Luxury Boom

What the Iran War Means for Dubai's Luxury Boom

Dubai has become a huge destination for the rich, with an influx of high-net-worth residents driving up property prices and boosting the UAE's tax revenues in recent years. And of course, Gulf countri...

23 Mars 55min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
rss-jossan-nina
svd-tech-brief
rss-svart-marknad
rss-borsens-finest
badfluence
uppgang-och-fall
avanzapodden
bathina-en-podcast
fill-or-kill
rss-dagen-med-di
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
rikatillsammans-om-privatekonomi-rikedom-i-livet
lastbilspodden
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
borsmorgon
tabberaset
bilar-med-sladd
24fragor