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2022 - 2023 Football Thread - Page 129

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New Thread! Sneirac has delivered!
Mafe
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany5966 Posts
June 05 2023 18:41 GMT
#2561
I dont think the saudi league deals are necessarily supposed to make economic sense. Rather it seems to me that the elephant in the room goes by the name of "sportswashing".
DropBear
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Australia4414 Posts
June 05 2023 23:31 GMT
#2562
On June 06 2023 03:41 Mafe wrote:
I dont think the saudi league deals are necessarily supposed to make economic sense. Rather it seems to me that the elephant in the room goes by the name of "sportswashing".

The end goal of the sportswashing is the future investment though. They aren't trying to improve their reputation just so they sleep better at night
Sucker for nostalgia
Hildegard
Profile Blog Joined November 2012
Germany348 Posts
June 06 2023 11:00 GMT
#2563
I mean having two of the four greatest players of all time certainly does help. It opens the league up for other players and coaches to join and in some years we might see a Saudi team win the club world cup. I read somewhere that they try to get Mourinho and after Pep wins the CL maybe twice with City, he might be open to earn an insane amount of money. With no financial limitations who knows how strong that league can become in the long run.
tl.net humour: https://www.kurtvonmeier.com/blog-1/2018/1/14/on-audio-alan-watts-and-g-spencer-brown-discuss-laws-of-form
evilfatsh1t
Profile Joined October 2010
Australia8904 Posts
June 06 2023 11:09 GMT
#2564
yeah no. the saudi league isnt hitting top 5 league in the world in any of our lifetimes
Acrofales
Profile Joined August 2010
Spain18365 Posts
June 06 2023 11:13 GMT
#2565
On June 06 2023 20:00 Hildegard wrote:
I mean having two of the four greatest players of all time certainly does help. It opens the league up for other players and coaches to join and in some years we might see a Saudi team win the club world cup. I read somewhere that they try to get Mourinho and after Pep wins the CL maybe twice with City, he might be open to earn an insane amount of money. With no financial limitations who knows how strong that league can become in the long run.

Ask the MSL or China how well that strategy actually works.
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27205 Posts
June 06 2023 11:44 GMT
#2566
Sportswashing works, generally, if it’s done well. Have a pet European team and people noticing how well you do things. Bring a Formula One race or some other big event to your doorstep, all that kind of stuff.

Paying a Ronaldo or purportedly a Messi or a Benzema ungodly amounts of money to play in a league nobody’s really going to pay attention

This may be a very Western centric view to be fair, I shall concede that’s my lens, I’m unsure of how viewing habits and general attitudes to things like the Saudi league’s are in the Arab and wider Asian sphere

If some of the figures bandied around for just those three players and what they are/would be on, you’re probably not far away from what the direct costs of purchasing Newcastle have been thus far
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Hildegard
Profile Blog Joined November 2012
Germany348 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-06 13:13:16
June 06 2023 12:12 GMT
#2567
Yes, for now there won't be big attention, but with Benzema they have a starter for a top5 club in the world. Next they could lure top club rejects that are younger, maybe a Mané or Cancelo. Many footballers grew up without a lot of money and so there is an incentive to earn five times of what you can make at a top club. The MLS has only one player per club that can make a lot of money and China was a short period of time with the biggest star being Tevez, who didn't take it seriously. Of course they need a lot of catching up, but it's not impossible with near infinite resources.

Edit: And the next - N’Golo Kanté offered salary of up to €100m to join club in Saudi Arabia. Saudi clubs are also pushing to sign Sergio Busquets after his departure from Barcelona and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is leaving Chelsea, and has been approached by Al-Ahli and Al-Shabab.
tl.net humour: https://www.kurtvonmeier.com/blog-1/2018/1/14/on-audio-alan-watts-and-g-spencer-brown-discuss-laws-of-form
evilfatsh1t
Profile Joined October 2010
Australia8904 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-06 13:29:52
June 06 2023 13:28 GMT
#2568
it doesnt matter whether they all go. the only way saudi football gets a noticeable surge in viewership is if they bring in people with genuine star power. the only 2 such players in football is messi and ronaldo. mbappe neymar haaland are lagging behind and benzema for all his skill just doesnt have that star attraction. no ones going to watch a saudi game just to see benzema. no one even watches a full saudi game for ronaldo atm, they just watch clips of the occasional goal he scores, if even that.

for the saudi league to become a top 5 league in football there would have to be a major catastrophe in europe. and by catastrophe i mean something on the scale of a war breaking out in europe and 2 major footballing countries got entirely bombed so that football basically ceased to exist in that country
GTR
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
51644 Posts
June 06 2023 13:30 GMT
#2569
saudi arabia is mirroring what the chinese league was 10+ years ago.
Commentator
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27205 Posts
June 06 2023 17:47 GMT
#2570
And the Chinese league failed to garner much attention

MLS despite some elitist sniffyness is also a generally growing league, in a market that has lots of potential. You can see they’re getting decent mid-tier South American talent that would have otherwise remained in South America or Mexico

10/15 years ago that wasn’t the case
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Pandemona *
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-06 18:30:15
June 06 2023 18:29 GMT
#2571
Difference is the Chinese government put an end to the CSL stuff, the Saudi government just bought like 5-6 of the clubs outright to bring in the talent to help push the 2030 world cup bid.

Ronaldo is there

Messi to follow at 1.2billion over 2 years?
Benzema is on his way
Ziyech is going
Aubemeyang is going
Kante has been offered 100million to go

Spurs' Son is being targeted for 2024

The reason these players are mentioned is they are all out of contract, they are targeting players out of contract to hit them with big over the top salaries and not have to pay a transfer fee.

Edit - Oh i missed Zaha, he is on his way to finalize his deal now he is out of contract in the summer as well.
ModeratorTeam Liquid Football Thread Guru! - Chelsea FC ♥
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28863 Posts
June 06 2023 19:36 GMT
#2572
Some great players makes no difference to me. The market is plenty saturated, unless the quality of the teams actually surpasses that of the great european leagues it's still an irrelevant league.

The league also has to have some inherent interest tied to it, and the saudi league has absolutely 0 such interest. There are two ways for the Saudi league to become relevant: a) the aforementioned 'they get so many quality players their top teams might legitimately contend for 'best team'', or b) Saudi teams somehow manage to get some arrangement where they become eligible to play in the champions league / some huge changes happen to the structure of international club football and they become included.

I don't have the impression people outside France / maybe ex colonies tune in for Ligue 1, and PSG has been one of the most stacked teams in the world for several years now. But most people - even pretty serious football fans, only watch them in the CL, and generally with the hope that they will fail.
Moderator
Hildegard
Profile Blog Joined November 2012
Germany348 Posts
June 06 2023 20:12 GMT
#2573
On June 07 2023 04:36 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Some great players makes no difference to me. The market is plenty saturated, unless the quality of the teams actually surpasses that of the great european leagues it's still an irrelevant league.

The league also has to have some inherent interest tied to it, and the saudi league has absolutely 0 such interest. There are two ways for the Saudi league to become relevant: a) the aforementioned 'they get so many quality players their top teams might legitimately contend for 'best team'', or b) Saudi teams somehow manage to get some arrangement where they become eligible to play in the champions league / some huge changes happen to the structure of international club football and they become included.

I don't have the impression people outside France / maybe ex colonies tune in for Ligue 1, and PSG has been one of the most stacked teams in the world for several years now. But most people - even pretty serious football fans, only watch them in the CL, and generally with the hope that they will fail.


Most people watch only their national league, CL and maybe the Premier League. Spain was different during the Messi/Ronaldo era, but I doubt they can retain that interest for much longer. Muslim friends of mine often root for Muslim players or clubs/national teams from Muslim countries.

Viewers follow stars and stars (often) follow money, and we have witnessed many times that few fans care about ethics or sport washing as long as stars are bought.With (or if) Messi joining months after becoming world champion in probably the best final in world cup history, that league certainly enough credibility for others to follow.

Plus, the Asian Champions League is growing in popularity and Al-Hilal won in 2021 and made it to the 2022 finals.
tl.net humour: https://www.kurtvonmeier.com/blog-1/2018/1/14/on-audio-alan-watts-and-g-spencer-brown-discuss-laws-of-form
zev318
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada4306 Posts
June 06 2023 22:25 GMT
#2574
i dont see this moving the needle much. they're just getting all the stars who had no options (ronaldo) or getting to the end of their careers (messi/benzema). the league is still generally speaking not that good or interesting to follow, probably is on at a terrible time for the markets that matter.

on a side note, the saudis are just trying and forcing their way into everything, so i would not be surprised if europe eventually gives in (CL etc). if anyone's following golf, they've basically forced the PGA into a merger, which i think is a super bad look for anyone associated with the PGA, given how much shit they talked previously.
RKC
Profile Joined June 2012
2848 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-07 05:35:04
June 07 2023 05:33 GMT
#2575
Yes, only enlightened Western democracies (EU and USA) are entitled to invest and own top sporting resources (players, clubs, etc). Asia and Africa being backward civilisations should just bugger off, stay in their lane, and stick to street and village football. To guard against sportswashing, cultural appropriation, greed and corruption, yada yada. Got it.
gg no re thx
sharkie
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Austria18699 Posts
June 07 2023 06:19 GMT
#2576
MacAllister to Liverpool for only $40 million euro - what kinda crazy cheap ass deal is that and why didnt other clubs try to get him?

He was one of the main reasons Argentina won the WC
RvB
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Netherlands6292 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-07 08:15:56
June 07 2023 08:12 GMT
#2577
On June 07 2023 04:36 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Some great players makes no difference to me. The market is plenty saturated, unless the quality of the teams actually surpasses that of the great european leagues it's still an irrelevant league.

The league also has to have some inherent interest tied to it, and the saudi league has absolutely 0 such interest. There are two ways for the Saudi league to become relevant: a) the aforementioned 'they get so many quality players their top teams might legitimately contend for 'best team'', or b) Saudi teams somehow manage to get some arrangement where they become eligible to play in the champions league / some huge changes happen to the structure of international club football and they become included.

I don't have the impression people outside France / maybe ex colonies tune in for Ligue 1, and PSG has been one of the most stacked teams in the world for several years now. But most people - even pretty serious football fans, only watch them in the CL, and generally with the hope that they will fail.

I doubt westerners like us are the audience they're doing it for. The middle east has a huge amount of people who might be interested in seeing all these stars even if they are old and declining.

On June 07 2023 14:33 RKC wrote:
Yes, only enlightened Western democracies (EU and USA) are entitled to invest and own top sporting resources (players, clubs, etc). Asia and Africa being backward civilisations should just bugger off, stay in their lane, and stick to street and village football. To guard against sportswashing, cultural appropriation, greed and corruption, yada yada. Got it.

I doubt a top down approach by just throwing money at it will work though. It does not look like there is a long term plan behind it. That 500 million can better be invested in youth acadamies and professionalising the clubs. Ronaldo will take his cash for two years and then move back to Portugal leaving Saudi Arabia with nothing.
Hildegard
Profile Blog Joined November 2012
Germany348 Posts
June 07 2023 10:07 GMT
#2578
On June 07 2023 17:12 RvB wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 07 2023 04:36 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Some great players makes no difference to me. The market is plenty saturated, unless the quality of the teams actually surpasses that of the great european leagues it's still an irrelevant league.

The league also has to have some inherent interest tied to it, and the saudi league has absolutely 0 such interest. There are two ways for the Saudi league to become relevant: a) the aforementioned 'they get so many quality players their top teams might legitimately contend for 'best team'', or b) Saudi teams somehow manage to get some arrangement where they become eligible to play in the champions league / some huge changes happen to the structure of international club football and they become included.

I don't have the impression people outside France / maybe ex colonies tune in for Ligue 1, and PSG has been one of the most stacked teams in the world for several years now. But most people - even pretty serious football fans, only watch them in the CL, and generally with the hope that they will fail.

I doubt westerners like us are the audience they're doing it for. The middle east has a huge amount of people who might be interested in seeing all these stars even if they are old and declining.

Show nested quote +
On June 07 2023 14:33 RKC wrote:
Yes, only enlightened Western democracies (EU and USA) are entitled to invest and own top sporting resources (players, clubs, etc). Asia and Africa being backward civilisations should just bugger off, stay in their lane, and stick to street and village football. To guard against sportswashing, cultural appropriation, greed and corruption, yada yada. Got it.

I doubt a top down approach by just throwing money at it will work though. It does not look like there is a long term plan behind it. That 500 million can better be invested in youth acadamies and professionalising the clubs. Ronaldo will take his cash for two years and then move back to Portugal leaving Saudi Arabia with nothing.


It worked for the Premier League, but it seems now according to transfermarkt.de that Messi might go to Miami after Apple and Adidas offered shared revenue for streaming / sales or Barcelona. The Saudi offer seems to be postponed for a year.
tl.net humour: https://www.kurtvonmeier.com/blog-1/2018/1/14/on-audio-alan-watts-and-g-spencer-brown-discuss-laws-of-form
{CC}StealthBlue
Profile Blog Joined January 2003
United States41117 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-06-07 11:55:25
June 07 2023 11:47 GMT
#2579
Yeah because what wife would want to live in Saudi Arabia with her kids for two effin years.... Apple is also part of the lobbying group.

"Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules."
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7304 Posts
June 07 2023 12:24 GMT
#2580
With the amount of money Saudis can pump, I don't see why they wouldn't enter Champions League / Europe League soon. I mean, name one UEFA offcial who would go: "nah we don't want your money" ...
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
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