{"id":100130,"date":"2025-08-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/08\/31\/spl-new-playbook-privatization-replacing-spending-spree\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T00:00:00","slug":"spl-new-playbook-privatization-replacing-spending-spree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/08\/31\/spl-new-playbook-privatization-replacing-spending-spree\/","title":{"rendered":"SPL new playbook: privatization replacing spending spree"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>Privati<\/strong>zation of football clubs and Saudi Pro League (SPL) spending caught the attention <\/strong>of the foreign press<\/strong>, with CNBC<\/a> shedding light on the bns of USD spent to bring home global stars from Europe, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, in a bid to compete with big leagues. With spending easing from USD 1 bn in 2023 to USD 486 mn this year, the strategy has recently<\/a> shifted toward privatization, part of Vision 2030 of economic diversification.<\/p>\n

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links<\/strong> to our background and outside sources.)<\/p>\n

The Public Investment Fund and the Sports Ministry target widening SPL\u2019s annual <\/strong>revenue<\/strong> to USD 480 mn by 2030.<\/strong> They are reportedly mulling selling their stakes in the big four clubs, as the PIF has already \u201cdone the initial investment\u201d of building infrastructure and forming a squad that will attract interest, Kieran Maguire, Finance of Football podcast host, told the news outlet. Privatization brings home global networking of foreign investors, making the SPL an attractive destination for global stars, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at the Baker Institute, told CNBC.<\/p>\n

CNBC highlighted the shift that began with three clubs sold to private entities<\/strong>, beginning with Al Kholood, which was acquired by US-based Harburg Groups in July<\/a>. The news outlet hosted Al Kholood\u2019s new owner Ben Harburg (watch, runtime: 05:48<\/a>), whose main financial focus is to break even from the start. The strategy is to make money by developing young local talent and selling them to bigger clubs, along with attracting global talent to the club also before selling them, Harburg said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile<\/strong>, <\/strong>Reuters<\/a><\/strong> spoke with SPL CEO <\/strong>Omar Mugharbel<\/strong> about the newly launched <\/strong>financial regulations aiming for sustainable financial growth through privatization.<\/strong> Mugharbel referred to the growing revenue from both the league and individual clubs, the SPL\u2019s progressively younger squads (with an average age of 26 years) and the smaller squad sizes (25 players instead of 30 previously) \u2014 all boosting local talents in the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cInjecting better governance\u201d through the new financial regulations has become an approach, as the SPL is aiming for sustainable financial growth through privatization<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2561],"tags":[10,31,229,3014,8],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-100130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-saudi-in-the-news","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","tag-investment-watch","tag-saudi-in-the-news","tag-saudi-pro-league-spl","tag-sports","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"46fee55c-d0b2-4093-93e3-92a7d103dfd0","order":"9","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2025\/8\/1781.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"SPL shifts from spending to sustainability","related_issue":[100115],"teaser":"\u201cInjecting better governance\u201d through the new financial regulations has become an approach, as the SPL is aiming for sustainable financial growth through privatization","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2025\/8\/.bb7de57c-3fa7-4caa-847e-e2f298c9b1fe.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nSPL new playbook: privatization replacing spending spree - 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