The bottomless pit has a bottom. LIV exit part of Saudi shift ahead of 2034 World Cup
It turns out that the bottomless money pit has a bottom. Or at least it worked in LIV Golf’s expensive experiment.
Last week’s withdrawal of support for LIV Golf by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), showed that even a trillion-dollar cash cow fueled by oil money and questionable geopolitical aims has its limits. Let’s call this $8 billion.
But PIF’s exit from LIV Golf wasn’t just about value, it was the first major step in a broader strategic shift by PIF and the Saudi kingdom to redirect more of the billions of dollars spent globally ahead of the 2034 FIFA World Cup to its home country.
The tactical shift has already affected other PIF-backed sports properties, and more is expected for both teams and athletes who have been cashing large Saudi checks for the better part of a decade.
PIF exchange
In March, PIF, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced: strategic reboot Moving away from the aggressive, high-profile global spending of the last decade towards a more conservative, domestically focused approach for 2026-2030.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of crude oil, and in 2022 state-owned oil company Aramco achieved the highest annual profit ever recorded by a company worth $223 billion.
While 30 percent of the PIF portfolio once consisted of foreign investments, the new plan will cap that proportion at 20 percent and prioritize return on investment, legacy spending in the kingdom, construction costs for the 2034 World Cup and 2030 World Expo, and increased investment in grassroots sports.
“The 2026-2030 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustainable value creation with a stronger focus on maximizing impact and improving the efficiency of investments,” PIF said in a media release.
The Vision 2030 project was launched by bin Salman 10 years ago; an aggressive and controversial national transformation project designed to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil and diversify its economy into sectors such as tourism, hospitality and real estate. Plans included expensive and ambitious projects such as the megacity Neom and “The Line,” a 170-kilometer mirrored skyscraper in the desert for nine million residents.
But PIF’s recalibration has seen many of these projects scaled up to be more achievable and affordable – plans for “The Line”, for example, have been largely reduced to between 2km and 5km – but also at the heart of the new strategy is Saudi Arabia’s focus on the 2034 World Cup.
The Saudis won the right to host the 2034 tournament as the sole bidder in 2024. The tournament will be played in 15 stadiums, most of them new, and the construction cost of the football infrastructure alone will reach 45 billion dollars.
What other sports will be affected?
The Saudis have invested heavily in sports both at home and abroad this decade, in what many see as a “sport-washing” of their questionable human rights record. Along with golf, football was also a big focus.
The Saudi Pro League, with four PIF-owned clubs, has attracted major global names including megastars Ronaldo and Neymar by offering staggering salaries.
Ronaldo signed a two-year deal with the Al-Nassr club in 2023 for approximately $800 million, and through subsequent contract extensions, bonuses and sponsorships, his total Saudi earnings could reach up to $1.6 billion when his contract expires in 2027. That’s $32 million a month.
French star Karim Benzema earns $200 million a year from Al-Ittihad. But these crazy numbers are unlikely to continue. PIF recently began divesting Al Hilal by selling 75 percent of it to a private ownership group. It is predicted that Al-Nassr will be next.
PIF also owns a majority stake in English Premier League’s Newcastle United, with an 85 per cent stake, but reports say the famous club will not be sold for now.
In line with pressure for its investments to be less blank check and more self-sustainable, the PIF reportedly views Newcastle as a traditional private equity investment, with the club providing Saudi Arabia with a profile in the world’s most-watched sports league.
But other Saudi-backed sports will also feel LIV-style pressure.
In tennis, Saudi Arabia will not renew its agreement to host the WTA finals in Riyadh after this year and has already stopped hosting the Next Gen ATP finals. Saudi Arabian Snooker Masters, which has a prize pool of almost $5 million, also canceled two editions of its 10-year agreement.
The launch of LIV Golf will also mark the end of the 10 “International Series” events on the Asian Golf Tour, which were established as a way to qualify for LIV in 2022 and feature prize money pools of up to $3 million.
The long-term future of the Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix, which was canceled last month due to the Iran war, remains uncertain.
The claim that Saudi Arabia would be a candidate for the 2035 Rugby World Cup has also been shelved to focus on putting on a show for the world at the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
Wildly futuristic World Cup
Saudi Arabia will spend an estimated $43 billion on stadiums and football infrastructure alone. Plans include 15 stadiums in five cities, 11 of which will be new, although there is speculation PIF may reduce this to limit costs.
Five of the new stadiums are estimated to cost more than $1 billion each; this includes the giant 93,000-seat King Salman International Stadium in Riyadh, at a hefty $2.5 billion cost.
One of the other new venues, the MBS Stadium in Qiddiya, will be a three-sided stadium and will sit on the edge of a 200-metre cliff, allowing spectators to overlook the valley.
The venue that made headlines and numerous fake images on social media was “Sky Stadium”, which will be built 350 meters above the ground (rather than at the top of the skyscraper) as part of “The Line” at Neom. This is planned to cost $1.4 billion.
The estimated total cost of the futuristic city of Neom is $2.1 trillion. But even this is the new smaller scale version. The WSJ explained that a leaked audit report in 2025 predicted that the full version of Neom (along with the 170 km Line) would cost $12 trillion and would not be completed until 2080.
New spending priorities
Saudi Arabia has also identified two new key areas in sports for more intense PIF investment: esports and grassroots sports, with the aim of producing local Olympic medalists.
PIF is pouring huge amounts of money into the industry, as games are now hugely popular among Saudi youth. The Saudis plan to build a $12 billion Qiddiya Gaming Zone and have launched their own global gaming tournament with a prize pool of $85 million. In September 2025, PIF paid $76.5 billion for a 93.4 percent stake in Electronic Arts (EA), giving it control of many of the world’s biggest games, including FC 26 (formerly FIFA) and Madden NFL.
But producing real-life Olympic medal-winning athletes is also a major new priority for the Saudi government, and there will be a major increase in funding for grassroots sports programs and infrastructure.
Saudi Arabia has only won four summer Olympic medals so far. The new PIF strategy will invest in targeted regions to try to develop future Olympic and Paralympic medalists, particularly in areas such as equestrian and combat sports. Unlike some of its Gulf neighbors, Saudi Arabia does not recruit potential Olympic athletes from other countries.
Saudi Arabia has targeted the 12 most popular sports for “hyper-funding” under its “Long-Term Athlete Development” model: judo, taekwondo, karate, wrestling, fencing, equestrian, shooting, weightlifting, athletics, swimming, jiu-jitsu and Paralympic athletics.
An Australian coach can earn a Ronaldo-style paycheck, with specialist foreign coaches to be hired, and a new $370 million sports city has also just begun construction in Dammam.
Training the new generation of athletes by expanding the “Mahd Sports Academy” to 12 locations is another leg of the investment. It uses AI-driven scouting technology to identify the athletic potential of six-year-olds.
Iain Payten is senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
