I’ll be straight with you. I don’t care if Saudi Arabia ends up owning every major sport on the planet. They can have the stadiums, the streaming rights, the fighters, the leagues, the trophies. Go ahead. Let the money fly. Just don’t make me wake up at three in the morning to watch a championship game. That is where I draw the line.
Riyadh Season 2025 isn’t some random festival. It is a full-blown global flex. It is oil money with a marketing degree. Saudi Arabia is not trying to host sports; they are trying to own them. And right now, they are doing it better than anyone else on Earth.
We are talking billions thrown at live events, gaming, and global headlines. The Saudis have built a real-life highlight reel and made Riyadh the center of it. Every other country is still figuring out how to grow the game, and Saudi is out here buying the entire playbook.
But I am begging them: if you are going to buy everything, at least keep it on my time.
The Money Train Is Not Slowing Down
You want to talk scale? Riyadh Season 2025 is shaping up like the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and Coachella all merged into one power trip. It is year six of the thing, and it has already gone from local entertainment to global domination. Fifteen international championships, dozens of showcases, and more sponsorships than a Formula 1 grid.
They have events that make Vegas look broke.
The WWE Royal Rumble is coming to Riyadh in 2026. WrestleMania is booked there in 2027. Vince McMahon spent decades trying to globalize wrestling, and Saudi Arabia made it happen with one phone call and a check.
Then you have the Six Kings Slam tennis event with Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner, and Zverev. That is not an exhibition lineup; that is four of the best players alive cashing massive Saudi checks for a four-day showdown.
The World Series of Darts is heading there too. And even if you do not care about darts, you will when a 17-year-old prodigy like Luke Littler starts lighting up TikTok in front of a Saudi crowd.
There is the Riyadh Snooker Championship, where someone can win an extra million just for hitting a perfect break. That is a gimmick straight out of a video game, and yet it works. They are not trying to win fans with history. They are buying attention.
And boxing? Forget Vegas. Riyadh is now the fight capital of the world. Joshua, Fury, Usyk, Paul, Ngannou, all of them have fought or will fight under those lights. If a promoter cannot get a deal in the U.S., they just ship it to Saudi and print money.
It is not about local fandom. It is about global headlines. And right now, Riyadh is buying them faster than anyone can keep up.
The EA Sports Power Play
Now here is the part that flew under the radar but might be the biggest move of all. The Public Investment Fund, the Saudi government’s cash cannon, teamed up with Silver Lake to buy Electronic Arts for $55 billion. Yes, that EA. The company behind Madden, FIFA, and every sports video game you grew up on.
That is not just a flex. That is control.
They now control what your favorite sports look like on your screen. They can put Riyadh stadiums in Madden. They can feature Saudi events inside FIFA. They can literally rewrite the sports universe one DLC pack at a time.
And the best part for them? It is not a partnership. It is ownership. EA keeps its leadership for optics, but the steering wheel is in Saudi hands.
So while fans are arguing about who will win the next Super Bowl, Saudi Arabia is figuring out how to make sure every kid in the world grows up seeing Riyadh as part of the sports landscape. It is smart, it is strategic, and it is scary effective.
Tom Brady Just Opened the Door
Saudi did not stop at global sports. They are coming for American culture next.
In 2026, the Fanatics Flag Football Classic hits Riyadh. It is backed by Tom Brady, Fanatics, FOX Sports, and OBB Media. Three teams, eight players each, round robin, and a final, all leading up to flag football’s debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
That is genius. Brady gives it credibility, FOX gives it coverage, and the Olympics give it global legitimacy.
Saudi Arabia does not need the NFL. They are going for the next generation of American sports fans. Shorter, faster, flashier formats that travel well on social media. Clips that trend in minutes. Games that kids can play and relate to.
They are not just buying the moment; they are buying the future.
The Problem Is the Clock
All this power, all this planning, all this spending, none of it matters if the fans cannot watch. You can buy everything but time.
Saudi Arabia is seven hours ahead of Eastern Time. That means an 11 p.m. start in Riyadh is four in the afternoon in New York. That is fine. But once they start running those massive finals at midnight local time, we are in trouble. That is five p.m. on the East Coast and two p.m. out West. Doable on a weekend, impossible on a workday.
Push it later, and now you are hitting the 2 or 3 a.m. crowd. That is the death zone. That is where casual fans check out, bettors stop placing wagers, and engagement drops fast.
It is not that we do not care. We just have lives.
If Saudi wants to be the global sports capital, they have to meet fans halfway. Start events earlier. Schedule finals for global TV windows. Stream on-demand replays for major time zones and market them like live events. If you are going to spend billions, spend an extra hour thinking about the fans watching from the other side of the planet.
Because once the hype dies, loyalty is all that is left. And you cannot buy loyalty.
The Big Picture
This is not sportswashing anymore. This is business at a government level. Saudi Arabia is running a clear three-phase plan.
Step one: buy attention. Spend whatever it takes to make Riyadh the center of every conversation in sports and entertainment.
Step two: buy the pipeline. EA Sports gives them control over the digital experience. Now they do not just own the stadiums; they own the screens.
Step three: own the calendar. Every few weeks, something major is happening in Saudi Arabia. They are filling in the gaps left by traditional leagues, which means the world never stops watching.
It is Vision 2030 in action, and it is working. Every athlete, promoter, and broadcaster wants a piece. Every big event is one phone call away from relocating to Riyadh. And every check clears fast.
Fans Come First
I am fine with Saudi running the sports world. Let them have the billion-dollar fight cards, the super tournaments, the international festivals. I will tune in. I will cover it. I will hype it.
But for the love of sports, keep it in our time zones. You can throw all the cash in the world at the sports universe, but if fans have to become zombies to watch your product live, you have already lost. Sports are supposed to be about energy and community, not sleep deprivation and highlights you catch at breakfast.
Go ahead, own the leagues. Host the events. Make Riyadh the world’s playground. Just make sure when the main event starts, the fans back home are awake.
Saudi Arabia does not just want to host sports. They want to own sports. And honestly, they might just pull it off. As long as I do not have to set an alarm to see it, I am all in.
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