Why the concept of the Saudi Arabia-funded boxing league is great in theory, skepticism remains high

With just over a week to go since the release of news that threatens to dramatically alter the immediate future of the global boxing scene, the reaction of the majority of the industry remains divided.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, which already dominated boxing headlines last year due to its huge financial commitment to the heavyweight division, is reportedly in discussions with almost every major promoter about a deal valued at between US$4 and 5 billion that would combine interested parties into a league starting in 2025, according to Reuters.

If the news seems too good to be true, many boxers have spent the last eight days debating this very question. Not only do Saudi Arabia and the chairman of its entertainment authority, Turki Alalshikh, appear very serious, they also have a seemingly endless supply of funds aimed at giving every boxing fan their own impossible dream come true.

For those who have experienced the endless frustration of following or covering a sport with such incredible and routine ups and downs, all amidst a constant, frantic state of disorganization, the idea of ​​a “boxing Santa” like Alalshikh approaching Delivering each and every gift on your wish list couldn’t come soon enough. Not only does it have the potential to legitimize the sport from an organizational and presentation perspective, but it is also difficult to deny the fact that the boxers are lined up to benefit the most from the record purses associated with Saudi Arabia’s involvement.

Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030” program, fueled by the commitment of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, has also seen the country spend billions of dollars on various entertainment forums as a way to change its youth culture, boost tourism and reduce the country’s dependence on oil. All of this was seen as a positive development for a nation so synonymous with human rights violations and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

It should come as no surprise that the latter played a major role in boxing’s hesitation to cede its future to such a controversial entity, even though the sport has a history of doing just that throughout previous eras when everyone from the mafia to the Notorious promoter Don King sought to achieve a similar level of monopolistic control.

For a sport so accustomed to seeing its power players unable to agree on a lunch order, let alone agree on a plan to promote the long-term financial health of everyone involved, it also remains a high bar. of skepticism. That doesn’t even begin to determine whether any of this is legal, given regulatory advances like the Professional Boxing Reform Act (1996) and the Muhammad Ali Expansion Act (2000).

There are also those who, rightly, fear that Saudi Arabia’s involvement with the sport at this dedicated financial level is only temporary and that, when boxing outlives its purpose of advancing (and legitimizing) the nation’s political agendas, things they will only return to the standard “wild west” chaos it became known for.

But this is still boxing, after all, and it’s still a sport built on the premise of violently forcing your opponent into submission, whether verbal or unconscious. And Saudi Arabia not only offers an unthinkable level of money to dictate exactly what the future will look like, but apparently has a responsible plan for how it will get there, which means this doesn’t look like a fly in the ointment at all. night proposal.

Intense research has been carried out, gaps in the business have been identified and solutions on how to get there appear to be actively being discussed. Alalshikh also seems to have a great passion for giving the fans everything they’ve dreamed of, while also ensuring that each of the fighters is well compensated, promoted, and generally treated.

The answers about whether this will actually work, however, are as difficult to define completely as the questions about whether this should even be an option. MMA’s fighting brothers in boxing, for example, have regularly dealt with the fallout from the UFC’s tight control over the industry, which has meant big fights for fans and financial records year after year, but chronically underpaid fighters and the death of any legitimate competitors (thus destroying the idea of ​​true free agency).

Even though Saudi Arabia has overpaid its boxers compared to the problems plaguing MMA’s elite fighters, it still raises the question of whether an entity with so much control is actually a good thing. Or whether all of boxing’s major promoters, many of which have exclusive broadcast deals in the United States, will actually take the bait and essentially sign away control of their biggest assets.

The idea of ​​Alalshikh finally putting a ring on the boxer’s single finger seems quite romantic and certainly long overdue. But it’s up to us to ask whether a sort of “engagement period” might be the best answer to trying to figure out how viable a marriage like this might actually be.

The middle ground in this case would be sport-wide cooperation at the highest level, with Saudi Arabia leading the funding and arranging the terms, not for a league, but for a series of major annual events that would rival what the term “major” already means for similar individual professional sports such as golf, tennis and horse racing.

There could be a perfect world where each of boxing’s biggest promoters conducted business as usual for most of the calendar year, while still allowing them to meet the minimum demands of each broadcast production agreement. But for four or five events a year – the exact number is largely arbitrary – Saudi Arabia could be at the forefront of presenting the kind of stacked, must-see pay-per-view cards that make every quarter like this feel like the best the sport has to offer.

Which television and streaming channels would have exclusive authority to broadcast so-called “big” events could rotate in a similar way to how the NFL television package alternates who wins the Super Bowl. And with no obstacles in place for boxing to stage the biggest fights possible and the money available to ensure such development occurs, the ceiling to which the sport could truly grow would be immeasurable.

Boxing has long needed an adult in the room to forge some level of professional structure for a sport with such low barriers to entry and an equally high desire for the next big payday. But until the sport’s power players can prove that such a union could actually work, Saudi Arabia might be well advised to start slowly and patiently build its way toward the idea of ​​a singular entity, rather than trying to make a promise of that this polarizing and flawed sport is incapable (or even unwilling) to really succeed.