The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is withdrawing funding from LIV and that could well be a precursor for it to examine its football commitments
Yasir Al-Rumayyan is the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and chairman of Newcastle United(Image: Getty)
Midway through the World Championship at The Crucible, the World Snooker Tour released a statement. It was confirmation of what the players had already been told in a brief email.
“Following constructive discussions between The Saudi Billiard and Snooker Federation and Matchroom following the conclusion of the 2025 editions, it has been mutually agreed not to proceed with future editions of the World Pool Championship and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.”
Constructive? Mutually agreed? Yeah, sure. If getting rid of the richest snooker tournament outside of the United Kingdom is the outcome, then the discussions did not sound overly constructive.
READ MORE: LIV Golf issues emergency statement on next steps as Saudis pull outREAD MORE: Newcastle United chiefs set for PIF meeting amid LIV Golf announcement
Mutually agreed? Sorry? You mutually agreed to take a £2.3million event off the calendar, which carried a first prize of £500,000 and had been launched as the sport’s unofficial ‘fourth Major’?
The mutual agreement did not go down well with the players. Barry Hawkins said: “Without sounding rude, something has gone wrong for us to lose that tournament. What happened to the 10-year contract? It has just been blown out of the water.
“No explanation. It’s a massive tournament to lose. It would be interesting to see the reason behind it.”
The reason is simple, Barry. The Saudis have decided it is a waste of money. They threw fortunes at it, got little back (not that they probably expected too much) and have pulled the plug because that is what they can do.
Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United bosses have been preparing for end-of-season meetings(Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
All the grovelling counts for nothing. A few players have done well out of its run, but that’s about it.
And on a grander scale, the same applies to LIV Golf. Confirmation has been given that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) is not going to bankroll LIV Golf after this season.
Officially, the decision is being put down to a change in Saudi strategy and the uncertainty over conflict in the Middle East. The latest Vision policy from Saudi, which outlines goals for the PIF – whose governor Yasir Al-Rummayan is chairman of Newcastle United – wants assets to generate a positive financial return.
Jon Rahm is one of the star players whose futures are uncertain after Saudi pulled the plug on its LIV Golf investmkent(Image: Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)
In its first three years of operating, LIV Golf generated £107million of revenue and ran up loses of £1.105billion. Into its fifth year, the surprise should not be that the Saudis have pulled the plug, it should be that it lasted that long.
It might prove difficult for the likes of Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrell Hatton to get back onto the mainstream tours – in particular, the PGA Tour – but they have made monstrous fortunes from LIV, so don’t reach for even the smallest violin. (If you are going to feel sorry for anyone, it should be the rank and file staff off the organisation.)
Through Turki Alalshikh – to whom everyone in the sport bows – the Saudis pretty much run big-time boxing. Turki has sorted out the Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury fight, so he obviously still wants to run the whole show. But what if he loses interest? At least we won’t have to stomach the sight of promoters bowing and scraping all the time.
Turki Alalshikh is the Saudi government official who is the most powerful man in boxing(Image: Getty Images)
And at least so many big fights would not be in Saudi Arabia. The bottom line is that it is not a country with sport at its core. Sport is not a part of the fabric of everyday life there.
Would you seriously bet against those who run the PIF in Saudi losing interest in football, particularly when it must be costing them billions of pounds? No matter what the spin from the meetings taking place in Northumberland with Eddie Howe and the club’s hierarchy right now, the Saudis are not going to throw money at Newcastle United.
And whatever they decide to do with it, the chances of them achieving the goal of making Newcastle one of the top clubs in the world by 2030 are slim. In fact, the chances of them still owning the club by 2030 are slim. If any Newcastle fans are still actually deluded enough to believe the club will be led into a promised land by outrageously rich Saudis, they will soon be put right.
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