Consider the opening lyrics: “Arabian sheiks and money up in the sky.”
Now, that’s Houston in the pre-bust ‘80s. While the rest of the nation was stuck in stagflation malaise, Houston was an oil boomtown. First the Arab oil embargo boosted crude-oil prices. Then the Iranian Revolution pushed them higher. You don’t need a degree in political science to understand why our city attracted a bunch of Saudis — or why cash-flush royals from an oil-rich despotic theocracy would be hanging out in the drug-fueled hedonic scene described by Iggy Pop.
Chase Untermeyer, a longtime staffer for George H.W. Bush and former ambassador to Qatar, recently shared with me a story that underscores just how spendthrift the Saudis are in Houston.
In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to Houston for lunch with former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, plus former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. (This was a few months before the elder Bush died.)
Palace staff planning the trip wanted a place for the prince to use during this quick visit. A five-star hotel would not do, so they eyed a River Oaks mansion that had been built by another Saudi prince. They approached the then-owner and offered to rent the house for half a million dollars.
Because this would have been a major disruption, requiring the owner to move out for a couple weeks so they could remove all the family furnishings, the owner declined. The Saudis figured he was just bargaining and kept raising the price. When they reached $5 million, the owner relented.
The crown prince apparently enjoyed his brief stay in the house — he kept the two former presidents and Baker waiting two hours for lunch.
The lesson of that story: The Saudis write big checks, and they don’t bounce.
All that wealth pouring into Houston makes it tempting to forget that Saudi Arabia is ruled by a cruel, dictatorial regime that dismembers journalists for criticizing their leadership. That imprisons women who advocate for equal rights. And that the kingdom was fertile ground for fundraising by Al Qaeda before the terror attacks on Sept. 11.
Playing in Houston may be as close to a home game as the Saudis could get during the World Cup. But I don’t think anyone will mind if you cheer for Cape Verde instead.