The Saudi Arabian government has made proposals to the Indian Premier League’s owners in order to establish the richest T20 League in the history of the Gulf. The Saudi Arabian government has been actively investing in a variety of sports. After breaking into Formula 1 with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the LIV Golf, their next objective is to fully realise cricket’s potential.
The Gulf state, which has signed on as a sponsor for the IPL 2023 season, plans to create the richest T20 league in the world and has contacted the IPL owners about it. Indian players are currently prohibited from competing in foreign T20 competitions by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and the suggestion from Saudi Arabia’s government representatives for their biggest T20 league may be necessary to persuade BCCI to change its regulations.
Saudi Arabia is wooing IPL owners and India’s cricket board with the goal of creating a Twenty20 league that only the IPL could rival for financial scale.https://t.co/w2rSBmrMic
— The Age (@theage) April 13, 2023
The Age reported that discussions on the Saudi Arabian league had been ongoing for almost a year. Any prospective Gulf league would need to receive approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its member nations, including Australia.
#SaudiArabia reportedly has great cricketing ambitions and their government is trying to lure IPL owners and the #BCCI in to set up the world's richest T20 league in the country.#IPLhttps://t.co/PFwRhoLi89
— CricketNDTV (@CricketNDTV) April 14, 2023
Saudi Arabia has come under fire for trying to cover up its poor record on human rights by investing heavily in major sports and events around the world, including the Public Investment Fund’s purchase of Premier League club Newcastle United.
After massively funding other sports like football and Formula 1, ICC Chairman Greg Barclay earlier revealed that Saudi Arabia was eager to invest extensively in cricket. The report further states that Saudi Arabia intends to improve its relations with India through cricket and that it wants to surpass India as the top tourist destination by the year 2030.
“If you look at other sports they’ve been involved in, cricket is something I imagine would be attractive to them. Given their advance into sport more generally, cricket would work quite well for Saudi Arabia. They’re pretty keen to invest in sport, and given their regional presence, cricket would seem a pretty obvious one to pursue.” Barclay said.
