Saudi Arabia - not just oil
What’s your image of Saudi Arabia?
Do you know anything about their economy?
Do they seem like a “good country?”
Many journalists believe that Saudi Arabia has 2 big goals:
To diversify it’s economy away from oil
To create a more positive image of the country
Do you know anything Saudi Arabia has done to try to reach it’s goals?
LIV golf
Saudi Arabia tried to buy the PGA but were blocked from doing so.
As a result, in 2022 Saudi Arabia launched LIV golf, a new golf tournament league to rival the PGA.
Q: How can they attract golfers to play in LIV golf instead of the PGA?
All players can get some prize money of at least $50,000. In the PGA usually only the top 50-70 players can win prize money)
The top players (around 10) were given a guaranteed salary of at least $100 over 4 years.
Q: What could they do to be more attractive to viewers than the PGA?
Q: Can you explain why these changes were made?
All players started at different holes playing at the same time
Rules were more relaxed (players could wear shorts in temperatures over 32°C, music was played during the tournament)
After tournaments famous DJ’s held concerts at night parties.
One season only had 14 events (the PGA has over 50)
Reasons:
By letting all players start at the same time, it makes the tournaments shorter so TV viewers can see lots of action at the same time.
The relaxed rules, music and DJ’s were to target younger audiences than the PGA
Players said they liked the constant background music. It stopped them noticing noises from fans
The shorter seasons gave the players more free time in the year.
Q: Do you think LIV golf can be a success?
In 2026 LIV golf is in trouble. Reports estimate it loses $100,000 a month due to low viewership and a lack of sponsors.
On Sundays LIV directly competes with the PGA in the US. The PGA gets 15-20 times more viewers.
At the end of April Saudi Arabia announced they would stop funding LIV golf at the end of this season.
EA games
Electronic Arts or EA, is the biggest pure-gaming company in the U.S.
It’s most famous titles include:
EA FC - formerly FIFA, it’s the most popular football game in Europe and South America
Madden - the number 1 American football game
The Sims - a popular life simulation game
Various Star Wars games
In 2025 Saudi Arabia announced it’s buying the company for $55 billion dollars which is 11 times more than they invested in LIV golf.
Why did Saudi Arabia buy EA?
1 ) They believe it’s a good investment. The number of gamers is growing globally and e-sports is becoming more successful
2 ) Some human rights groups say this is sportswashing or gamewashing
Sportswashing = when a company or country uses it’s investment in sport to clean it’s bad image. They will make their own local tournament, buy a sports team or host the Olympics or World Cup.
Amnesty International, the largest international human rights group, accuses Saudi of:
Arresting thousands of people and journalists who critcize the government or royal family
Torturing prisoners
Not providing equal rights for women.
In Saudi Arabia women…
must do everything their husbands tell them to do
can’t leave their houses alone without a male guardian (family member or husband)
Q: Do you think EA is a good investment?
The deal hasn’t been finalized but Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, is brokering the deal so the government will most likely approve the sale.
Riyadh Comedy Festival
In 2025 Saudi Arabia invited over 50 international comedians to perform at the World’s largest comedy festival.
Comedians were paid between $150,000 and $1.6 million for performing at the festival and had to make at least 5 social media posts a day during the festival to promote it and the country.
Q: What was the goal of this festival?
Experts believe the Saudi government wants to…
provide entertainment for young local people
get wealthy Saudis to spend their money in the country instead of going overseas to spend money
establish the country as an international destination for entertainment and arts
clean their bad human rights image known as "'comedy-washing” or “art-washing”
What topics were the comedians not allowed to talk about?
They were strictly not allowed to criticize
Islam
the government
the royal family
the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018
The comedians were allowed to joke about dating, sex, and problems in western countries. Saudi Arabian comedians usually don’t have the same freedoms.
In the last few years several of the biggest Saudi comedians were sent to prison for over 10 years.
Some of them were tortured. One comedian’s wife was also tortured. The police arrested some of their family members, including children, to force the comedians to publicly announced their support for the government.