Could Saudi Pro League investments dilute the quality of Premier League? 💭

Sports Commercial advisor at jnw

solicitors Ben Pepe joins us live in the

studio right now to help answer some of

these questions I mean Ben I don't know

about you but I find this absolutely

fascinating what's going on and it's

happening we're just chatting off here

just so very quickly well what have you

made of this this you know really strong

play from the Saudi league with so many

high profile names being linked with

moves well it's certainly a kind of very

strong signal of intent

um and with regards to Cristiano Ronaldo

they there's clearly a top-down approach

and you sign Cristiano Ronaldo and The

Dominoes start to fall and I think no

one expected this strategy to come to

fruition as quickly as it had and it and

it continues to do so we've got Ronaldo

we've got Benzema and now we're seeing

more and more players and an influx of

players starting to move to the Saudi

league and there's some eye-watering

figures being banded about

um but there's a very clear strategy as

to what um the pif and what the Saudi

pro league kind of have mind for for

these players and it's not just paying

people a lot of money to come to a

league and have a swan song at the end

of their career that's for sure

let's take Angola kante as an example 32

years old huge injury problems but he's

going to be making a lot of money is it

just simply too much for these players

to be able to turn it down yeah I think

the there's kind of two two schools of

thought aligned to players coming

towards their peak of their career and

now plays actually in kind of I suppose

their Peak and kante is one of those

that obviously he's had significant

injury problems over the last couple of

years

um and when you get offered not just

double or triple your salary but you're

getting offered almost 10 times your

salary

to go and live in a country that aligns

to kind of Lifestyle It lines to your

kind of your cultural views and a whole

host of other things why wouldn't you go

there

um so for someone like Hunter you can

absolutely see why he has chosen to do

it and the Saudi pro league have every

intention to be a top five league in the

world over the course of the next three

five seven ten years so

um whilst kante may not be there then

there are players that are going to

follow him

um and they're going to set a precedent

and start what could be a new Revolution

of new leagues coming to the fore the

MLS Saudi pro league

um so it's the it could be just the

start Ronaldo I think said that if they

can do what they're doing they could

become the fifth league in in the world

really establish themselves amongst the

you know the big European leagues but

what about those players who are

mid-career you know established the

likes of Ruby Nevis Awards or Bernardo

Silva who's been pivotal for Manchester

City the fact that they are linked I

mean surely that's a big game changer

isn't it yeah it absolutely is and

there's both the financial kind of

I suppose profitability piece for the

for these players they're going to

create generational wealth for

themselves or their families it's not

just a case of having a very opulent

nice lifestyle now with the money that

we know is involved in football in the

Premier League but we're talking

generational wealth for their families

and and their future so I think you've

got the kind of the financial

contribution

um and then you've got you've got where

the league is going and I think they the

players would have been presented with a

very clear strategy and a very clear

plan as to what as I said earlier the

pif and what the Saudi pro league want

to do where they want to take football

in in the region and who's to say that

we might not see a team from Saudi in

the Champions League in five years time

right it's we we don't know what might

happen but I don't think it's just

purely a case of saying here is a very

very significant salary without actually

substance underneath because the Saudis

are smart and there's a very clear plan

for what they want to do align to their

kind of vision 2030 in the economic

development plan and it's only on an

upward growth trajectory so the Saudis

are smart as you say should the Premier

League be worried or do you think they

could benefit from this I think both so

I think where they could benefit is that

you're starting to see Chelsea obviously

sell a number of players both to comply

with ffp but then also give them the

ability to sign new players right and so

as players like Angola kante who have

obviously been supremely successful in

the Premier League won Premier League

titles now move on as they go past their

Peak potentially there will now be more

money to be able to spend on an influx

of new younger players Talent from

across Europe across the world

that comes into the Premier League which

is which is why we love it

um so I think they can benefit there I

think where there potentially will be a

threat is that as more and more players

leave does that dilute the product of

the Premier League does that dilute the

attractiveness of fans watching the

Premier League and I think

rights holders in general

um have a real challenge at the moment

where the younger generation of fans

they follow players they don't

necessarily follow the teams that they

play for so when you've got these

players moving all of a sudden this

younger generation of fan will follow

where Messi goes follow where Ronaldo

goes follow where Benzema goes which

means less eyeballs potentially on the

Premier League which in time and this

won't happen anytime soon could lead to

a dilution an a stagnation on media

rights and a whole host of other things

but that's for far into the future and

not now so I think they can benefit in

the short term but I think long term

that they will need to kind of pay very

close attention to what's going on that

thing about you know following players

is so true I mean you know you remember

from Ronaldo Real Madrid and then when

he moved to Juventus just you know the

the club accounts fell and then grew

over at UV just simply on the basis of

this this one signing in the the

audience he attracts you know almost 600

million followers on Instagram now

um I was intrigued by something you said

Ben before about the economic

development plan and the vision for for

2030 I wonder if you can unpack that for

us little bit what does that look like

yeah so the the Saudi kind of stay in

the government and um and the pif have

there they've laid out fairly recently

they're kind of vision 2030 economic

Redevelopment plan and and part of the

strategy around that is to basically

diversify Revenue within the Kingdom so

they're not solely reliant on oil or

your money

um and sport is one of those wonderful

things that draws people to a territory

to a region draws an influx of money and

a whole host of different ways

um and very clearly aligned in the short

term to potentially hosting the World

Cup in 2030 and there's a lot of talk

about joint bid between Saudi and some

other countries for that

um so this is all part of that strategy

and as I kind of keep alluding to and as

I alluded to earlier there is a very

clear short-term medium-term and

long-term plan as to where this goes

um so we'll get to 2030 and the Saudis

will be in position to say look at what

we can do not just in football but in

boxing in Formula One on obviously

engulf as we know

and they put on a good show so if you

can do that for the World Cup then

who who knows where that where that may

lead to both obviously economically and

then obviously politically as well they

put on a good show but the Saudi regime

will continue you to face questions

about their human rights record how much

do you think that will hang over

anything that they're trying to achieve

I think it will always hang over and I

think if we go back to obviously the

Chinese Super League which is kind of a

very relevant example now around

spending money in order to influence

Statesmen and relations with with other

nations it's not something that's new

and I think those questions will always

kind of hang over what the the regime

and what the links to the pif to the

state and Sport will will continue to

try to achieve but I think over time

um there there is there is kind of

further arguments basically that align

to the fact that we can't be

hypocritical either as as kind of

English consumers watching the Premier

League this is what happens to the

Premier League 20 years ago when an

inbox of money 30 years ago sorry when

an influx of money came in and and I

mean people are talking about the

European Super league and you know what

a danger that could be or could have

been well some people saying that you

know look at the Premier League now the

dominance it has and and why shouldn't

other leagues also try and come to the

fore here I think you know it is

obviously the long-term pictures you've

set out there Ben is is something that

we'll keep it close on but even in the

meantime the short-term picture is is

compelling because here on Sky Sports

News you know day by day hour by hour uh

we are talking talking about who might

be moving where and you know that

picture is changing all the time it's

been fascinating getting you in thank

you Ben thank you appreciate it