Tony Khan was right. Ultimately, whether Saudi Arabia gets involved in professional football depends on one thing and one thing only.
Does Saudi Arabia want to do it?
They clearly have the money to buy into any sport that want. The latest evidence comes from the reported willingness of Saudi soccer club Al-Hilal to cobble together a $1.1 billion package for one year with Kylian Mbappé.
Via FrontOfficeSports.com, the team will pay a $332 million transfer fee, and it will pay Mbappé a salary of $776 million. For one year.
It’s obscene, but it’s reality. And the NFL needs to be thinking about the reality of how it will react if/when Saudi Arabia decides to pursue a presence in pro football. The league will either let them in the front door by allowing the Public Investment Fund to purchase a team, or the league will risk the PIF quite possibly setting up its own competing operation, throwing big money at incoming players and veterans whose contracts have expired.
Just this year, a Saudi-owned league could have signed every draft pick (including Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, and Anthony Richardson), Lamar Jackson, Tom Brady, Saquon Barkley, and Josh Jacobs.
What would happen if the PIF decides to spend whatever it takes to create a pro football league with the best football players? What if the PIF creates a pro league that, you know, values running backs?
Yes, it would be better for the NFL to change its rules to allow the Saudi Arabians to buy a team. Or two. Or however many they want to buy in order to not create a league that would truly compete with a league that has enjoyed no true competitor since the merger with the AFL.
