The profitable, multiyear deal is the most recent skilled sports activities occasion acquisition by the dominion in recent times.
The season-ending Girls’s Tennis Affiliation (WTA) Finals will likely be held in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh from 2024-2026, the tennis physique stated, ending months of hypothesis and marking the Gulf nation’s newest foray into the game.
“To have a ladies’s event of this magnitude and profile is a defining second for tennis in Saudi Arabia. The WTA Finals has the ability to encourage far past the game, particularly for our younger women and girls,” Saudi Minister of Sport Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal Al Saud stated on Thursday.
Hypothesis that the occasion could possibly be shifted to Saudi Arabia had intensified after the boys’s ATP Tour stated final August that its Subsequent Gen Finals could be held in Jeddah from 2023 to 2027.
“The WTA chosen Riyadh following a complete analysis course of over a number of months, which has included evaluation of a number of bids from totally different areas and engagement with gamers,” it stated in an announcement.
Saudi Arabia has invested closely in sports activities like soccer, golf and System One auto racing in the previous couple of years whereas critics accuse the dominion of utilizing its Public Funding Fund to “sportswash” its human rights document.
The nation denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its nationwide safety via its legal guidelines.
The brand new three-year deal will enhance the prize cash for this November’s season-ending championship to a document $15.25m, a 70 % enhance from 2023.
