‘This is not a flash in the pan’: Inside Saudi Arabia’s long-term bid to reshape world sport

Four weeks ago, the ATP and SURJ Sports Investment – a PIF subsidiary – announced the launch of an all-new Masters 1000 tournament, to be hosted in Saudi Arabia “as early as 2028”.

It is the latest in a series of strategic moves made by the PIF, through SURJ, to widen its global sports portfolio and fulfil its mandate to be a catalyst for sport in Saudi Arabia, driving long-term growth in the sector.

The National spoke to SURJ Sports Investment CEO Danny Townsend about the recent Masters 1000 announcement, the company’s overall strategy, and the challenges that come with working to transform the sports ecosystem in Saudi Arabia.

Q: The PIF has made several moves in tennis before this one, through partnership deals with both tours and sponsoring the WTA Finals and the Next Gen ATP Finals. What made you choose to host a Masters 1000 in Saudi Arabia and what made you believe it was a good investment?

A: When you're investing in sports IP [intellectual property], you want to invest in assets that have had a history of growth. When you look at the Masters 1000 licenses over time, they've continued to grow in enterprise value. So first and foremost, as an investment, the return profile was clear that if we could secure one, it would be a good investment.

Secondly, when you look at our mandate at SURJ more broadly and how we use our investment assets to drive sustainable growth in the sports sector, having an owned tennis tournament as opposed to a rented one would enable us to do a couple of things.

One, it would enable us to invest in infrastructure that could host tennis tournaments in perpetuity, which you really can't do when you rent an asset.

And two, it allows you to build a tennis economy around an asset that you also own in perpetuity, whether that be development pathways, coaching pathways, elite development, various other things.

Tennis has an 11-month season that hops from one city to another, yet it doesn’t seem to fully benefit from its global appeal, and it leaves a lot of money on the table. In what ways do you feel tennis can maximise more on its opportunities?

Tennis just has significant foundational strength. It's got a rich history, it's played in all the major economies around the world, it's a sport that's relatively easy to understand what's going on.

The fundamental principle that needs to be addressed is the