Crown Prince Of Saudi Arabia Shares Brutally Honest Response To Accusations Of Sportswashing

Published|Updated

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in sports over the past handful of years behind the country's public investment fund made up of estimated assets worth around $776 billion. Given the country's deplorable human rights record, Saudi Arabia has been accused by many of sportswashing, but after years of hearing accusations, the Crown Prince is not avoiding the conversation.

Sportswashing is a new-age term that is used to describe a country, government or corporation using a sporting event to promote a positive image amid controversial times and situations.

The emergence of LIV Golf in 2022, which is solely funded by the Saudi PIF, quickly made 'sportwashing' one of the most-used phrases in sports. The PGA Tour's recent announcement of a planned merger with LIV Golf has heightened everyone's senses and made the sportswashing accusations louder.

Mohammed Bin Salman is not hiding from the phrase sportswashing any longer. (Getty Images)

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is certainly aware of his country and government being labeled as sportswashers, but based on comments he shared with Fox News' Bret Baier, he doesn't seem to care as long as the GDP continues to grow.

"If sports washing going to increase my GDP by way of one percent, then I will continue doing sport washing," he declared. "I don’t care. One percent growth of GDP from sport and I’m aiming for another one-and-a-half percent – call it whatever you want, we’re going to get that one-and-a-half percent." 

READ: SAUDI ARABIA WANTS TO BUY MORE SPORTS TEAMS… IS NFL IN THE FUTURE?

Only someone who hasn't been paying any attention at all to bin Salman and Saudi Arabia's moves in the world of sports would say they've been hiding given that they've spent billions over the last handful of years, but him actually talking about sportswashing and saying the words "I don't care" is impossible to ignore.

Now that the Saudis have seats at the table of many major sports including golf, soccer, and racing it's clear that bin Salman is not avoiding the idea the Saudis are sportswashing, but instead embracing it by laying out his country's goal of continually increasing the GDP.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

Tags
Written by

Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.