Saudi fund looking to draw soccer stars to league

Saudi Arabia is looking to "lure some of the world’s best known soccer players to join Cristiano Ronaldo in its national league," and to make that happen, Saudi clubs are "already approaching players receptive to moving to the kingdom with some of the highest annual salaries in sports history." The deals could require in excess of $1B for "wages for some 20 foreign players." The size of the "Saudi war chest is unclear," though "much of the money invested in the league and the clubs in recent times has come from the Public Investment Fund," the country’s sovereign wealth fund. Similar in ambition to the Saudi-financed campaign to "dominate golf through the new LIV series," the plan appears to be a centralized effort to turn the country’s domestic league, a "footnote on the global soccer stage, into a destination for top talent" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/2).