The people who brought you LIV Golf and Cristiano Ronaldo’s $675 million contract are about to bring you WrestleMania, a Zuffa boxing match, and a Tom Brady flag football game.
It appears that there is no end in sight for Saudi Arabia’s efforts to spruce up its image by spending gobs of money on sports events, and SiriusXM’s Katie Nolan is tired of it.
Following Brady’s announcement of a star-studded exhibition football game in 2026, the former ESPN and Fox Sports star offered her thoughts on sports stars’ embrace of Saudi money on Tuesday on her podcast, Casuals with Katie Nolan.
Nolan encouraged her audience to be skeptical of any sports (or entertainment) figures like Brady or Ronaldo who get into business with the Saudis for the sole purpose of making money, and not to let them off the hook simply because it makes financial sense.
“I just am really frustrated with this ‘money over everything’ aspect of culture, where we just excuse any decision made because of the bag. Where everything is like, ‘Well, you wouldn’t turn down millions of dollars to go to Saudi Arabia,'” Nolan explained.
“Because I feel like when people say that, they’re thinking about themselves. They’re thinking about, ‘If someone offered me millions of dollars, I don’t know or care that much about Saudi Arabia in the first place, why do I have to be the one to put my foot down?’ But it’s not you, average person. These are some of the highest-paid people in the NFL. They already are getting paid so much money. And the way that Saudi Arabia or other countries that participate in sports-washing, the way they get people to do this is they offer them boatloads of money. And I just am sick of us as a culture just automatically going, ‘Well, they’re paying them.’
“It just looks really bad for us, I think. I just think that while another country is trying to make the world think better of it, I’m thinking less of us that we’ll do anything for cash. That we’ll just go, ‘That’s fine.’ That’s totally fine that Pete Carroll, Sean Payton, and Kyle Shanahan are going to go coach a flag football league. And that’s totally fine that these NFL players, by the way, who could easily get hurt. Playing football in the off-season, usually frowned upon. Unless it’s to help Saudi Arabia out, I guess.”
The pattern by which certain countries “sports-wash” their image is well-established. By normalizing relations with popular sports brands, nations with questionable domestic politics or friction with neighboring countries develop a more positive reputation.
The Saudi PIF and its promoter, Turki Al-Sheikh, are household names by now due to their efforts across the American sports ecosystem. It extends beyond LIV Golf, the Saudi Pro League soccer, and TKO Holdings (which owns the WWE and UFC). A massive comedy festival will be hosted in Riyadh later this month. The country is reportedly offering funding for a new pro basketball league led by LeBron James’ business partners. There are new headlines by the day.
Katie Nolan understands she can’t stop this trend, but at least hopes to call it out rather than nodding along.
“It’s too many times, it’s too many sports,” she said. “And I just feel like, as a sports fan who tries to speak to sports fans, I feel a responsibility to (say) … I don’t think we do ‘just gotta let them do it.'”
To close the segment, Nolan made a point of calling out the timing of the latest announcements. Given the country’s history as a player in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it was a bridge too far for Nolan for business to proceed as usual so close to the anniversary last week.
“It’s embarrassing for this much Saudi Arabia,” she said. “Between the boxing match, the announcement of WrestleMania, and Tom Brady’s announcement all happening this close to Sept. 11 is f*cking embarrassing for us as a country.”
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.