The $100 Billion Race to Build the World’s Next Sports Mecca

The useful part

Today, cities used to competing for Fortune 500 headquarters and conventions are in a high-stakes competition to turn sports into an economic and cultural platform that can reinvent the economy and attract new visitors. To broaden the fan experience beyond just the games, municipalities, team owners and private developers are scrambling to build mixed-use developments around stadiums and arenas. These districts could attract more than $100 billion in investments over the next 15 years, the Klutch Sports Group, in partnership with the Royal Bank of Canada, concluded in a report put out last year.

How it works

• "The real way that sports works is as an advertisement to bring people there regularly," says Victor Matheson, a professor of sports economics at College of the Holy Cross.
• MLB's Athletics are slated to arrive soon, and the NBA is likely to follow.
• The next year, Al-Nassr signed Cristiano Ronaldo, the world's most-followed person on Instagram, to a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, paving the way for other superstars to follow.
• Fashion also sits at the crossover of sports and entertainment, and Paris is its global hub, with athletes such as French basketball phenom Victor Wembanyama and NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander converging...
• "Even as tens of billions of dollars of capital flow into sports investments, the industry faces headwinds that could potentially derail future returns for new investors," the Klutch report says.

What to take from it

"[But] they are certainly striking and taking the moment." Melbourne Often overlooked because of time zone differences and geographic distance, Australia is a sports-obsessed country, winning the fourth most gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Games with a population under 28 million. Las Vegas With no major professional sports teams a decade ago, Sin City is arguably this category's fastest riser. to its usual high-profile fights, Vegas will be home to two Super Bowls, a CFP National Championship Game and an NCAA March Madness Final Four this decade.

Example or evidence

• In 2021, Saudi Arabia launched LIV Golf and poached several top PGA Tour golfers including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
• Riyadh is adding an ATP Masters 1000 event in 2028, which will force changes to the men's tennis calendar.
• The WTA Finals, for instance, has moved on after being played in Riyadh in 2024 and 2025.
• after this year, PIF will stop funding LIV Golf after putting billions of dollars into the property.

Details worth keeping

Sportico 's league franchise valuation table. It will also host the FIFA World Cup in 2034. As the country pours money into tourism megaprojects, obstacles remain.

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