RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has made SR1.8 billion ($480 million) in revenues from the Saudi major football league over 2021 and 2020, according to the minister of sport.
Speaking at a post-budget media forum in Riyadh on Monday, the sports minister said his ministry approved 30 new licenses for different sports projects in the private sector.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal added that the ministry is reviewing 100 applications from private investors to open different sports projects in the Kingdom.
The ministry owns 170 local clubs and it plans to increase this with private investors, he added saying, the Kingdom wants to raise the contribution of sports to the gross domestic product to 1.2 percent by 2030.
The sports sector raised its contribution to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product from SR 2.4 billion to SR6.5 billion within two years, an increase of 170 percent.
In 2022, the ministry will launch the National Sports Strategy, by hosting at least 15 global events and raising the sports sector’s contribution to the non-oil GDP to more than 1.2 percent by 2030.
The ministry aims to increase the private sector’s contribution in the sports sector from 15 to 30 percent by 2030.
