The term “sportswashing” is relatively new, but the concept is not. States have long used sporting success and major events to distract from the issues in their country. One of the best at it today is Saudi Arabia.
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The Middle Eastern country already owns multiple major European soccer teams and has invested billions of dollars in pushing its domestic league up to the standards of Europe’s top leagues. Now they’re setting their sights on the NFL.
In fact, they’ve already dipped their toes in the NFL pool. Next March, they’ll be hosting the Fanatics Flag Football Classic in their capital city of Riyadh. They were able to recruit Tom Brady (for a sum that can only be described as obscene) as the main draw, with about a dozen other current and former NFL players joining him, including Tyreek Hill, Rob Gronkowski, Saquon Barkley, and more.
But now, Saudi Arabia wants to take things a step further. Prince Turki Alalshikh, a government official, has been at the forefront of this push. He was the main face alongside Brady when they first began promoting the flag football tournament, and he is the one who recently suggested that Saudi Arabia could be the next country to host an actual regular-season NFL game.
“Britain got it, Brazil got it. Hopefully, Saudi Arabia will be next,” Alalshikh said.
It would be the furthest the NFL has gone to play a competitive game in the league’s history. And at the moment, Saudi Arabia is not on the list of countries in line to host a game soon. The NFL has already been to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Mexico, and Brazil.
Unsurprisingly, fans don’t seem bullish on dirty Saudi oil money infiltrating their sport like it has in its European cousin. “Then soon, they’d want to host the Super Bowl like WrestleMania,” warned one.
Then soon they want to host the Super Bowl like WrestleMania
— Reju Kurian (@_Rejuvenation_) October 18, 2025
“They only have two stadiums with enough capacity to host an NFL game,” pointed out another user.
“Trump is going to force this to happen. And simultaneously, there will be a $6 billion trump hotel development project in Saudi Arabia, somehow. Just a coincidence,” quipped another fan.
“Give ’em Browns/Jets,” joked a fourth.
The NFL continues its expansion this season, however. They have their first game scheduled for Spain later this season, and their first in Australia for 2026. And if they can manage the logistics of a game in Australia, Saudi Arabia becomes a lot more realistic.
China, Wales, and Canada are the only other countries that have been seriously suggested to host a game so far, so Saudi seems to be in the back of the line.
We disagree wholeheartedly with Mike Florio’s idea that the NFL should “play nice” with Saudi Arabia so that they don’t create a competing American football league to siphon off talent like they’re doing with European football. That said, the cultural and geographical differences are already way more stark for NFL players. Heck, a lot of American professional athletes complain about playing Canada, and that’s right next door.
Florio’s tongue-in-cheek idea to move the Tennessee Titans to Saudi Arabia and rename them the Oilers was comedic gold, though.
