• SURJ Sports Investment established by Saudi Arabia’s PIF in August 2023
• Company has invested in PFL and linked with EuroLeague and new cycling competition
• CEO says PIF’s renewed focus on domestic projects won’t impact SURJ’s ability to invest

Danny Townsend, the chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s SURJ Sports Investment, has said that the company is hoping to finalise its next investments in early 2025.

SURJ was established in August 2023 as a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) with a remit to accelerate the growth of the country’s sports sector by investing in global sports assets that could be localised in the kingdom and broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Since then, SURJ has invested a reported US$100 million in the Professional Fighters League (PFL), which led to the launch of the MMA promotion’s PFL MENA division in April. The company has also been linked with taking a minority stake in the EuroLeague basketball competition and spending €250 million to establish a new cycling league.

In an exclusive interview, Townsend would not be drawn on which sports or specific organisations SURJ is in talks with, but he said new deals could be announced “in the next couple of months”.

“We’ve been working on some of the deals that we’re close to closing for over 12 months now, and that’s the uniqueness of our mandate,” he continued. “Most private equity companies don’t have that patience, nor the specific expertise in sport to be able to pull those off. That’s why we were established, so we were set up to do those types of deals.

“We’re really excited by the ones that we’re very close to announcing, and I think once we announce them, the market will see that they are transformational for the sports we’re investing in.”

Townsend, who joined SURJ in November last year and was named as one of SportsPro’s Ten Influencers for 2024 in January, described SURJ as a “sophisticated investor” and said the company is “not just going to be throwing money around”.

The Australian also pointed out that he was “inundated” with pitches from soccer clubs and basketball franchises when he first took up his role, but emphasised that the company is focused on making investments at the league level.

That approach means that deals could take longer to finalise because of the number of stakeholders involved and other challenges at federation level.

“They (sports) are complex,” Townsend said. “You’ve probably read about the EuroLeague process, that’s a very stakeholder-rich environment, and a really interesting asset I’m sure lots of organisaitons are interested in.

“You could go down a list of all the major sports and finding one with a construct that you can actually invest in is also rare in a lot of sports that are federated and don’t have the structure in place to enable third-party investment.

“So there’s certainly lots of different sports that we’re talking with that take some time to organise themselves in a manner that will enable them to take on investment.”

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Townsend’s comments may come as a relief to some sports organisations hoping for external investment after PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said in October that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is planning to reduce the proportion of international investments in its portfolio from 30 per cent to between 18 and 20 per cent.

Despite that new strategy, Townsend said it will not have an impact on SURJ and its ability to invest.

“No, not at all,” he said, when asked whether Al-Rumayyan’s comments affect SURJ’s plans. “It actually reinforces our mandate, because our mandate is very much around international investments that deliver for the Saudi sports economy.

“I think if we were an organisation solely focused on international investments it would have an impact, but because of our mandate, what it’s actually doing is supporting the mandate that we have, which is about deploying capital into IP and assets that are delivering benefit to the local economy and are GDP accretive.”

Townsend was speaking to SportsPro as SURJ released a new report, titled ‘Beyond the Game: The Rise of Saudi Sports’, which paints a picture of the ongoing growth of sport in the country.

Saudi Arabia has become a prominent source of investment for multiple sports, including boxing, motorsport, soccer, golf and tennis, while it has also considerably grown its calendar of international sporting events. This year alone saw the Gulf state stage a Formula One Grand Prix, the inaugural Esports World Cup and WTA Finals, and the country was recently confirmed as the host of the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

According to data cited in the report, the sports sector now contributes US$6.9 billion to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP), a figure which is expected to grow to US$16.5 billion by 2030, equal to 1.5 per cent of the country’s GDP.

Townsend said that Saudi Arabia’s continued investment in sport is helping to change negative perceptions about its motives and said criticism is now coming from a “noisy minority”.

“I think what it demonstrates is that we’re building and it (sport) is now having a meaningful impact on the broader economy in Saudi,” he added. “And I think as we continue to make investments and win bids like the [Fifa World Cup], it just continues to demonstrate that sport’s playing a really important role in Vision 2030.

“And I think what this report demonstrates is it’s having the desired impact.”