On this week’s episode of The 966, the hosts talk about Saudi Arabia’s upcoming EDM festival, called Soundstorm, the start something big for women’s soccer in the Kingdom, President Biden’s decision to tap the SPR, Saudi Arabia’s enviable Covid-19 response, and why “sportswashing” is used to describe Saudi Arabia – but doesn’t come close to telling the full story. Edit: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan bought Manchester City in 2008.
1:20 – Women’s soccer in Saudi Arabia takes a big leap forward.
Saudi soccer officials said they will launch the first edition of a women’s league. The new women’s league will be playing in two phases within the regional league, and sixteen teams will take part in the first phase with games played in three cities — the capital Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Saudi officials also announced the hiring of Monika Staab to lead the Saudi Arabian national women’s team.
7:30 – SOUNDSTORM, a massive EDM festival in Saudi Arabia, features some of the world’s best DJs.
SOUNDSTORM is a music festival that is taking place in Saudi Arabia – the second installment after the first in 2019 (and a break in 2020 during the pandemic). It is being billed as the region’s biggest and loudest music festival. SOUNDSTORM will take place in Riyadh from December 16 to 19, and will feature a world-class international music lineup, including more than 150 global superstar headliners and international dance acts, as well as local and regional talent. International artists Armin Van Buuren, David Guetta, Deadmau5, DJ Snake, Eric Prydz, Steve Aoki, are among those slated to perform.
Saudi Arabia’s MDLBeast, the organizing company, said that the festival will include at least 6 female DJs.
14:08 – President Biden’s decision to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and what this means for oil.
President Biden will release 50 million barrels of oil from the SPR, of which 32 million will be an exchange of oil that will be returned in the years ahead, and 18 million will be the acceleration of a sale of oil previously authorized by Congress. Pump prices in the U.S. are up 61% from a year ago, with regular unleaded selling last week at a national average price of $3.40 a gallon, according to Energy Department data.
The SPR is a complex of four sites with deep underground storage caverns created in salt domes along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts which can hold 714 million barrels.
The SPR’s very existence is tied to Saudi Arabia, having been set up 40 years ago in response to the Arab Oil crisis of 1973.
27:58 – Saudi Arabia’s Covid 19 response – the envy of the world?
Saudi Arabia has had fewer than 100 new daily cases of Covid since mid-September. The Kingdom has all but beaten the pandemic, and has taken bold, progressive actions that have put their economy in an advantageous position for a major comeback in the months to come.
As of today 70% of Saudi Arabia has had at least one vaccine.
42:25 – Why “sportswashing” fails to tell the whole story of Saudi Arabia’s sports ambitions.
Sportswashing is when a country or corporation uses international sport to improve its reputation. Usually this is done through hosting a sporting event, the purchase or sponsorship of sporting teams, or by participation in the sport itself.
A report out earlier this year said that Saudi Arabia spent $1.5 billion on high-profile international sports and sporting events, and that report was published before the purchase of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The hosts discuss why this term doesn’t come close to telling the whole story of Saudi Arabia’s sporting ambitions, and argue that what the Kingdom is doing is not “sportswashing,” but instead attempting to develop sports at home while making savvy investments into sporting properties around the world.