Cristiano Ronaldo today will be officially unveiled as a player for Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, but it comes after Sporting K.C. began a month-long pursuit of the 37-year-old “in a project they called ‘Triple Bank Shot,’” according to Sam McDowell of the K.C. STAR. With Chiefs QB and SKC co-owner Patrick Mahomes “at the ready to help close the deal,” the proposal initially came up during a meeting between SKC owners and top executives in October, “intended to be the setting for an offseason blueprint.” SKC co-owner Mike Illig pointed out that Ronaldo was “not exactly in good favor with his current club, Manchester United, and he might be looking for an out.” McDowell asked, “Why not make a play?” It is “no secret” that the Galaxy and Inter Miami had “done their homework” on the potential of acquiring Ronaldo. But Illig “pushed on.” SKC manager Peter Vermes “had enough connections to request a meeting.” When they secured one with “some of Ronaldo’s top representatives,” the presentation was “multi-faceted.” As the parties hung up that Zoom call, Ronaldo’s side “requested a second meeting. And then a third.” And then phone calls and WhatsApp text messages that “kept the conversation alive for more than a month.” Those involved would “offer only vague references to the financial package discussed, even anonymously” -- saying that it “rivaled the one he eventually accepted instead to play in Saudi Arabia.” The bulk of the offer “revolved around what their presentation called a ‘commercial package’ that included the guarantee of other methods of revenue for the player -- a percentage of certain sales, with the opportunity for the package to grow, for one example” (K.C. STAR, 1/1).
THE BRIGHTEST STAR SHINES: In N.Y., Victor Mather wrote “when Pelé came to join the New York Cosmos in the 1970s ... he became by an order of magnitude the biggest star ever to play in North America.” Now, Ronaldo “could be filling the same role in the Middle East.” Al-Nassr is sponsored by Qiddiya, a sports and entertainment company launched by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2018 with “a plan to build a huge complex outside Riyadh that would include a theme park, a Formula 1 track and a soccer stadium.” Major Saudi soccer clubs are “ultimately owned” by the state through the Ministry of Sports. Boards of the clubs and their finances “must be approved by the ministry.” Lionel Messi earlier this year signed a deal with the Saudi government to “become a tourism ambassador for the kingdom.” With Saudi Arabia “keen” on bidding for the 2030 World Cup, having both Ronaldo and Messi associated with its project “would be seen as a major coup for its sports ambitions, already exhibited through the new LIV Golf tour” (N.Y. TIMES, 12/30).
