Saudi Arabia Wants to Bring American Football to the Middle East

As Saudi Arabia continues to explore investing more money into sports, it’s clear that one of the country’s biggest targets moving forward is American football.

Through the $1 trillion state-controlled Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and its subsidiary firm SURJ Sports, the Middle Eastern nation already has a large footprint in soccer, golf, motorsports, tennis, and more. 

Recent moves—either upcoming, theoretical, or even failed—show American football, both the collegiate and professional game, is up next:

• The debut Fanatics Flag Football Classic will be played in Riyadh on March 21, headlined by current and former NFL stars, including Tom Brady, Saquon Barkley, CeeDee Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, and Rob Gronkowski.
• Last week, Saudi official Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, said he hoped that the flag football event would help bring an NFL game to the country. “Brazil got it, Britain got it, and hopefully Saudi Arabia will be next,” he said at the Joy Forum.
• Earlier this year, North Carolina football GM Michael Lombardi traveled to Saudi Arabia on an exploratory fundraising trip—at the request of a Saudi national who is a college football fan, interested in supporting coach Bill Belichick.
• Former Colorado special teams coordinator Trevor Reilly made a similar trip to Saudi Arabia in search of NIL (name, image, and likeness) money in 2024.
• The Holiday Bowl, an ACC–Pac-12 matchup annually played in San Diego, considered moving this upcoming postseason’s game to Saudi Arabia.

Game Plan

Hosting a game, college or NFL, would mark a major step for Saudi Arabia’s American football ambitions.

The NFL is eyeing expansion of its international slate to 16 games per season (up from a record seven this year) by the end of the decade. A logical first step for Saudi Arabia would be entering the NFL’s Global Markets Program. This spring, the United Arab Emirates became the first Middle Eastern nation to participate in the program, becoming a designated market territory for the 49ers, Commanders, and Rams.

The Bahamas Bowl is currently the only postseason college football game played outside the U.S. But Ireland has had success hosting regular-season kickoff games, and Michigan is in discussions about moving its 2026 season opener against Western Michigan to Germany.

Bringing a major American football event to Saudi Arabia would add to the country’s sports portfolio, which includes soccer’s Saudi Pro League, annual Formula One and LIV Golf events, the Six Kings Slam tennis exhibition, the 2034 FIFA men’s World Cup, and WWE.