POWER BALL

How oligarchs, private equity, and petrostates took over soccer

- Tim Murphy

ONE AFTERNOON last October, thousands of fans began gathering outside St. James' Park, the 130-year-old home of the English soccer club Newcastle United, to celebrate a new beginning. Some sported the club's traditional black-and-white striped jerseys. Others toted cases of booze. There was no match that day, but that only improved the mood. In seven games that season, the team had yet to record a win. Newcastle, once one of the best sides in England, had endured years of mediocrity under the ownership of a miserly local sporting-goods magnate. Magpies supporters resorted to stockpiling cans of beer for the day their fortunes changed. That day had come at last.

The key acquisition who would turn Newcastle around wasn't a new midfielder or a manager; he was a murderer. The club had been sold for $409 million to an investment group led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, an almost endless reserve of cash controlled by Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto head of state. In 2018, according to the US government, MBS had personally approved an operation to assassinate a Washington Post journalist. But as the news of the takeover sank in, the dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi with a bone saw was the last thing on the minds of these supporters. To some, MBS seemed to be a point in favor of the deal. Outside the stadium and on social media, fans added a new flourish to the team's uniform-they donned red and white head coverings, in imitation of the Saudi ruler. "We're richer than you," the crowd sang. One supporter wore an MBS mask.