Saudi Arabia's Involvement in Sports Likely to Grow in 2024

Saudi Arabia's Involvement in Sports Likely to Grow in 2024

沙特阿拉伯在体育领域的参与度预计将在2024年进一步增长

【听力音频】

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　　By John Russell

　　26 December 2023

　　At the beginning of 2023, Saudi Arabia's growing influence on professional golf, and sports in general, was a concern for players and their fans.

　　Twelve months later, discussions are very different. Worries about the supposed threat of "sportswashing" - using sports to improve a country's reputation – have declined. Concerns about moral issues - the line between "right" and "wrong" - have also gone down. Attention now is fixed on just how rich the Saudis might make the athletes.

　　What has changed?

　　Two major events caused the change. On June 6, the PGA Tour announced it was looking to go into business with the Saudi group that was paying for the kingdom's LIV Golf, which the tour had labeled as a threat.

　　Then, six months later, Jon Rahm, the world's third-ranked professional golfer and an early resister of LIV, decided to join LIV for a deal reported to be worth about $500 million.

　　Other important events included the continuing talks between the Saudis and leaders of professional tennis organizations. In addition, the push into soccer will bring the world's biggest sporting event, the World Cup, to Saudi Arabia in 2034.

　　Dan Durbin is director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the University of Southern California (USC). Durbin said of the Saudi plans: "You're investing in sports, which is one of the few growth industries in the world....It is, as far as we can see, an almost endless growth industry."

　　Saudi's investments

　　In early 2022, the discussion about golf centered on Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, or PIF, in LIV Golf. At the time, six-time major winner Phil Mickelson made a critical comment about Saudi Arabia related to the murder of the Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi.

　　Mickelson's comment set the dividing line in what was viewed as a moral question. And the discussion ignored how important Saudi Arabia is in the world economy. The Saudis gain much of their importance by supplying around 15 percent of the world's petroleum.

　　Besides golf, the fund offered one of soccer's biggest stars, Cristiano Ronaldo, $200 million to join a Saudi team. And it also owns the Premier League's Newcastle soccer club.

　　As the calendar turns to 2024, there is no sign of Saudi involvement in sports slowing. The Saudis are hosting a Formula One auto race. They are also looking to invest some $5 billion into cricket's Indian Premier League with an eye on making it bigger in other countries.

　　The ATP, which runs men's professional tennis, has a five-year deal to hold one of its biggest events in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. Talks between the Saudis and the women's tour are reportedly ongoing.

　　In a sign of how public discussions have changed, Billie Jean King, who fought for equal pay for women in sports, has said bringing women's tennis to the kingdom might not be all bad despite its poor record on women's rights.

　　"I don't think you really change unless you engage," she said earlier this year.

　　Durbin says sports is a way for the kingdom to be seen as more than an oil-producer with a bad human-rights record.

　　"For decades, sports has been the center of soft diplomacy," he said. "You try to create a positive response and feeling about your ethics because you're holding to the rules of sports."

　　I'm John Russell.

　　Eddie Pells reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　作者：约翰·罗素

　　2023年12月26日

　　2023年初，沙特阿拉伯在职业高尔夫，乃至整个体育领域的影响力增长，引起了运动员和他们的粉丝的关注。

　　十二个月后，讨论的内容已经大不相同。关于所谓的"体育洗白"——利用体育提升一个国家的声誉——的威胁的担忧已经减少。关于道德问题——"正确"和"错误"的界限——的担忧也有所下降。现在的关注点是沙特可能会让运动员们变得多么富有。

　　发生了什么变化呢？

　　引发这种变化的有两个主要事件。6月6日，美巡赛（PGA Tour）宣布，它正在寻求与为沙特王国的LIV高尔夫赛提供资金的沙特集团进行商业合作，而该赛事曾被美巡赛视为威胁。

　　然后，六个月后，世界排名第三的职业高尔夫球手、早期反对LIV的乔恩·拉姆决定加入LIV，据报道他的合同价值约为5亿美元。

　　其他重要事件包括沙特与职业网球组织领导人之间的持续对话。此外，对足球的推动将使世界上最大的体育赛事——世界杯在2034年来到沙特阿拉伯。

　　丹·德宾是南加州大学（USC）体育、媒体和社会研究所的主任。德宾对沙特的计划表示："你正在投资于体育，这是世界上为数不多的增长行业之一....据我们所知，这几乎是一个无止境的增长行业。"

　　沙特的投资

　　在2022年初，关于高尔夫的讨论主要集中在沙特阿拉伯的公共投资基金（PIF）对LIV高尔夫的投资上。当时，六次大满贯冠军得主菲尔·米克尔森对沙特阿拉伯涉及华盛顿邮报记者贾马尔·卡舒吉谋杀案发表了批评性评论。

　　米克尔森的评论在被视为道德问题的事情上设定了分界线。而这场讨论忽视了沙特阿拉伯在世界经济中的重要性。沙特阿拉伯通过提供约占全球石油供应的15%来获得其重要性。

　　除了高尔夫，该基金还向足球界的大牌球星克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多提供了2亿美元，以加入沙特的一支球队。它还拥有英超联赛的纽卡斯尔足球俱乐部。

　　随着日历翻到2024年，沙特在体育领域的参与并无放缓的迹象。沙特正在举办一场一级方程式赛车比赛。他们还计划投资约50亿美元到印度板球超级联赛，希望在其他国家扩大其影响力。

　　负责男子职业网球的ATP已经与沙特港口城市吉达签订了一个为期五年的协议，将在那里举办其最大的赛事之一。据报道，沙特与女子巡回赛的谈判仍在进行中。

　　公众讨论的变化表现在，曾为女性运动员争取平等待遇的Billie Jean King表示，尽管沙特在女权问题上的记录不佳，但将女子网球引入该国可能并非全然不好。

　　她在今年早些时候说："我认为，除非你参与进来，否则你真的不会有所改变。"

　　Durbin表示，体育是这个王国展示自己不仅仅是一个有着糟糕人权记录的石油生产国的方式。

　　他说："几十年来，体育一直是软实力外交的中心。你试图因为你遵守体育规则而在别人心中产生积极的反应和感觉。"

　　我是John Russell。

　　这个故事是Eddie Pells为美联社报道的，John Russell为VOA学习英语进行了改编。

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　　故事中的词汇

　　reputation—n.人们对某人或某事的普遍看法

　　rank –v. 根据能力在一群被评判的人中为某人安排特定的位置

　　cricket – n. 一个在大场地上由两队球员通过用球棒击打小球来得分的游戏

　　engage -- v. 积极参与

　　decade -- n.10年的时间段

　　response –n. 对某事的回答或书面回复