NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has made it clear that their goal is to make the NFL a “global sport” and has even said he wants all 32 teams to play at least one international game per season.
“We are serious about being a global sport. We would like to get to 16 games so everyone is playing one game a year internationally,” he said in September during Dublin’s first ever NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers.
After Goodell opened the door to other countries, Saudi Arabia is pushing to bring the NFL to their territory.
“Britain got it, Brazil got it. Hopefully, Saudi Arabia will be next,” Turki Alalshikh, who oversees Saudi Arabia’s sports and entertainment interests, said per David Hellier of Bloomberg.com.
The NFL didn’t respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg.
Brady’s relationship with Alalshikh
Tom Brady has met at least three times with Alalshikh and they have both publicly called themselves “friends,” but the legendary QB has also shown his respect by calling Alalshikh “his excellency.”
Brady has appeared in at least six of Alalshikh’s social media posts.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Brady will play in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic, promoted by Alalshikh. The flag football tournament will feature a combination of active and retired NFL players.
The event will include prominent names such as Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, Maxx Crosby, Rob Gronkowski, Sauce Gardner and Myles Garrett.
Three all star squads will be led by coaches Pete Carroll, Sean Payton and Kyle Shanahan.
Taking all this into account, it wouldn’t be wild to think that if Saudi Arabia needs an NFL ambassador, it may just be Tom Brady.
Who is Turki Alalshikh?
Turki Alalshikh, as he is known worldwide, is the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) of Saudi Arabia and one of the most powerful men not only in the entertainment industry.
Alalshikh is the mastermind behind Riyadh Season, a months long event in the Saudi capital that annually attracts the best exponents of music and sports from around the world.
He has brought to Saudi Arabia boxing matches like Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, tennis stars like Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz to the new tournament Six King Slams and as mentioned before, he’s the promoter of the Fanatics Flag Football Classic.
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