Newcastle owners PIF U-turn in talks over £820m deal that will cause controversy at Premier League HQ

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When the Premier League’s lawyers finally approved PIF’s takeover of Newcastle United, it marked the start of a new era not just on Tyneside but in world football.

Since establishing their enclave of Saudi Arabia in the North East, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) have made Newcastle the subjects of global discourse in geopolitics.

Football has always been a vehicle for the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful to wield cultural influence, but the entry of sovereign wealth funds with cryptic and esoteric aims is a new phenomenon.

For their part, PIF insist that they run Newcastle as they would any other business. That is a dubious claim.

PIF manage assets worth in the region of £750bn and a football club with annual turnover of £250-300m in a good year is probably in the bottom five per cent of their revenue-generating properties.

It is also highly unusual – if not unprecedented altogether – for PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan to be directly involved in day-to-day operations at one of the fund’s smallest businesses.

It was even more abnormal for the crown prince of Saudi Arabia himself, Mohammed bin Salman, to have lobbied the UK government to lean on the Premier League to approve the takeover.

Why then have PIF invested in the Magpies and what, when the fog on the Tyne clears, do they want to have achieved at St James’ Park in a few years time?

It’s partly about power, influence and, yes, sportswashing.

However, the likes of Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport and Geopolitical Economy at Skema Business School, argue that PIF’s project in Newcastle is not a solely a vanity project to launder the state’s image.

Granted, Newcastle chairman Al-Rumayyan has made an ally in Donald Trump since the takeover, with whom he has been discussing the potential merger of PIF’s LIV Gold and the PGA Tour.

The images of the pair sat together at UFC 309 alongside Dana White, UFC’s CEO who Mark Zuckerberg has just appointed to the board at Meta, tell you all you need to know about the power of sport.

But, Chadwick suggests, Newcastle aren’t just a cultural foothold in football.

“The smash-and-grab mentality at Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester City is absolutely not the case at Newcastle,” he said last year, when there were suggestions PIF’s interest in the club was waning.

"Just look at the considered development of the commercial team. The people they've brought in are experts with strong background in the areas they've been appointed in.

"It's obvious to me that Saudi Arabia acquired an investment asset, not a vanity project. I've said for a while now that if there comes a point where they need to sell it they will sell it."

Whatever PIFs aims, they are currently being obstructed by the Premier League, who have taken a handful of Arabian Desert sand and deposited it in the gears of the state-backed Newcastle machine.

Profit and Sustainability (PSR) and Associated Party Transaction (APT) Rules represent a ceiling to their ambitions, the kind that doesn’t exist as a factor in the Saudi Pro League or 2034 World Cup plans.

But the world of football finance never sleeps. This week, PIF are negotiating another deal that could see them increase their power in the Premier League in a very different way.

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PIF in talks to acquire Premier League broadcaster

Newcastle’s owners have a fractious relationship with Richard Masters and the Premier League’s central office.

Things got off to a rocky start when the league refused to ratify PIF’s takeover because of complaints from one of its broadcasters – Qatar-based beIN SPORTS – about media piracy of their coverage in Saudi.

The rest is history, of course, and the Premier League eventually approved the deal.

But Newcastle have since taken umbrage with the league’s commercial rules, giving evidence in favour of Man City in the recent round of APT lawfare in the arbitration courts.

Now, the Magpies’ owners could potentially spark more controversy at Premier League HQ with a minority investment in Premier League broadcaster DAZN worth £820m.

DAZN own the TV rights for the competition in Spain and Portugal and, after acquiring media privileges for the 2025 Club World Cup, has been mooted as a potential domestic Premier League rightsholder.

Incidentally, this move was predicted by Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire when he spoke exclusively to TBR Football late last year.

As reported by Bloomberg, PIF are in advanced negotiations to invest in London-headquartered DAZN in a reversal of their stance a few weeks ago, when they said they had not engaged in talks with the firm.

Although not unprecedented, a group being both a rightsholder and an owner of a Premier League club would likely raise some conflict of interest concerns.

But it is emblematic of just how interconnected football’s business ecosystem has become.

For example, Comcast, who own the Premier League’s primary broadcaster Sky Sports, are the main funders of Atairos, the private equity firm that in turns owns a 31.1 per cent stake in Aston Villa.

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Could PIF sell Newcastle United?

If, as PIF maintain, they want to run Newcastle as they would a traditional investment, that invites the possibility that they could one day sell the club for a profit.

If they were to cash in tomorrow, the soaring valuations of Premier League clubs coupled with the infrastructure and squad upgrades PIF have made could in theory make them a tidy profit already.

The takeover that saw them acquire an 85 per cent stake in 2021 was worth £305m. When Amanda Staveley sold here six per cent stake last year, the deal with Reuben Brothers valued the club at £1bn.

Whether there would actually be a market for the club at that price is another question.

In any case, PIF insist they are in it for the long haul and, with the owners spending the maximum amount allowed under PSR every season, there is currently no reason to doubt that.