Newcastle United’s proposed £300m takeover is at the heart of a geopolitical storm stemming from a long-running dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with the Doha-based broadcaster beIN Sports demanding the Premier League consider blocking the deal.
Although sources close to the takeover maintain no red flags have been raised as the Premier League conducts its mandatory owners’ and directors’ test, Qatar’s beIN Sports is urging that Saudi Arabia should be accountable for a pirate network that illegally transmits English top-tier games. It has appealed not only to the league but to the respective chairmen of the top division’s clubs, highlighting what it says is a threat their intellectual property – and incomes.
Given that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is set to take an 80% stake in Newcastle – with the Yorkshire-born financier Amanda Staveley and the UK company Reuben Brothers each assuming 10% holdings – and beIN is one of the Premier League’s principal overseas broadcast partners the potential diplomatic repercussions could be considerable.
Nonetheless, sources working on the takeover remain confident there will be no last-minute hitches, hinting that Premier League checks that have been under way for a fortnight are approaching a conclusion. It has also been noted that, despite similar concerns, the Premier League approved Sheffield United’s transfer into full Saudi ownership last year.
The Premier League, along with other domestic governing bodies and rights holders, has previously urged Arabsat, the Saudi state satellite broadcaster which transmits across the Arab world, to withdraw a framework for a pirate network known as beoutQ that they argued was abusing the game. It started its illegal streaming activities in 2017, the year Saudi and Qatar became involved in a significant political argument with assorted international ramifications, and no one has succeeded in halting the transmissions.
Last July the Premier League said it had spoken to nine law firms in Saudi Arabia who either refused to act or later recused themselves when asked about pursuing a copyright complaint against beoutQ.
Yousef al-Obaidly, the chief executive of beIN, has written to the chairmen of Premier League clubs saying “the potential acquirer of Newcastle United [has] caused huge damage to your club’s and the Premier League’s commercial revenues”.
Obaidly, on the board at Qatar-funded Paris Saint-Germain, added: “The legacy of the illegal service will continue to impact you going forward. When the Premier League season recommences in the coming months, all of the league’s broadcasters’ content will continue to be readily and illegally available via the IPTV streaming functionality on the beoutQ set-top-boxes which were sold in significant quantities in Saudi Arabia and the broader Mena [Middle East and North Africa] region.
“Furthermore – given the crippling economic effect that coronavirus is having on the sports industry – this is all happening at a time when football clubs need to protect their broadcast revenue the most.”
In a separate letter to Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, Obaidly reminded him of the perceived threat to intellectual property posed by the Newcastle deal, the “direct role of Saudi Arabia in the launch, promotion and operation of the beoutQ service” and “the challenge the Premier League itself has faced and will continue to face in taking any action to protect its own intellectual property rights in the country”.
Newcastle – whose outgoing owner Mike Ashley is in the United States – and the Premier League have declined to comment on the issue.