AMMAN — As the sun set over a seemingly endless expanse of open sea,
Lionel Messi took a seat at the edge of a boat, stretched out a leg, and posed
for the photograph that would announce the beginning of his public partnership
with Saudi Arabia.
اضافة اعلان
The image, shared with Messi’s 400 million-plus followers on
Instagram on May 9, 2022, was accompanied by a dual-language caption that read,
“Discovering the Red Sea #VisitSaudi.” Hours earlier, he had been welcomed to
the kingdom by Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister, who had boasted on Twitter that
while it was Messi’s first visit to the country, “it will not be the last”.
Messi, who is regarded perhaps as global soccer’s greatest
player, was starting to cash in on the new partnership: His photo-op in the Red
Sea likely earned him approximately $2 million, the first step in fulfilling
his agreement with the kingdom that is worth millions more.
The details of Messi’s role as a well-compensated pitchman
for Saudi Arabia are contained in a previously undisclosed version of his contract
with the tourism authority that was reviewed by the The New York Times.
The contract shows that Messi could receive as much as 22.5
million euros, about $25 million, over three years for little actual work: a
few commercial appearances, a handful of social media posts, and some
all-expenses-paid vacations to the kingdom with his family and children. He is
expected to share images of those trips — marked with a Saudi-approved hashtag
— with his vast online following.
But the document also contains a condition important to
Saudi officials: Messi cannot say anything that might “tarnish” Saudi Arabia, a
country that has faced widespread criticism for its human rights record.
Those details of the arrangement with Messi, who won the
World Cup with Argentina in December, offer an inside glimpse of the oil-rich
kingdom’s use of its wealth to enlist marquee athletes in its effort to burnish
its global image. Saudi Arabia’s critics deride the strategy as sportswashing:
using sports and sports figures to whitewash the country’s human rights record,
its treatment of women, the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal
Khashoggi, and other authoritarian actions.
For the past few years, Saudi Arabia has spent billions to
take big stakes in professional sports: The purchase of a Premier League soccer
team. Championship boxing matches. A stop on the Formula One auto racing
schedule. And, most recently, a brazen incursion into professional golf.
The kingdom has offered hundreds of millions of dollars more
to lure Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and dozens of other soccer stars to
play in the country’s domestic league. Messi recently declined a similar offer,
choosing instead to join Inter Miami of Major League Soccer in the US. But
there is no sign so far that the decision has affected his relationship with
the Saudis. Indeed, he has seemed eager to stay in their good graces.
In February 2021, just weeks after he signed his contract,
Messi wrote a letter to Saudi’s tourism minister, apologizing for being unable
to make a scheduled visit. In the previously unreported letter, Messi addressed
the tourism minister, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, as “Your Excellency” and, in unusually
flowery prose, expressed his “deepest regrets” for his absence. Messi was then
playing for FC Barcelona, and he wrote that as “a sportsman,” he had
obligations that were impossible to skip: a league game against Real Betis
followed by a match in the Spanish cup.
The Saudis got their visits eventually. The most recent came
last month, a year after his first Saudi tourism post on Instagram, when Messi
took a quick, midseason vacation to the kingdom — which, like all of his
previous visits, would have yielded him a seven-figure payday under the terms
of his Saudi tourism contract.
Until now, the details of Messi’s contract with the tourism
authority have been a closely held secret. It is not clear if the contract
reviewed by the Times is the current version of the deal. It was shared by
someone with direct knowledge of the arrangement between Messi and the Saudis on
the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to divulge
details of the deal. The document, dated Jan. 1, 2021, was signed by Messi and
his brother Rodrigo, who serves as his business manager, but it is not signed
by Saudi officials.
The terms outlined in the document are consistent with the
way Messi has used his social media accounts to promote the kingdom, and also
with the promotional visits he has made to the country.
The contract is specific about Messi’s obligations, and
about the money to be paid for fulfilling each one:
— About $2 million, nearly 1.8 million euros, for a minimum
of one family vacation annually lasting five days, or alternately two annual
vacations of three days each. The travel expenses and five-star accommodations
were to be paid by the Saudi government for Messi and up to 20 family members
and friends.
— Another $2 million for promoting Saudi Arabia on his
social media accounts 10 times a year, separately from the promotion of his
vacations to the kingdom.
— About $2 million more to participate in an annual tourism
campaign. (He and the Saudi authority shared the first campaign, an elaborately
shot desert video, in November.)
— Another $2 million for charitable work and appearances.
Few people were willing to discuss the terms of Messi’s
deal. Pablo Negre Abello, who is responsible for Messi’s commercial deals,
cited confidentiality clauses written into all of Messi’s contracts. Abello
suggested that a Times reporter contact the tourism authority. Officials there
did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Rayco García Cabrera, a former soccer player who brokered
the meeting between Messi’s management and Saudi officials, including the
minister of tourism, said the deal was worth “a small amount” compared with the
huge salaries the country is paying stars like Ronaldo and Benzema. But, García
said, Messi agreed to be a tourism spokesperson because “he believes in Saudi
and the vision of Saudi.”
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