We need to be aware of all the facets of sports. Even if we love the passion and share an experience centred around a certain team athlete, we need to understand that the size of professional sports has enough gravitas to be socially important.
In a perfect world, many of us would prefer to keep politics and sports as separate as possible. The only notable exception that is universally acceptable is country-against-country competition, despite its inherent geopolitical nature.
We tend to dismiss instances in which the athletes are those who bring politics to sports. How do we perceive the cases in which politics are those that infiltrate the very essence of sports? What do we do with state-owned clubs that see certain institutions control those organizations? How about the cases when sports become a mere conduit for political interests?
Such is the nature of sportswashing and its growing effect on the professional sports world. Follow the contents of this article to find out why the tentacles of this elaborate maneuver have taken hold of eSports as well.
Let’s define and exemplify the concept of sportswashing and its aims. In all fairness, sportswashing does not apply specifically to countries or states. It applies to any entity, political or otherwise, that uses sports as a means of cleansing its reputation. It aims to use a widely beloved phenomenon to deter attention away from unethical practices.
In the context of this article and its applicability to our example, sportswashing is a favorite of countries with autocratic regimes. For various reasons, these countries have a track record of disregarding human rights, the principles of democracy, and the rule of law.
Famous examples include the slew of Formula 1 Grand Prix races that have appeared in the Middle East, specifically the rich and autocratic petrostates. Countries like Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and, more recently, Saudi Arabia are all at the forefront of this statistic.
Moreover, association football, the biggest sport in the world, has been taken over by sportswashing attempts. It mostly began with the ownership of big football clubs (the Qatari takeover of PSG and the Emirati takeover of Manchester City). However, the last two World Cups (Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022) have also shown a high level of corruption in high-level football.
Sports is also a method of distraction against tyrannical regimes. According to Worldometer, the median age in Saudi Arabia is extremely young, 29.6 years. Since this population is crazy about football, but also general sports, the investment in World Cup bid, various other hosting endeavors, and a huge round of football transfers try to associate the country with sports rather than the Saudi Arabian human rights track record.
How exactly is sportswashing expanding into eSports? Why is it so?
Firstly, we should return to the idea of distracting young minds from the issues that loom large. By all accounts, eSports is a discipline for young people due to its inherent reliance on video games. As a result, the Saudi regime tries to associate itself with an endeavor that young people like. This works specifically well in the case of very young people without any knowledge or interest in geopolitical matters.
Secondly, an autocratic political regime that relies on fossil fuels is, quite frankly, very easily identifiable as antiquated. Since eSports have a built-in connection to new-age tech, investing and hosting events of this kind is a method of associating Saudi Arabia with technologized modernity. Sportswashing runs on all cylinders.
The first stab at this market was when the Saudi-controlled Savvy Gaming Group purchased both FACEIT and ESL Gaming in a transaction worth over $1.5 billion. The chimera of a result was ESL FACEIT Group. There was quite a lot of backlash in the gaming community for considerations independent of this purchase, but this didn’t stop Saudi Arabia from ramping up its efforts to expand into eSports.
A new effort was the now-notorious eSports World Cup, hosted during July and August 2024. The gargantuan event happened in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and hosted 23 competitions for 22 distinct eSports. Considering there was a purse of over $62 million, the engagement was quite powerful.
Moreover, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will not stop in his effort to forge a certain image for Western audiences, not to mention bring forth his Saudi Vision 2030 plan. The kingdom plans to become a true global leader in the gaming industry by then, with yet another step being the inaugural Olympic eSports Games in 2025.
Once again, the main audience of eSports is generally considered to be young enough to be impressionable by the glitz and utter scale of these events. Moreover, not grasping or caring about political concepts, autocratic practices, or human right abuses thousands of miles/kilometers away is an advantage for the sportswashers.
Boycotting is the first measure that comes to mind since it’s one of the most popular forms of mass protests that do not include the risk factor. However, boycotting needs a cause that people must know before they decide on such a measure.
As such, bringing forth the caveats and raising awareness about the downsides would be a starting point. Unassuming gamers who are part of sexual minorities should know what they represent to the Saudi government – abominations who deserve to die.
Moreover, gambling is not quite the darling of such regimes. As BetOnValue proves, most new-age betting sites provide eSports betting opportunities that many gamers are eager to bet on. This is a notoriously punishable endeavor in a state like Saudi Arabia, but not only.
The hope is that this article did its utmost to contribute to the general awareness about eSportswashing. Regardless of our collective powerlessness or general disinterest in the matter, it’s always good to know the depth behind the things that entertain us!
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