Just yesterday I was speaking with a young footballer in my area and he was telling me of his plans for next year. He said he was saving money to continue his career outside my country because our league is not attractive. He began to mention the leagues he aspired to play and I was shocked that after he mentioned three European leagues he mentioned the Saudi Professional League. When I asked him his reason he told me about his respect for Ronaldo.
Ronaldo and other key players are giving the SPL the needed publicity but it is up to the management of the league to maximize the opportunity to build the league and attract investors. Government funding of the league will not last long especially if there is there are economic problems. The league needs to grow and become self-sustaining. I hope the pay of other average players is also high. If the clubs keep paying these star players big wages and other players receive peanuts, the league will not develop. If they are no careful the league will end up like the highly hyped Chinese league.
That's crazy, and crazy quick. But I guess it makes sense that any young player will want to join a league that has all these stars, particularly if they have a better shot of getting more play time.
I agree that they need to become self-sustaining, but they may have a wider definition of what that means being a government venture and all. This will surely impact in tourism and other industries. Surely they are well aware of that.