I thought as much too. The coming of Ronaldo to the SPL was a major turning point for the league and in fact just the transfer news alone brought a lot of attention to the SPL and people like us begin to follow the league the more. Although he joined the Saudi football, his club Al-Nassr hasn't won any title and happens to be the only club not to have won any title among the top teams in the league. My thinking is, with Joao Felix's appearance in the club, I hope it will bring more success to the team and they will be able to win the trophy, hopefully.
That was the goal, bring in Ronaldo by any means necessary, even if it means paying him the highest in the world of football, just do it and bring him on board. It was a calculated attempt because they knew he was going to make the league popular thereby making others show interest in the league while they pump in the money. I know some people will argue that it's only because of the money, the question is, hasn't the money always been there? Why didn't it attract lots of European players then?