Cristiano Ronaldo fans frustrated with no legal means to watch Al-Nassr

With no legal method to see Al-debut, Cristiano Ronaldo supporters are at a loss Following Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, there has been a surge of disgruntled and perplexed supporters as well as a deluge of news coverage.
“@btsport Please purchase the rights to broadcast the Saudi Pro League of football in the UK so that we can continue to watch Cristiano Ronaldo play, one supporter tweeted. “@DStv @SuperSportTV,” implored another from Ghana. We need to see @Cristiano this year, therefore please arrange for Saudi pro league to be broadcast. Many thanks.”
Google searches paint a similar picture of Ronaldo supporters scrambling to find a way to watch their idol, who might have to wait for his Al-Nassr debut due to a Football Association suspension for shattering a fan’s phone. The penalty will keep Ronaldo out of Thursday’s encounter against Al-Ta’ee.
At the Mrsool Park Stadium on Tuesday, Ronaldo was formally introduced to Al-Nassr supporters in Riyadh. Supporters paid 15 Saudi Riyals (about £3) in order to attend the ceremony, where Ronaldo answered his detractors, listed the other offers he declined, and explained why he chose to go to Saudi Arabia.
After serving his suspension, he will be eligible to start playing football and earning his £173-million deal. However, unless one happens to live in the Middle East or North Africa and pays to watch the Saudi Pro League through the Saudi Sports Company rights deal, or one resides in North America and is willing to pay $18 for a monthly subscription to streaming platform Shahid, one will not be able to watch the Saudi Pro League.
On Instagram, 528 million people follow Ronaldo, and he has 106 million Twitter followers, and 159 million Facebook followers. His transfer to Al-Nassr enabled the club’s Instagram following to soar from 887,000 on December 29 to over 9 million. That’s a large number of disappointed people.
The Saudi Professional League (SPL), the King’s Cup of Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi Super Cup currently have their broadcast rights owned by the government-run Saudi Sports Company. To transmit Ronaldo to the entire world, no agreement has yet been reached.
Furthermore, Dan Harraghy, a senior analyst at Ampere Analysis, believes that despite signing one of the best players in history, they may still have trouble selling their goods.
He told Mirror Football: “I imagine they (the Saudi Pro League executives) will go out and chat with broadcasters in as many places as they can with this new offering, now that they have Cristiano.”
One of their biggest hurdles is that there is still only one player. Although there is definitely a draw, the rest of the league is still incredibly small and specialised. Broadcasters could be a little hesitant to invest so much money on a single player.
Harraghy predicts that Ronaldo supporters seeking a fix would end up using illicit streaming instead. Piracy is what one would anticipate, he added. And since they don’t have the rights, broadcasters outside of Saudi Arabia aren’t affected, so the league itself isn’t necessarily affected. More so, it’s a promotion.
Al-Nassr, led by Rudi Garcia and now in first place in the Saudi Pro League, has signed Ronaldo to play football for their squad. But he also serves as a powerful marketing weapon for Saudi Arabia in general and the nation’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup in particular.
And even without a broadcasting agreement, he can still fulfil that function. Harraghy thinks that one of Ronaldo’s Instagram videos is more valuable than a broadcast contract. In comparison to a full-season TV arrangement, he added, the social media account is going to raise so much more publicity for the league and garner so many more eyeballs.
“If it were to happen, I believe that a sizable broadcasting agreement is most likely still in the future. To market what is essentially a sponsorship of the Saudi league, the focus right now is on generating awareness and getting as many eyes on any clips they can,” he said.
Ronaldo’s supporters will therefore have to make do with social media until his move to Riyadh inspires a wave of imitation transfers.