re: Lifetime Saudi Pro League fan check in

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A million times better for a rich soccer player. And those guys are all playing for Istanbul teams.

An expensive nightclub in Istanbul is very similar to a high end night club in NYC, Miami, or any major European city.

The traffic is a pain in Istanbul but they all have private drivers, as far as I understand. So they can play on their phones while sitting in traffic.

For the guys like Haji Wright who live in other cities, those cities are certainly less flashy but also much more livable and equally (if not more) Western.

I feel bad for guys who live in some of the smaller cities, and what happened last year is obviously insane, but even in those cities, the social life is more similar to Europe than Saudi Arabia, though admittedly much lamer. But those are much lesser known guys.

Now if you want to be a serious investigative journalist, I would recommend you consider moving to a different country.

But the current government policy is basically let’s give some lip service to religion, build a few mosques, and hope the rest are complacent with rising living standards from 2000 to 2017.

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I've heard Istanbul is a sleeper must visit city, but can't say I have kept up much with the geopolitical situation there other than Erdogan basically consolidating his power after the failed "coup" a few year back. I was under the impression it was regressing to a more strict Islamic state.

It’s what he wants, for sure. But it is way down on his list of priorities, and even lower following the earthquake.

I hadn’t been in a few years and saw more goths, skaters, body piercings, women in the 16-25 age range in crop tops, etc than I’d seen before. Tbh I was a little surprised by this, but I’m comparing the same places to one another, and not necessarily the most affluent districts, either.

I can’t say the level of women in Islamic garb has really increased recently, either. As opposed to the mid to late 90s when it made a noticeable jump (due imo to people from other regions in the country moving to Istanbul).

For a tourist or pro athlete, I don’t think Erdogan has impacted life outside of the four weeks or Ramadan in any negative way, especially if their contract stipulates they are getting paid in dollars or Euros.

Honesty the mass transit is also much better (the one core competency his admin has always had).

I can’t say the same for people who live in the country day in, day out for years, but Zaha, Dzeko, etc will be in Turkey for a few years and then move back home.

And anyone reading on this board will be there for 5-10 days

Yea they signed a bunch of tv deals around the world last week

Think of how miserable all of the guys are with PSG. And they’re in Paris, playing in a decently competitive league.

Yea that league failed bc Xi said no more investment in football when it was clear China wouldn’t host a World Cup

Its a bit surprising Fox bit on taking the Saudi rights. They talked about and with LIV but ultimately passed on taking the LIV Golf rights. But maybe the PGA/LIV tour merger has given more "cover" to companies

This kid going to Saudi over a move to Italy is wild

Yea that’s the kid from Celta

Interestingly a German national has not made the jump to Saudi.
They are strict on beer