This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

The big sports headlines last week were Messi to Miami. And The Saudis taking over the PGA golf tour. They’re calling it a merger, but the money is coming from the Saudis. The branding remains under discussion.

Nu F1 LogoI was immediately drawn to the idea of the Saudis taking over Formula One, another global sports marketing entity. But I learned Liberty Media rejected a Saudi bid of 20 billion dollar to buy that series last December.

Apparently, Liberty wants an offer in the $30 billion range. Or put another way, about $1.5 billion per team on the starting grid.

That’s another reason Michael Andretti keeps getting rejected in his offers to buy his way into F1. The people who run the sport don’t see $1.5 billion of value in the Andretti bids.

I’m told the Saudis based their economy on oil being at 100 dollars a barrel. This week it was in the $75 range. So, they need to find ways to make up the difference.

Sports marketing, tourism and real estate development are starts. They’ll also need to find ways to offset any corporate partners who’d be against working with the Saudis because of that country’s human rights issues.

So, standby. The Saudis in motorsport isn’t farfetched going forward.

Peace.