As a brutal paramilitary force tightens its grip on western Sudan, a world away, the bright lights of a professional basketball tournament are shining. The connection between these two events is not coincidental but financial, raising urgent questions about the role of international sports in legitimizing states accused of grave human rights abuses.
The launch of a prominent NBA in-season tournament, bearing the name of its sponsor from the Gulf, coincided with reports of atrocities in Sudan linked to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A mounting body of evidence suggests the paramilitary group, accused of mass killings and ethnic cleansing, has been substantially funded and armed by that same sponsoring nation. This juxtaposition highlights a growing trend where global sports entities form lucrative partnerships with governments facing serious international scrutiny.
The basketball league’s engagement with the Gulf state is multifaceted, extending beyond a single tournament. It includes preseason games, a major airline sponsorship, and plans for an elite training academy on a university campus in the region. Industry analysts suggest even larger collaborative ventures, such as investment in a new European league, are under discussion. For the sports organization, the alliance provides a wealthy investor. For the partner nation, it offers a powerful vehicle to soften its global image.
The Gulf state in question presents a facade of modernity and luxury. However, reports from human rights organizations depict a different reality, one of suppressed dissent, arbitrary detention, and a labor system heavily reliant on migrant workers with limited protections. Its foreign policy ambitions have drawn sharper criticism, particularly regarding the conflict in Sudan.
The war in Sudan, now approaching its third year, erupted from a power struggle between the national army and the RSF. It has devastated the capital, Khartoum, and other regions, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis. While confirmed death tolls are in the tens of thousands, some estimates run significantly higher. The conflict has been marked by horrific violence, including widespread sexual violence and ethnic targeting. Recent RSF advances in Darfur were followed by reports of massacres so severe they altered the landscape visible from satellite imagery.
Despite denials from the Gulf state, the Sudanese military government has formally accused it of complicity in genocide at the International Court of Justice, citing its support for the RSF. This has done little to slow the nation’s ambitious sports diplomacy. In recent months, it has hosted a continental cricket championship, elite combat sports events, a Formula 1 finale, and now, high-profile basketball games. A major golf championship and other tournaments are scheduled to follow.
This strategy has proven largely effective. Investments in European football clubs, for instance, have successfully rebranded the ruling family as visionary sports investors. Ownership in cricket extends influence across South Asia, a key source of its labor force. The broader portfolio, from tennis to artificial surfing lagoons, fuels a comprehensive sports tourism economy.
The silence from most sports institutions is notable. While a Grammy-winning artist canceled a performance in protest last year, teams and leagues have largely maintained their partnerships. When concerns were raised at a major European football club’s annual meeting regarding a new sponsorship deal with the Gulf airline, the member voicing them was openly mocked by the club’s leadership. This reaction underscores the challenge of challenging these financially significant relationships.
Only a handful of advocacy groups have directly called out the basketball league, urging it not to become a “pawn” in the normalization of a regime implicated in famine and violence. The league, for its part, states that it follows the guidance of its home country’s state department in all its international operations.
The current landscape suggests that without significant public pressure or governmental redirection, the deep ties between global sports and controversial regimes will only strengthen. It presents a stark scenario: what if widespread atrocities and authoritarianism were treated as unequivocal red lines for the world of sports, rather than just another part of the business?