The potential takeover of Newcastle United is set to get a significant boost - with Saudi Arabia ready to settle their piracy war with Premier League broadcast partners beIN Sports.
Saudi Arabia’s bid to buy Newcastle and turn them into a top flight powerhouse stalled last summer amid rows over alleged state involvement in piracy of Premier League games in the country.
But the four and a half year ban on beIN Sports - who have paid £400m for the rights to show the Premier League in the Middle East and North Africa - is set to be lifted in Saudi.
It will mean that for the first time in years there will soon be a legal way of watching top flight games in Saudi Arabia - whose sovereign wealth arm, the Public Investments Fund, were ready to pay £305m for the Toon.
They walked away from the Amanda Staveley brokered deal last summer after it became mired in legal wrangling and stalled.
An arbitration hearing is set for January 3 to finally decide whether the Saudi PIF can revive their bid and end the miserable Mike Ashley era.
Lifting the ban on beIN Sports - which opens up the potential for 40m customers - removed a huge commercial obstacle to the takeover, but there will still have to be a ruling on whether the Saudi state would effectively become a director of Newcastle.
It was almost impossible for the Premier League to allow a sale of one of their member clubs to a nation which had allowed games to be broadcast illegally, and banned their official broadcaster.
Sources expect Saudi to quietly lift the ban on subscribing to beIn Sports and their website. The beoutQ piracy operation will be turned off for good and the Saudis are ready to settle with the broadcaster in their $1bn arbitration case.
The Saudis have recently been removing pirate websites when informed of them by beIN Sports.
There may still be objections to the Newcastle being owned by Saudi Arabia, notably the state involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
The January arbitration case with the Premier League still seems problematic with separation between the Saudi state and the PIF difficult to prove, especially since it is chaired by ruler Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.
But the biggest commercial obstacle has been removed, and Newcastle fans who want rid of Ashley will be hoping it triggers progress early next year.
beIn SPorts refused to comment.
