The WTA announced Thursday that Saudi Arabia will host the season-ending WTA Finals for three consecutive years beginning in 2025, with prize money expected to exceed $15 million per year based on statements referencing "record" guarantees above the $15.25 million distributed in Cancún last November. The deal was signed by WTA chief executive Portia Archer and representatives of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which now controls the commercial and broadcast rights for the event through 2027.
The Finals will take place in Riyadh each October, slotting into the same calendar window as the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and Riyadh Season entertainment programming. The WTA declined to disclose the hosting fee paid by PIF but confirmed the agreement includes venue construction funding, player accommodation underwriting, and broadcast production costs. Saudi Arabia competed against bids from Prague and a consortium representing Miami and Indian Wells; Riyadh's offer was the only one guaranteeing prize money growth above inflation across the contract term.
This marks the second major women's tennis asset acquired by Saudi entities in eighteen months. PIF purchased a minority stake in the Premier Padel tour in June 2023, then moved to full ownership by December. The WTA Finals deal follows a similar commercial model: the tour retains sanctioning authority and player conduct jurisdiction, while Saudi Arabia operates the event as a licensed property with full naming rights and local sponsorship inventory. The top eight singles players and eight doubles teams based on season rankings will compete for the prize pool, with the singles champion earning an estimated $3 million if the payout structure mirrors recent years.
The agreement arrives as the WTA negotiates its next global media rights cycle, with current deals in the United States (Tennis Channel, ESPN sublicense) and Europe (beIN Sports, Sky) expiring after the 2025 season. The Finals have historically served as a anchor content block for those negotiations; moving the event to Saudi Arabia places it in a time zone favorable to European morning broadcasts but complicates U.S. primetime windows. The WTA's media consultant, Octagon, is expected to use the guaranteed Finals prize money as a floor for revenue projections in rights pitches scheduled to begin in May.
Player reaction has been muted. No top-ten player issued a statement Thursday, though several posted Instagram stories acknowledging the announcement without commentary. The WTA Players' Council, which includes Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula, was briefed on the Saudi negotiations in January but did not hold a formal vote on the hosting agreement. One agent representing three current top-twenty players said his clients would attend the Finals if qualified, noting the prize money increase offsets concerns about travel to the Gulf. He added that appearance fee requests for Saudi exhibition events have increased 40 percent since the announcement leaked in March.
Saudi Arabia's women's sports investments now include ownership of the Premier Padel tour, a $100 million LPGA sponsorship with Aramco through 2025, and hosting rights for a Ladies European Golf Tour event in Jeddah. The kingdom does not yet operate a WTA Tour stop outside the Finals, though PIF has held preliminary conversations with tour management about launching a WTA 1000 event in Riyadh as soon as 2026. That would require relocating or eliminating an existing 1000-level tournament, as the WTA calendar caps the tier at nine events.
Riyadh is expected to construct a purpose-built indoor arena seating 12,000 for the Finals, with completion targeted for August 2025. The venue will also host Premier Padel events and is being designed to accommodate ATP Tour matches, though no men's tennis agreement has been signed. Construction bids are due in May. The WTA Finals were held in Cancún in 2023 after Shenzhen's contract ended due to COVID-19 disruptions and Fort Worth declined to extend its 2022 one-year hosting arrangement.
The first Riyadh Finals will take place in late October 2025, approximately three weeks after the China Open and two weeks before year-end rankings freeze. The WTA has not yet announced broadcast partners for the event but confirmed that Tennis Channel holds U.S. rights under its existing tour agreement. International rights will be negotiated separately, with Saudi Arabia retaining distribution control in the Middle East and North Africa through its MBC Group subsidiary.
The takeaway
WTA locks **$45M+** guaranteed Finals prize money through 2027 while gaining leverage for 2026 global media rights negotiations.
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