On January 21st, during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, a closed-door dialogue puts sport under the microscope as a real economic and political force. Titled The New Global Playbook, the session brings together investors, policymakers, athletes, and business leaders to unpack how sport has evolved into a system that moves capital, builds enterprises, and reshapes global influence.
Hosted at the Invest Qatar Pavilion, the event is co-hosted by Allam Global Ventures, Global Venture Partners, and Qatar Sports Investments, in partnership with TIME Africa, Robb Report Africa, and Rolling Stone MENA. The format is deliberately tight: a 45-minute panel followed by a private reception, aimed at candid exchange among people shaping the industry behind the scenes.
At the center of the discussion is the full lifecycle of modern sport. Today’s athletes rarely stay confined to the field. Many move into ownership, entrepreneurship, leadership, media, and cross-border ventures, expanding the idea of sporting success beyond trophies to include power, governance, and long-term influence.
The session also examines sport’s role in shaping global wellness narratives, and the tension between scaling performance-driven ecosystems across markets while holding onto credibility and cultural relevance.
The Gulf Perspective
Qatar and the Gulf sit squarely within this shift. Through sustained investment in teams, infrastructure, and media networks, the region has embedded itself in the global sports economy. The discussion looks at how long-term strategy and institutional control have turned sport into a tool of international positioning and soft power.
The speaker lineup reflects these overlapping worlds of performance, capital, and governance. H.E. Nasser Al Khelaïfi, Chairman of Qatar Sports Investments and beIN Media Group and President of Paris Saint-Germain, draws on years of experience across ownership and media. NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady brings the perspective of an athlete who reshaped his post-career path through entrepreneurship and ownership. Olympic medalist Cherif Younousse represents elite performance at the highest level, while David Moreno Jr., global sports executive and senior partner at Norton Rose, connects sport to legal frameworks, strategy, and institutional growth.
By staging this conversation in Davos, The New Global Playbook positions sport alongside finance, technology, and geopolitics – not as entertainment, but as a strategic arena in its own right.
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