AAs paramilitary fighters from the brutal Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the largest city in western Sudan – carrying out mass executions, rapes and ethnic cleansing with weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates – on Halloween night the NBA’s annual seasonal tournament, the Emirates NBA Cup, was tipped off, proudly sponsored by the very same Gulf state.
The tournament is the most visible example of the NBA’s growing partnership with the UAE – a partnership that includes annual preseason games in Abu Dhabi, a lucrative sponsorship deal with Emirates airlines and plans for a new NBA Global Academy on NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus.
Larger deals are expected to follow. The NBA does reportedly seeking Abu Dhabi’s investment in a new European league under the NBA brand, which could start as early as 2027.
This blossoming partnership has already paid off for both sides: the NBA has gained a deep-pocketed investor, while the UAE has found a willing partner to help further normalize its autocratic regime, especially as the country faces accusations of fueling genocide in Sudan.
The NBA, in turn, says it is following the advice of the US government on its relationship with the UAE.
“Basketball has a century-long history in the Middle East, and our activities in the UAE – including bringing live NBA games to fans in the region and teaching the game’s fundamentals and values to thousands of boys and girls every year – align with our efforts to engage fans and aspiring players in more than 200 countries and territories around the world,” a league spokesperson told The Guardian. “We will continue to rely on guidance from the U.S. Department of State wherever we operate.”
Under its image of opulence and modernity, the UAE enforces silence with an iron fist. Dissidents and human rights defenders languish in prisons on arbitrary charges, punished for daring to oppose the state. The country’s economic prosperity rests on the backs of migrant workers, who make up 88% of the workforce and who toil with few rights and little recourse against abuse.
The UAE’s influence extends to bloodier territory beyond its borders. A growing body of evidence links the Emirati government to the Sudanese RSF, the paramilitary faction behind many of the atrocities and crimes against humanity committed in Sudan.
Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023, when tensions increased between the Sudanese Army (SAF), led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary group RSF, led by its former deputy head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti., plunged the country into a state of total war. Urban centers such as the capital Khartoum were turned into battlefields, destroying critical infrastructure and causing massive chaos the world’s largest displacement crisis.
As the civil war approaches its third year, estimates of the death toll vary widely. The United Nations and other aid agencies have recorded 20,000 confirmed deaths. A more recent report from the Sudan Research Group of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine claimed that more than 61,000 people have died in Khartoum state. 26,000 as a direct result of the violence. Meanwhile, former US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello claimed as much last year up to 150,000 people had been killed.
The civil war was also marked by horrific atrocities such as sexual violence, torture, mutilation and ethnic cleansing. This was once again underlined when the last remaining stronghold of the Sudanese army in Darfur recently fell into the hands of the RSF. The militia embarked on a massacre so ferocious that images of blood saturated the ground were visible from space.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the Emirates have helped finance and arm the paramilitary group, effectively sponsoring the group’s war crimes and atrocities. Sudan’s military government has even brought a case to the International Court of Justice, accusing the UAE of genocidal complicity in West Darfur. Despite substantial evidence to the contrary, the UAE continues to deny any role in the conflict and continues as if business as usual.
In recent months, the UAE has hosted the Asia Cup in cricket, pre-season NBA matches, an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event and Formula 1’s year-end race, featuring an appearance by Katy Perry. Next comes the Abu Dhabi HSBC golf championship and a major padel tournament. Outside of Grammy award-winning rapper Macklemore, who canceled his concert in Dubai last year in protest, no other entity tried to distance itself from the controversial Gulf state.
The UAE has reaped enormous benefits from the apathy in the sporting world. Abu Dhabi’s investment in Manchester City FC was a masterstroke, transforming the ruling Al Nahyan family into shrewd investors rather than ruthless autocrats. His stake in cricket has a diplomatic advantage given the sport’s popularity in South and Southeast Asia, the same regions that supply much of the UAE’s migrant workers. Meanwhile, investments in artificial wave pools, tennis and motorsports have broadened the growing sports tourism strategy.
And yet the ongoing carnage in Darfur appears to have earned the UAE rare bad publicity. Some Manchester City fans have even done so convicted their owner because of “his country’s role in the conflict in Sudan, where civilians continue to suffer.”
The silence surrounding the NBA’s new partnership with the UAE is concerning. One of the few calling on the NBA to normalize the UAE’s role in Sudan is Refugees International, an NGO that advocates for the rights of displaced people. “The Emirates NBA Cup CAN bring out the best in everyone. Instead, it is used for atrocities fueled and financed by the UAE in Sudan.” read the tweet. “The NBA must not allow itself to be a pawn in the normalization of famine and genocide in the UAE.”
Nevertheless, sports teams and organizations rarely break lucrative partnerships without resistance. At FC Bayern Munich’s annual general meeting last week, lawyer and activist Michael Ott, who previously led a successful campaign to end Bayern’s sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways, was startled by those present after raising concerns about the club’s new deal with UAE’s Emirates Airlines.
Ott accused Bayern of “supporting the image of vague political regimes that contradict our values” and warned that the Emirates deal would cause “lasting damage to the reputation of our club”. Before his comments he was openly mocked by chairman and CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen.
Despite ending previous sponsorship deals with Qatar and Rwanda, the fact that Bayern Munich leaders refused to sever ties with the UAE further highlights how effective the Gulf state’s brand management and PR strategies have been.
Don’t expect the NBA, which also has partnerships with other autocrats like Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, to speak out about the UAE’s human rights record…but imagine if they did. Imagine if genocide, war crimes and entrenched authoritarianism were red lines for global sport.
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