Saudi Arabia was recently awarded the right to host the 2034 World Cup by football world governing body FIFA and I think Ronaldo deserves praises for his impact to football in the middle East nation
The Saudi Professional League is a more important team in the media, but I don't know whether the audience in general increased or the number of viewers. I never watch a whole game from the league, but I read about it sometimes to stay up to date about what is happening with Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema and some others, but I would never pay for a subscription or anything to watch the games live. I agree that awareness has been raised due to Ronaldo's arrival there, but are more people watching the games than before? Probably a few, but I doubt that the numbers skyrocketed.
But even so, after the excitement about the Saudi Arabian League transfer market news that occurred in the last few months. It turns out that what I read on one of the news sites was that the interest of football fans in Saudi Arabia did not experience a big increase when clubs from Saudi Arabia succeeded in bringing in many football stars from Europe. In essence, not many football fans in Saudi Arabia come to the field to watch the match live.
Maybe this is all because the revolution carried out by Saudi Arabian clubs is still new. So football fans in Saudi Arabia have not been able to enjoy it properly.
Cristiano Ronaldo alone has made the Saudi league really popular. I am going to be honest. I did not even know that the Saudi league was actually a decent one before Cristiano Ronaldo actually went there. I bet a lot of people didn't even know that the Saudi League existed before Cristiano Ronaldo. Anyway, the Ronaldo effect is definitely real. I am also sure that in the time that Cristiano Ronaldo has left in his career, he will be able to impact the popularity of the Saudi League more. And yes, I also think young players will start coming to the Saudi league in the Future. But that is a long-term plan.