Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Project Opens NY Office

NEOM opens office in New York City

The Saudi Arabian government-backed future-leaning city project NEOM has opened its very first office in the United States this week. According to a report in Alarabiya, NEOM will operate out of 50 Hudson Yards in Manhattan and will be led by Robert Stefanowski, a former CEO of DFC Global and General Electric’s London operations, and CFO at UBS.  

Saudi Arabia Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar and NEOM CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr attended the official opening of the office on Monday. 

The city project, which has a price tag of $500B USD and is being funded by the Saudi government’s sovereign wealth fund—the Public Investment Fund—has begun opening international offices to promote its business and find interested partners who want to take part in the 26,500 km² futuristic city project being developed in the northwestern Tabuk Province. 

NEOM is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 government program launched by the country to diversify its revenue beyond oil,  by creating businesses and projects that focus on new income streams such as gaming, entertainment, esports, tourism, and more. The initiative is the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince HRH Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Other projects under the auspices of Vision 2023 and the PIF fund include the Esports World Cup Foundation, Savvy Games Group,  and another city project – Qiddiya. 

Princess Reema said in a statement released by the government on Monday that the Saudis believe that NEOM will have an impact beyond its borders and that it could serve as a blueprint for the cities of tomorrow.

“We chose New York City as our second international NEOM office due to its position as a global capital for business and finance,” NEOM CEO al-Nasr said in the same statement.

Esports and NEOM have not been mentioned in the same sentence since 2020—when Riot Games’ LEC (the European league for League of Legends Esports)  and tournament organizer BLAST received major pushback for signing deals with the city project (both deals were inevitably abandoned due to public pressure). But given the change in opinion from stakeholders in the space in recent years on participating in Saudi-backed esports and gaming projects, it would not be beyond the realm of possibility to see new deals related to NEOM in the weeks and months ahead.