Riyadh Season

Riyadh Season
موسم الرياض
Boulevard World in 2023
BeginsOctober
EndsMarch
Location(s)Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Country Saudi Arabia
Founded11 October 2019
ActivityEntertainment and Sports
Organized by
Sponsors
Part ofSaudi Seasons
Websiteriyadhseason.com

The Riyadh Season (Arabic: موسم الرياض, romanized: mawsim ar-Riyāḍ) is an annual state-funded entertainment and sports festival, started as part of 11 entertainment festivals carried by Saudi Seasons initiative that was launched in 2019.[1] Riyadh Season starts in October and ends towards March during winter and spring in the Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh. In 2022, Riyadh Season attracted more than 5 million visitors within the first two months of its third edition.[2] As of 2023, Riyadh Season has 10 Guinness World Records certifications.[3][4]

Riyadh Season was first unveiled by the General Entertainment Authority in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030 in October 2019,[5][6] the festival brought sports and entertainment themes in Riyadh.[7][8][9]

According to the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, the government generated 6 billion Saudi Riyals in revenues from the first edition of the festival in 2019.[10] After maximizing the capacity in the second edition in 2021, the opening ceremony of the festival was attended by 750,000 people in the boulevard district, which included a parade, fireworks and a concert by Pitbull.[11] In 2022, the opening ceremony of Riyadh Season was rewarded a Guinness Record certificate for "The most remote-operated multirotors/drones launching fireworks simultaneously".[12]

Riyadh Season 2019

The first edition of the festival was launched on 11 October 2019 and was set to end on 15 December, but it was extended to January 2020 after the number of visitors exceeded 10 million.[13] In 17 October 2019, the opening parade of the first edition of Riyadh Season was held in Riyadh Boulevard zone with an attendance of more than 600,000 visitors.[14] It included 100 events that took place at 12 different zones, and was hosted under seven themes and experiences: Joy, inspire, taste, explore, fantasy, speed and desert.[15] The Taste theme originated in accordance with opening 31 restaurant from different cuisines all across the following zones:[15]

  1. Riyadh Boulevard
  2. Riyadh Front
  3. Riyadh Car Exhibition
  4. Riyadh Winter Wonderland
  5. Riyadh Sports Arenas
  6. Diplomatic Quarters
  7. Al-Murabaa
  8. Al-Malazz
  9. Wadi Namar
  10. Riyadh Beat
  11. Riyadh Safari
  12. Riyadh Sahara

Riyadh Season 2021

The second edition of Riyadh Season was launched on 20 October 2021 and lasted until the end of March 2022. It lies in an area measuring 5.4 million square meters in which it hosts more than 7,000 events at 14 different zones.[16]

  1. Riyadh Boulevard
  2. VIA Riyadh
  3. Combat Field
  4. Riyadh Winter Wonderland
  5. Riyadh Front
  6. Al-Murabaa
  7. Riyadh Safari
  8. Al-Athriyah
  9. Riyadh Oasis
  10. The Groves
  11. Nabd al-Riyadh
  12. Zaman Village
  13. al-Salam Tree
  14. Khalooha

Riyadh Season 2022

The third edition of Riyadh Season was launched on 21 October 2022 and lasted until March 2023. This included 8,500 activity days. This season had a principal of 15 zones in the Riyadh Boulevard and represented many cultures such as:

  1. America
  2. France
  3. Greece
  4. Italy
  5. India
  6. China
  7. Spain
  8. Morocco
  9. Mexico.

The 2022 Riyadh Season also included Riyadh Season Cup, a friendly football match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Riyadh XI (combined Al Hilal and Al Nassr all-star team) held at King Fahd International Stadium on 19 January 2023. The game received global attention as the game pitted Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the greatest football players in the world and the subject of intense debate, directly against each other for the first time since 2020, as Messi played for PSG and Ronaldo joined Al Nassr days prior to the friendly match. PSG won the match 5–4.

Riyadh Season 2023

The fourth edition of Riyadh Season launched on 28 October 2023 with new identity and tagline ("Big Time") and title sponsorship from SNB. The opener event, Battle of Baddest, featuring Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, was held at Boulevard Hall on the same day.

This year's Riyadh Season was marked with the addition of Boulevard Hall (named Kingdom Arena for sponsorship reasons), an indoor arena with a FIFA and AFC-approved football pitch capable of hosting various types of events with more than 40,000 spectators in attendance (27,000 for football matches). It was fully opened in January 2024 and serves as the new home ground of Al Hilal.

The following events took place as part of 2023 Riyadh Season:

Riyadh Season secured front-of-shirt sponsorship with Serie A club AS Roma, worth €8 million per year, to promote its series of events and Saudi tourism globally.

Zones

There are 12 Zones in Riyadh Season 2023:[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bridge, Sam (29 January 2020). "Revealed: the impact of Riyadh Season on Saudi tourism". Arabian Business. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Riyadh Season Visitors Hit 5Mln Within First Five Weeks". Asharq Al-Awsat. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Guinness World Records - Riyadh Season".
  4. ^ "Riyadh Season 2022 set a whopping 10 Guinness World Records".
  5. ^ Wilson, Josh. "Saudi Arabia To Invest $64 Billion In Its Entertainment Sector". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  6. ^ "Quality of Life". Vision 2030. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  7. ^ "Riyadh Season kicks off with a bang as WWE Crown Jewel returns to Saudi Arabia". Arab News. 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  8. ^ "Al-Murabba welcomes visitors with music, food and more for Riyadh Season". Arab News. 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  9. ^ "BTS: K-pop band perform in Saudi Arabia despite criticism". BBC News. 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  10. ^ "Saudi Arabia's Entertainment Blowout is Twice as Big This Year". Bloomberg.com. 21 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Pitbull brings the party to Riyadh Season's glittering opening ceremony". The National. 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  12. ^ "Riyadh Season 2022 opening ceremony wins Guinness World Record".
  13. ^ Al Shurafa, Sara, ed. (9 October 2019). "Saudi Arabia: All you need to know about Riyadh Season". Gulf News. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  14. ^ Gillett, Katy (19 October 2019). "Tamer Hosny, Nancy Ajram and DJ Carnage: Riyadh Season Boulevard opening weekend proves a huge success". The National. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  15. ^ a b "Saudi Arabia: All you need to know about Riyadh Season". Gulf News. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  16. ^ "Riyadh Season 2021 kicks off in Saudi Arabia's capital". Al Arabiya English. 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  17. ^ Guyett, Matthew (2023-11-21). ""One last dance", "Battle of the GOATS" - Fans react as Lionel Messi's Inter Miami are set to clash with Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr next year". Sports Keeda. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  18. ^ "Riyadh Season Cup 2024: Teams involved, dates and how it works". 90min. 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  19. ^ "Riyadh Season". Riyadh Season. 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
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