2024-03-04
1 小时 5 分钟In ancient Rome, it was bread and circuses. Today, it’s a World Cup, an Olympics, and a new Saudi-backed golf league that’s challenging the PGA Tour. Can a sporting event really repair a country’s reputation — or will it trigger the dreaded Streisand Effect? Also: why the major U.S. sports leagues are warming up to the idea of foreign investment.
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner.
Back in 2022, we published an episode called what is sportswashing?
And does it work?
The episode was primarily about a controversial new golf league called Live Golf Liv that was financed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.
When we put out the episode, Liv was just about to hold its first event.
Since then, there has been a lot of news, lawsuits, Senate hearing, copious name calling.
So we have decided to update that episode for you.
We have also added a new interview with a sports lawyer who puts the controversy in context and tells us whether foreign investors may soon be flooding the NFL and NBA.
That's the final part of the episode.
I'd love to hear what you think.
Our email is radioeconomics.com.
as always, thanks for listening.
Hi, this is Victor Matheson.
I'm a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.
When I say the word sports washing, you say what?
So that's a pretty new term.
Basically, it means using some sort of sporting event to try to cover over any problems a country has had in the past.
And how is that different from any sort of reputation laundering?
Let's say I'm Andrew Carnegie, and I know a lot of people think I've been a brutal capitalist.
So I decide to open libraries in many, many, many places around the country.