The NBA will head to Paris for the January 24 edition of its global games, an exciting way to kickstart 2020—particularly for this French sports expert. I’ll be there. And if you will be, too, here are two basketball-related events for your agenda:
The Year in Review 2019: Sports Diplomacy to the Forefront
As 2019 races across the finish line more quickly than a Ford at Le Mans, its clear that sports diplomacy—recognition of what it is, the various ways that it is being used, how it is changing the sports world, and some of its caveats—is ever-more present. This is true in my own work as a scholar-practitioner, as well as how athletes, teams, and countries tell their stories or how the sports business world is impacted by sports diplomacy, for better or worse. Here’s the top ten events and stories in which sports diplomacy threaded its way through my 2019—plus one honorable mention :)
When Sports Integrity Meets Diplomacy
Today the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s Executive Committee endorsed unanimously a recommendation that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) be declared non-compliant for four years for its role in the latest Russian doping scandal. This means, should the signatories of the April 2018 International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories (ISCCS) abide by the code they signed, Russia’s elite athletes will be prohibited from competing in elite international competitions until 2024.
This particular case raises the question: what happens when doping meets #sportsdiplomacy? A lot, it turns out.
#MerciTony
This Armistice Day, Veteran’s Day, its fitting that 100 years after the Franco-American and basketball bonds were more deeply entrenched that another milestone is being marked. Today in Texas, the San Antonio Spurs are retiring jersey #9, the number worn by famed French point guard Tony Parker for all but one season in his storied NBA career.
Heroes of (Sport) Diplomacy
Paris by Hoops
Many people think of food, fashion, and yes, football (soccer) when they think of France and associate a weekend in Paris with glamor, gossamer dreams, and macaroons. Others think of the “new Paris” that features La FrenchTech and Parisian-style hipsters along the Canal St. Martin in the 10ème. For over a century, all “good Americans” have had their own versions of the City of Light, but “my Paris” has long been sports-centric. Given the building anticipation of the NBA’s January 2020 match in the French capital, a quick 48-hours en ville by basketball illustrates different aspects of the city that you likely never thought of.
Spotlight on Basketball Diplomacy: NBA-China Edition
Last week’s “events” involving the NBA and China, ignited after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support for the Hong Kong protestors, thrust basketball diplomacy onto center stage. But omitted in all of the coverage analysis is that no one should be surprised that the Chinese government would take a stand when politics and international basketball intersected.
