Tag: mega-events
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Russia, Marseille, and the Geopolitics of Sport at Many Scales
Note: this is the second time (!) something like this has happened. As before, I was approached to write a commentary for a non peer-reviewed expert journal – a different one this time. As before, and I still have no idea why, the editor never wrote back after commissioning and receiving the piece. Did I…
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A rather ridiculous amount of media attention
As I mentioned before, one of the advantages of working on a popular topic like mega-events is that your work periodically attracts outsized media attention. It was no different this year during the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics. Even though I don’t specifically work on Tokyo – and always recommend speaking to experts with direct…
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Cancel the summer of super-spreader mega-events
This being a personal academic blog, obviously I tend to share more of my successes rather than setbacks or failures. That said, I think it’s important to share some of the more challenging moments too, so that’s what this one will be about. Back in 2015, I was fortunate enough to have a commentary on…
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New special issue out now: The urban and economic impacts of mega-events
It’s been a long road, but finally our special issue is complete and out in the (virtual) world at last. Some lessons learned about special issues and collaborative publishing projects: It’s going to take longer than you want or expect. Everyone is busy, overwhelmed, working on a last-minute project. Budget in more time than you…
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Unstable soft power – new article in print
This was a highlight of my year. I’ve long admired the work on soft power and mega-events by Jonathan Grix and friends, and I had some ideas on soft power myself. But I intended these ideas as a refinement of the notion of soft power, not as a criticism per se of Grix et al.…
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Potemkin Neoliberalism – new article in print
It’s out in the world! I’m very happy about this paper. While it flows from the same place as my doctoral research, it’s a separate piece that stands on its own. Here, I advance the concept of Potemkin Neoliberalism, exploring various dimensions of superficiality in the articulation of the 2018 Men’s Football World Cup in…
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A Soviet interpretation on the quintessential American mega-event
This booklet is a rarity. Shipped all the way to Zurich from a legendary leftist bookstore in San Francisco (“fighting commodity fetishism with commodity fetishism since 1981”), this is a Soviet broadside against Reagan’s America, seen through the lens of the 1984 Summer Olympics. Back when I was living in Russia, a good friend once…
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The Promise and Pitfalls of the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia
Note: this was originally slated to be a commentary piece for a non peer-reviewed expert journal that shall remain nameless. For reasons I still don’t understand, the editor never wrote me back after commissioning and receiving the piece. I found it again recently during some computer cleanup, and given that it’s over a year past…
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2026 World Cup: Canada + USA + Mexico
I was asked to write a quick op-ed for USA Today on winning the so-called NAFTA bid for the 2026 World Cup. Obviously I’m hugely in favor of investing in and improving international relations, particularly as the USA is in such a delicate situation at the moment. I have my doubts, however, about the wisdom of…