Spotlight on U.S. Sports Diplomacy: Washington Bets on Games for a Soft Power Comeback

Washington is once again looking to the world’s playing fields to mend strained alliances and confront rising competitors. As traditional instruments of power—military strength, trade leverage and formal diplomacy—face growing limitations, U.S. officials are elevating sports diplomacy as a central pillar of soft power. The aim is to harness stadium atmospheres, global tournaments and star athletes to project a more appealing American image, particularly in regions where trust in Washington has eroded. Reporting from Intelligence Online notes that this shift is unfolding against a backdrop of sharper rivalry with China and Russia and lingering skepticism about U.S. intentions after years of foreign-policy upheaval. In this battle of narratives, policymakers hope that joint training camps, team jerseys and shared fan experiences can open doors where speeches, sanctions and communiqués no longer resonate.

Sports diplomacy stages a comeback as Washington seeks to refresh its global brand

From NBA preseason matchups in Abu Dhabi to Major League Baseball development camps in Central America and new women’s soccer exchanges linking U.S. clubs with emerging leagues, Washington is piecing together an updated sports diplomacy strategy to reset perceptions overseas. The State Department’s network of sports envoys—featuring retired Olympians, WNBA standouts, Paralympic champions and former NCAA stars—is being redeployed to communities where American standing has slipped. Their assignments go beyond autograph sessions: they run youth clinics, host community dialogues, collaborate with local coaches and appear alongside homegrown heroes in carefully planned public showcases.

U.S. embassies are being asked to treat major international competitions and exhibition tours as strategic opportunities rather than one-off spectacles. Diplomats are instructed to coordinate with U.S. leagues, media partners and sponsors so that American athletes, not just American policies, occupy the spotlight. The goal is to link positive experiences on the field with broader impressions of the United States, especially among young people who consume their worldview through TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube rather than traditional news or political speeches.

• Priority regions: Africa, Southeast Asia, Middle East
• Key partners: NBA, MLS, USOPC, NCAA
• Flagship tools: youth clinics, coaching residencies, city-to-city “sports twinning” programs

Inside Washington, the renewed emphasis on sports diplomacy stems from an unflinching diagnosis: military victories, security cooperation and economic pressure have not translated into admiration or lasting trust. Younger demographics, in particular, tend to ignore official communiqués but enthusiastically share viral game clips and behind-the-scenes locker room footage. Policymakers are therefore designing sports initiatives with hard metrics in mind—tracking audience sentiment, digital engagement, local partnerships and community outcomes—and tapping funds that cut across public diplomacy, education and development budgets.

The strategy is not without risk. Skeptics abroad already cast some programs as little more than public relations campaigns, and a single controversy involving a U.S. athlete, brand or league can rapidly undermine carefully crafted messaging. Yet, for now, officials appear persuaded that scoreboards, locker rooms and fan zones may open more doors than formal summits or tightly scripted statements, particularly in an era when global audiences are shaped by influencers and algorithms as much as by diplomats.

Major leagues and global superstars become mobile soft power platforms

Washington increasingly treats U.S. professional sports leagues as de facto traveling embassies. NBA preseason games in Abu Dhabi, MLB showcases in London, and American football exhibitions in Mexico City or Frankfurt are now structured as multipurpose engagements: they blend elite competition with youth outreach, cultural programming and public diplomacy. U.S. diplomats coordinate in advance with team owners, television networks, streaming platforms and apparel companies so that these events serve as full-scale soft-power roadshows rather than isolated games.

The State Department’s sports envoys initiative, once a niche effort, has evolved into a core instrument of this approach. Current and former athletes are dispatched to areas where conventional diplomacy faces suspicion—from parts of the Middle East and North Africa to segments of Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa—to serve as accessible messengers around issues such as inclusion, civic participation and healthy lifestyles.

• NBA & WNBA players recruited to front anti-disinformation campaigns and voter participation drives in emerging democracies.
• Soccer icons from the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) engaged in initiatives on girls’ education, gender equality and leadership training.
• Olympic medalists tapped as “trusted messengers” on climate resilience, public health and disability inclusion.

Embassies, think tanks and advocacy groups increasingly cultivate relationships with high-profile athletes whose social media reach eclipses many traditional media outlets. These figures are sometimes asked to embody contested American ideals—free expression, racial justice, gender equality—even as some of them openly critique U.S. institutions at home. The calculation in Washington is straightforward: the loyalty and emotional connection that fans feel for a handful of global superstars can compensate for skepticism toward official U.S. messaging.

That calculation, however, comes with exposed vulnerabilities. Coordinated campaigns are subject to growing scrutiny as possible “influence ops,” and any scandal—from doping allegations to offensive remarks—linked to a flagship athlete can quickly boomerang, eroding the very soft power that policymakers seek to build. In an era in which controversies spread worldwide in minutes, sports diplomacy initiatives must be agile enough to manage reputational risk and authentic enough to avoid the appearance of pure propaganda.

Biden administration focuses on the Global South with tailored sports partnerships

From Nairobi’s training tracks to community pitches in Rio de Janeiro and improvised basketball courts in Jakarta, the Biden administration is investing in sports diplomacy as a way to reinforce U.S. influence across the Global South, where Chinese infrastructure projects and Russian security partnerships have gained traction. Rather than chase mega-events like the Olympics or World Cups, Washington is turning to smaller-scale, bespoke programs stitched together with local organizations and designed to align with national priorities.

USAID, the State Department’s sports envoys and private sports franchises are increasingly collaborating with national federations, youth academies, municipal clubs and schools. Together they design co-developed curricula, coaching clinics and community tournaments that integrate social themes such as gender equality, climate resilience, anti-corruption and conflict prevention. The language of football, basketball, track and field, and cricket becomes the entry point; messages about governance, education and civic responsibility are embedded in the training model rather than delivered as top-down lectures.

This approach marks a move away from standardized campaigns in favor of country-specific partnerships tailored to media ecosystems, cultural sensitivities and political realities in Africa, Latin America and South Asia. U.S. planners believe that building trust through long-term locker-room relationships, joint training centers and shared coaching frameworks can produce more durable goodwill than high-profile summits that come and go with election cycles.

Within the State Department, early pilots are being analyzed as case studies, mapping where sports engagement can complement security cooperation, digital infrastructure initiatives or development finance. The emerging model blends symbolic soft power with observable results, prioritizing educational attainment, health outcomes and inclusive participation.

• Localized programs co-designed with municipal clubs, schools and youth groups.
• Co-branding with U.S. leagues to lend visibility and credibility to grassroots efforts.
• Social-impact goals linked to education, health, gender equality and inclusion.
• Media-ready events tailored to regional platforms and storytelling styles.

These initiatives intersect with a broader global trend. According to the International Olympic Committee, more than 3 billion people watched at least part of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, and FIFA estimates that the 2022 World Cup reached about 5 billion viewers worldwide. The sheer scale of these audiences illustrates why governments see sports as an indispensable stage for shaping perceptions—and why tailored, long-term engagement in everyday settings, rather than a narrow focus on marquee tournaments, is becoming central to U.S. sports diplomacy.

Experts call for a coherent sports diplomacy doctrine, not ad hoc publicity drives

Policy analysts in Washington caution that a surge of exhibition matches, friendly tournaments and athlete exchanges will have limited effect if they are not anchored in a clear, long-term soft power strategy. Researchers at think tanks and former officials from the State Department argue that sporadic, sponsor-driven events can easily devolve into branding exercises divorced from the deeper work of building relationships with youth groups, local sports federations, educators and civil society organizations.

They advocate situating sports diplomacy within a broader ecosystem of cultural, academic and digital engagement, supported by consistent funding and evaluative tools that extend beyond any one administration. Rather than organizing headline-grabbing tours tied to election cycles, they urge Washington to prioritize continuity: multi-year leagues, recurring tournaments, and sustained training programs that embed American partners in local sports communities.

To transform this vision into a practical framework, policy specialists are circulating draft guidelines designed to align sports initiatives with foreign-policy goals and local needs:

• Align athlete tours, training camps and tournaments with existing embassy outreach and development projects.
• Partner with grassroots clubs, school leagues and community centers, not just elite professional organizations.
• Measure impact using independent public-opinion surveys, education and health indicators, and long-term exchange data.
• Safeguard programs from partisan swings with multi-year budgeting and bipartisan oversight.

Many of these experts argue that success will depend on authenticity and reciprocity. Programs that appear to dictate values from Washington are likely to trigger backlash, while initiatives that elevate local coaches, athletes and administrators as equal partners have a better chance of building trust. Incorporating independent evaluators and local advisory boards can also help ensure that sports diplomacy efforts respond to genuine community priorities rather than Washington’s branding needs alone.

Final Thoughts

Whether this new emphasis on sports diplomacy can genuinely repair damaged relationships and reshape perceptions of U.S. leadership is still an open question. What is clear is that stadiums, arenas and neighborhood courts are again becoming arenas of statecraft, where contests over influence play out alongside the actual games.

In a geopolitical environment where images, narratives and digital reach often matter as much as troop deployments or trade agreements, the next chapter of American foreign policy may be judged in part by what unfolds on the field. The real test for Washington is not whether it uses sports diplomacy, but whether it can convert symbolic victories, viral highlights and shared fan moments into durable strategic gains.