Sports used to unite us. We can rethink them so they do it again

Pierre de Coubertin designed the modern Olympic Games around a civic purpose: sports could model fair play, international respect, and ethics of effort over victory. He convened global leaders to codesign the International Olympic Committee, leading to the first modern games in Athens in 1896. FIFA’s founding charter later echoed a similar ambition by administering soccer in service of “friendly relations.” Over time, both institutions moved far from their origins, with De Coubertin working without pay and later FIFA leaders convicted of accepting large bribes. The idea that sports can transcend political and cultural divisions remains relevant, especially as the World Cup draws massive audiences amid low shared civic experience. Future outcomes depend on intentional design and on what influential sports leaders believe sports are for.

"Pierre de Coubertin didn't stumble into the creation of the modern Olympic Games, he painstakingly designed them around a clear civic purpose: that sports could model fair play, international respect, and the ethics of effort over victory."

"Within two years of proposing a reestablishment of the ancient games, he convened leaders from around the world to codesign the International Olympic Committee; that first Olympic Congress led to the first modern games in Athens in 1896. Eight years after that, FIFA's founding charter echoed the same ambition in service of administering the global game of soccer toward "friendly relations.""

"Today, both institutions have drifted so far from those origins that the contrast is almost darkly comic: De Coubertin worked without pay for decades; his spiritual successors at FIFA were convicted of accepting $150 million in bribes. Yet the underlying idea-that the power of sports to transcend political and cultural divisions gives them a unique social responsibility-has never been more relevant or more needed."

"The world's largest shared cultural event, the FIFA World Cup, is anticipated to draw 5 billion viewers this summer. It comes to the United States (as cohost alongside Mexico and Canada) at a time when capacity for shared civic experience is at a historic low. That is either a tragedy or an opportunity. Where we go from here depends, as design decisions always do, on intentionality."

Read at Fast Company