WORLD Cup (June Newsletter)

Now there’s a word or phrase thrown around a bit… ”World” championship… let’s see, we have baseball World Series open only to the MLB teams located in the US or Canada. Or the NHL World championships… ditto for North America. The NFL is a little better… trying new locations in Mexico City and London. It seems a little cheeky to claim a World title if you don’t let the World participate. There are some much better examples: Little league Baseball for instance truly is global. Their World Championships actually is what the name implies.

And the NBA is doing a really good job. While many of us were transfixed watching the Warriors or LeBron, the CBA was busy, very busy with the China Basketball Association. Bet you did not know there was a CBA, right? Well there is and it is very big and robust, in some cases exceeding the amazing stats the NBA has here.

Of course, what prompts me to think Globally is the World Cup Soccer/Football event going on in Russia... This is truly a WORLD event with 32 countries participating in 2018. This number will swell to 48 for the US based 2026 Games. Viewership is historically astounding: 3.2 Billion people tuned in for the 2014 games. 42% of the total population of the WORLD tuned into Soccer. Wow!

The business marketplace is globalized. Entertainment is globalized via movie and music. In some new forward leaning ways, currency is being globalized with cyber currency.

Sport is next and it’s my premise that Soccer and Basketball will lead the way. A simple ball suffices for Soccer and a ball and hoop for Basketball. Throw into the mix instantaneous GLOBAL internet coverage and an African continent where 41% of the population is under 15 or South America, which is 50% under 21, and in China, well it's a lot!

Our membership focus is Sport and Active Lifestyle; local markets are maturing…. maybe it’s time to look around and see if we can join in on this “global thing!”
-Bob

READ THE FULL JUNE NEWSLETTER HERE