A key point often lost in the criticism of the IOC’s tolerance of tyranny is that by hosting the Olympics, democracies become more authoritarianOn Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee will rubberstamp the plan to hand Paris the 2024 Summer Games while Los Angeles will host in 2028. Given the lack of bids from democratic countries and the increasingly frequent torpedoing of bids by activists and referenda, Olympic boosters are surely thrilled to lock down Paris and LA, two cities in democracies with storied Olympic histories.After all, the IOC has received negative attention – and rightfully so – for bestowing the Games on authoritarian regimes. Olympic honchos even handed Beijing its second Games – it will host the Winter Olympics in...
America’s biggest league now has two Los Angeles teams. Judging from opening weekend, there may not be many fans to watch themIn American sports there seems to be an obsession with empty stadiums during games. It’s as if some secret mandate exists requiring fans to spend hundreds of dollars for tickets, drop $15 for a beer and then spend two hours trying to exit a postgame parking lot. Nonetheless, sports writers – including this one at times – feel compelled to snap photos of empty stadium seats and share them on social media. These pictures usually include some snarky observation about the home team or a swipe at fans who left early.#Rams #INDvsLAR RT @EPLSB: @[me] NFL fever in Los...
The Chargers are moving to Los Angeles because the city chose to put its own needs before those of a sports franchise and its wealthy backersSooner or later the public welfare office for sports billionaires is going to close. American cities will look at the more than $7bn of taxpayer money spent in the last 20 years on football stadiums alone and say: “Enough!”On Thursday, the San Diego Chargers announced they will be leaving the city where they have played for the last 56 years, and will move to Los Angeles. They are doing this because the politicians and voters in San Diego did not give Chargers owner Dean Spanos the same golden gift Atlanta and Seattle and all the...