Menu
World Cup

Russia Benefitting From PR Boost As Result Of Hosting WC

Russia's unexpected run to the WC quarterfinals helped bring positive PR to the host nation.GETTY IMAGES

The Russian football team may be out of the World Cup, "but the Kremlin is winning when it comes to making over its global image," according to Sabra Ayres of the L.A. TIMES. By "most estimates," Russia's hosting of what is "likely to be the most watched sporting event of the year" has been a "success." The lowest-ranked team at the start of the tournament, Russia made it to the quarterfinals after beating Spain. By doing so, "a breath of patriotism and even a national hero -- Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev -- emerged." All this has given Russia President Vladimir Putin "a fresh edge" as he prepares to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Helsinki next week. He will arrive in the Finnish capital "at a time when any negative world view of Russia has been muted by good news." Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Int'l Relations in Prague and an expert in Russian security and politics, said, "It's good to be seen as the center of the world for a while. The World Cup has been rather successful in terms of being a soft power win, not just in terms of the fanfare, but also the coverage in press that says, 'Russia isn't such a horrible place after all.'" The question now is whether the Kremlin and Putin will "leverage or squander the positive PR." Galeotti: "If Putin actually wants to use that soft power, then it also must become a constraint on his behavior" (L.A. TIMES, 7/10).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2018/07/11/World-Cup/Russia-Makeover.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2018/07/11/World-Cup/Russia-Makeover.aspx

CLOSE