The U.S. is currently hosting the FIFA Men’s Club World Cup, an international competition between soccer club teams and the prelude to the larger and more widely anticipated FIFA Men’s World Cup hosted next summer across 16 North American cities. (The latter tournament is played between countries, instead of clubs.)

Fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen explains why these competitions and other global sports tournaments aren’t just entertainment, but a space where politics, economics, and diplomacy increasingly intersect, with a look in particular at the case of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Coates Ulrichsen is the author of the forthcoming book “Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer,” which will be published by Hurst on Aug. 21. The book goes beyond the popular term “sportswashing” to explore how and why Saudi Arabia burst onto the international soccer stage in 2023 and won the rights to host the FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2034.

Featured:

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/kristian-coates-ulrichsen

X: https://x.com/Dr_Ulrichsen

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristianulrichsen/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kristianulrichsen.bsky.social

Mentioned in this episode:

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer (Hurst, 2025), https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/kingdom-of-football/ (forthcoming).

This conversation was recorded on June 3, 2025.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

This is the second episode in a two-part conversation on the challenges facing Mexico domestically and in its relationship with the United States.

Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, joins “Baker Briefing” to examine the host of issues facing the U.S.-Mexico relationship under Presidents Donald Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum. His conversation with David Satterfield covers tariffs and the future of the North American trade agreement, Trump’s executive order designating cartels as terrorists — which has led to U.S. visa restrictions for some Mexican politicians — and the brewing water crisis facing Sheinbaum as drought at the border persists.

Featured:

Tony Payan, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/tony-payan

Follow Tony on X: https://x.com/PayanTony

Follow Tony on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-payan-373bb870/

This conversation was recorded on May 14, 2025. A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/3ZVKOIX

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

This is the first episode in a two-part conversation on the challenges facing Mexico domestically and in its relationship with the United States.

Mexico held its first judicial elections on June 1, following last year’s sweeping overhaul of the judiciary. Center for the U.S. and Mexico Director Tony Payan joins “Baker Briefing” to discuss the implications of the reforms and other domestic challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum as she carries forward the political project of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — including Mexico’s complex public safety landscape and mounting public debt.

Featured:

Tony Payan, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/tony-payan

Follow Tony on X: https://x.com/PayanTony

Follow Tony on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-payan-373bb870/

This conversation was recorded on May 14, 2025. A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/445QmTK

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.