Hi, this is Victor Matheson. I'm a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.

When I say the word sportswashing, you say what? So that's a pretty new term. Basically, it means

using some sort of sporting event to try to cover over any problems a country has had in the past.

And how is that different from any sort of reputation laundering? Let's say I'm Andrew Carnegie

and I know a lot of people think I've been a brutal capitalist. So I decide to open

libraries in many, many, many places around the country. Or Leeland Stanford, the Robert Baron,

decide to open what would become one of the most esteemed universities in the world.

Is this any different? Really, it's not much different. The idea of using politics to curry

favor is centuries old. I actually think all the way back to ancient Rome. And I think to this

famous poet, Juvenile, and he coins the term bread and circuses. And the term bread and circuses

refers to this. If a government can at least provide enough food to make their citizens survive,

that's the bread part. And enough circuses, things like gladiatorial contests and chariot

racing, if they can provide those, they can distract the populace from any other failings of the

government. Okay. Getting back to today, what are some good, pure examples of sportswashing?

We've had countries like Russia, very active in mega events like the World Cup and the Olympics.

Same thing with China hosting now two, Olympics in the last couple decades, or the Middle East,

getting into big sporting events recently. Now, Victor, you're listing of the nations that

have engaged in what we're calling sportswashing. Russia, China, the Gulf States. There's an assumption

in labeling this as sportswashing that these countries are bad countries and that they are dirty

and have a reputation to wash. But they probably think the same thing about us. So how is that fair?

I'm idea. I'm coming from an American standpoint. But the fact that these are countries without

functioning democracies, where you have no freedom of the press or at least limited freedom of the press

...