Andrea Benjamin, University of Oklahoma, Darrell Lovell, West Texas A&M University
August 2026
Building toward the summer of 2026, the U.S. sporting landscape is becoming increasingly salient and political. With the nation co-hosting the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, the rapid changes to advent of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in college sports and the policy and legal debates surrounding it, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon, there is a unique opportunity to examine how educators use sports and sport policy to teach political science and public administration.
In June 2026, fourteen educators from across the nation convened online to share how they incorporate sport policy and politics into their classes and the challenges they encounter. As the presentations progressed, the value of sports as a teaching tool became clear. Sports offer rich opportunities to connect political science and public administration theories to practice. Examples included teaching about mega-events and public finance through simulated bid processes, using the evolution of hockey - internationally and domestically - to explore shifting social and political climates, and course modules that blend race, gender, and sports. After meeting, participants identified core questions about the extent to which sport policy and politics can be integrated into the classroom and what types of assignments best engage students.
Discussion throughout the symposium frequently returned to the ability of sports to engage students in ways traditional policy and politics examples often do not. Participants emphasized the cultural salience of sports and expressed interest in expanding its use as a pedagogical tool. A second common theme was the importance of scaling assignments to fit course level and student population, which shapes how effectively sport-based content can be used.
Guided by these themes, the group worked to develop resources that can help faculty integrate sports more readily into their classes or build sport-focused courses. Organized into three groups, the symposium produced: (1) a repository of gender and sports literature for classroom use, (2) a series of assignments that can be scaled from introductory to graduate-level courses, and (3) a customizable bid simulation that illustrates the complexity of public support and the administration of mega-events.
These contributions frame sports and sport policy as focusing events that can guide classroom discussion. They also address the two central themes raised during the symposium - student engagement and applicability across course levels. By providing these resources, the symposium offers faculty a starting point for incorporating sports into their teaching, whether they are already familiar with sport policy or new to the topic. As sports in the United States become increasingly central to cultural, political, social, and legal debates, these materials represent a baseline for helping political science and public administration faculty stay on the cutting edge of pedagogy.
