America is undermining its soft power in sports

NEW YORK – The pre-teen boys who play for Venezuela’s Cardenales Little League are on their way to the upcoming Little League World Series.

Credit is due to their talent and diligence – and an exemption from United States President Donald Trump’s travel ban personally granted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week.

Unfortunately, before this special waiver, their participation was far from guaranteed. 

In July, a different Venezuelan Little League team, Cacique Mara, were denied US visas and a chance to play in a different event in South Carolina.

The harsh, differential treatment of two youth teams is a new phenomenon in American sports. For decades, the US was recognised for its openness to international athletes and competition. Sports generated goodwill, as well as diplomatic, cultural and economic benefits, making it a US soft power. Now, the unwillingness to welcome athletes from everywhere is eroding it.

For as long as Americans have played organised sports, foreigners have been in the team. Major League Baseball has profited from immigrant talent since the 1870s, for example. But it was only during the middle decades of the 20th century that athletes began migrating to the US in large numbers for the express purpose of training and playing a sport.

These days, we are accustomed to seeing foreign-born players competing in – and dominating – top leagues, such as the National Basketball Association. Lesser known, but just as important, is the growth of athletes at the amateur and semi-professional level.

Consider college sports. During the 1999-2000 academic year, 3,589 international athletes comprised 2.4 per cent of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) top-tier Division I athletes; by 2023-24, that number had ballooned to 13,198 or 7 per cent.

Several factors draw them. First, there’s the money. American sports have more of it than any other country. The big salaries paid at the professional level are an obvious attraction. But so, too, are the opportunities at the collegiate and youth levels. Thanks to media rights revenue, for example, US colleges and universities fund scholarships, facilities and coaching at a scale and quality unavailable anywhere else in the world.

Overseas athletes aren’t just attracted to superior gym facilities, of course.

Sticking with basketball as an example, long before aspiring European players have ever heard of an NCAA Final Four, they’ve likely fallen for an American basketball culture that represents freedom and self-expression. At a time when America’s image abroad totters, Stephen Curry and his three-point shooting skills remain popular everywhere.

What government, anywhere, doesn’t wish that its values could be similarly embraced by global youth culture? Saudi Arabia’s recent, expensive embrace of sports as public diplomacy (sportswashing, in the eyes of many) is just one example of a country trying to emulate American success and co-opt some of the narrative.

Money alone can’t buy American soft power success. A country also needs values that it can sell, and a government willing to make the effort.

For example, since 2002, the US State Department has hosted a Sports Diplomacy Division intended to foster cultural exchanges and open up countries to American businesses along the way. Shaquille O’Neal, Ken Griffey Jr and Cal Ripken Jr have been among its most prominent envoys, presumably to the benefit of the NBA, MLB and their media partners.

Meanwhile, a cultivated image of openness has long been matched by an immigration policy that welcomes individuals with extraordinary abilities, including athletes. If someone wants to come to the US to compete, train and earn, that person has been, for the most part, welcome in recent decades.

The country’s role as host for major international competitions – such as the Fifa World Cup (in 1994 and 2026) and multiple Olympic Games (with Los Angeles on tap for 2028) – strengthens this perception and serves as a platform for promoting American soft power.

Mr Trump’s travel bans and immigration policies, ostensibly created to preserve national security, undermine those efforts. Though not targeted specifically at athletes, they are already casualties.

In June, the State Department denied visas to members of Senegal’s national women’s basketball team, who were planning a US training camp, and Cuba’s national women’s volleyball team, who were intending to compete in a tournament in Puerto Rico.

But players visiting the US temporarily – say, for a tournament or training camp – are not the only ones who are experiencing a different kind of welcome, either.

Foreign-born athletes who plan to enrol in colleges and universities this fall experienced significant visa delays and uncertainties this spring. Most issues in the latter category were eventually resolved, but the message both at home and abroad was unmistakable: It’s your passport – not your talent or determination – that decides whether you get to play.

Athletes lose out. The US loses more. In the increasingly intense battle for global loyalties, Americans need ambassadors and events that showcase their best values and culture. Sports do that, and the US shouldn’t willingly squander its lead. BLOOMBERG