This book is an up-to-date and wide-ranging book examining how sport impacts society, media, politics and economics around the world. It revisits globalization and sport discussions, explores theories and case studies of sport in global society. The chapters originally published in special issues in Sport in Society.

Introduction - The twenty-first-century SportsWorld: global markets and global impact 1. Contested epistemology: theory and method of international sport studies 2. Revisiting Gustave Le Bon’s crowd theory in light of present-day critique 3. The new sporting Cold War: implications of the Russian doping allegations for international relations and sport 4. Origin, diffusion and development of polo: an East to West cultural flow 5. Political economy and judo: the globalization of a traditional Japanese sport 6. Leveraging participation in Olympic sports: a call for experiential qualitative case study research 7. Boosting ice hockey in China: political economy, mega-events and community 8. An analysis of Glasgow’s decision to bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games 9. Platform politics: sport events and the affordances of digital and social media 10. NBC’s televised media portrayal of female athletes in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games: a critical feminist view 11. A destination development by building a brand image and sport event tourism: a case of Sport City USA 12. Sport for development with ‘at risk’ girls in St. Lucia