All Things WPC
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
March 29, 2019: Ken Shropshire, left, hosts the keynote discussion with USC Professor Todd Boyd, an expert on race in sports and film, during the second Global Sport Summit.
More than just for sport
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shared drive to harness the power of sport to deliver real-world solutions is at the heart of ASU’s partnership with adidas. The Global Sport Alliance leverages education, athletics, research, and innovation — including ideas and initiatives led by the Global Sport Institute and its CEO, adidas Distinguished Professor of Global Sport Ken Shropshire — to change lives through sport.

An expert in sports business, sports law, and the social impact of sport, Shropshire holds faculty appointments at multiple colleges within ASU, including its top-ranked W. P. Carey School of Business. “In the end, we want to provide greater access to information involving sport, in a way that people can understand,” he says. “There are really no boundaries to where the Global Sport Institute might go.”

Each year, the institute aligns its research, events, and other work with an annual theme. For 2017–18, Sport 2036 aimed to “shape a progressive vision for what sport could and should look like in the future.”

“In the end, we want to provide greater access to information involving sport, in a way that people can understand.”

Why 2036? That year marks what will be the institute’s 20th. It also marks the 100th anniversary of Jesse Owens’ 1936 Olympics victories in Berlin, achieved using track spikes handcrafted by adidas founder Adolf Dassler.

Race and Sport Around the Globe was selected for 2018–19 — another timely and intentional choice, marking the 50th anniversary of protests against racism by black athletes at the 1968 Olympics and 400 years since the first African slave was brought to America.

“We’re thinking about how important this is,” says Shropshire, “and also it’s a time to think about the progress that’s been made — or not — in that time.”

This year’s theme, Sport and The Body, includes topics such as adaptive sport, mental health, and more. Look forward to the future: globalsport.asu.edu