Other Political Science Commons^™

More Than A Game: Sports Branding In Canadian Politics And The Canadian-American Relationship, Tyler Joseph Rohleder

Major Papers

The topic of sports and politics is extremely relevant in today's world. This paper looks at how sports branding within Canadian politics provides a tangible advantage to former athletes turned politicians, while these branding efforts also provide politicians who associate themselves with the phenomenon of sport a strategic advantage, termed the “Athlete Advantage.” These advantages are in a multitude of areas such as name recognition, higher approval ratings, and further political aspirations. This “athlete advantage” of sports branding is then expanded on in the form of sport diplomacy. With sport diplomacy and branding the concept of the “Athlete Advantage” is …