{"689132":{"#nid":"689132","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Pitch as a Laboratory: Global Development at Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs Atlanta prepares to host its 2026 World Cup matches, the world is focused on the spectacle, the economic impacts, and what might happen on the pitch during the tournament\u2019s June and July run.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmid all the excitement, researchers at the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts are also leveraging the \u0022world\u2019s game\u0022 as a sophisticated lens for understanding and advancing global development.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn his recent edited book, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Soccer-Globalization-and-Innovation-The-Beautiful-Game-in-the-21st-Century\/Bowman-Boyd\/p\/book\/9781032939032\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022(opens in a new window)\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESoccer, Globalization, and Innovation\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Professor and Regents\u2019 Entrepreneur Kirk Bowman argues that soccer provides a unique \u0022contested space\u0022 to show how communities can use innovation and collective action to achieve unexpected outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor instance, soccer\u2019s global dominance is often attributed to practices such as the system of promoting and relegating teams to higher or lower leagues based on their performance, its unique way of using single-elimination tournaments to create drama, and the evolution of the fluid and aggressive \u201ctotal football\u201d style of play.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhy is football the people\u2019s game with 4 billion fans? \u0026nbsp;It\u2019s because of these and other innovations,\u201d Bowman said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more about the book and global development at Georgia Tech, read the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/featured-news\/2026\/03\/georgia-tech-soccer-world-cup-global-development\u0022\u003Efull story\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESoccer has important lessons for global development, says Regents\u0027 Entrepreneur Kirk Bowman.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Soccer has important lessons for global development, says Regents\u0027 Entrepreneur Kirk Bowman."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2026-03-23 15:58:57","changed_gmt":"2026-03-23 16:00:06","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679712":{"id":"679712","type":"image","title":"soccer-book-photo-illustration.jpg","body":null,"created":"1774281544","gmt_created":"2026-03-23 15:59:04","changed":"1774281544","gmt_changed":"2026-03-23 15:59:04","alt":"\u0022\u0022","file":{"fid":"263903","name":"soccer-book-photo-illustration.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/23\/soccer-book-photo-illustration.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/23\/soccer-book-photo-illustration.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3673217,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/03\/23\/soccer-book-photo-illustration.jpg?itok=TMzbB7N_"}}},"media_ids":["679712"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1285","name":"Sam Nunn School of International Affairs"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}