All of a sudden, New York seems like the center of the sports world. And the city has a mayor who is taking full advantage.<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani has been an ever-present face at Knicks games and at World Cup-related events, including today\u2019s match, opining on both sports and often sporting an Arsenal or a Knicks jersey to boot. In doing so, the avowed socialist mayor is modeling for politicians around the world a new version of lefty sports fandom.<\/p>\n

His good fortune on this front is undeniable. Mamdani is a hardcore soccer fan and player; his basketball knowledge is somewhat less developed, but he\u2019s able to talk about the Knicks and sound like an authentic supporter. He has avoided pitfalls like the one that tripped up New York\u2019s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul when she recently said she would \u201cask [President Donald Trump] to name the starting lineup of the 1993 championship team and see how he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

(It was an almost unforgivable gaffe \u2014 the 1993 Knicks famously lost in heartbreaking fashion to Michael Jordan\u2019s Chicago Bulls and failed to reach the NBA Finals.)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t sound like he\u2019s speaking a second language like so many Democrats do when they talk about sports,\u201d said a source close to Mamdani, granted anonymity to candidly discuss Democratic Party messaging strategy. \u201cHe\u2019s not putting on \u2014 with other Democrats, you run into an issue where they don\u2019t know who [Knicks star] Jalen Brunson is. They don\u2019t know who KAT is<\/a>. They don\u2019t have Linsanity memories<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani laces his World Cup press conferences with soccer references, so much so that Hochul has begun to call him a \u201csuper fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an April event the two pols did together on Staten Island, the mayor recalled going to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 and said his fondest memories from that tournament included playing beach soccer in Durban.<\/p>\n

At a midtown press conference last week laying out the city\u2019s public transportation plans, Mamdani said the city would not \u201cpark the bus,\u201d a joke about a derided defensive strategy that is familiar to soccer fans but that he had to explain to the American press corps.<\/p>\n

When Mamdani earlier this week announced a massive World Cup watch party in Central Park, he did so alongside George Weah, the former Liberian president and soccer star who is also father of American forward Tim Weah.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a child growing up in East Africa, there were towering figures, and then there was George Weah, the first African player to ever win the Ballon d\u2019Or,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you had told seven-year-old me that I would one day go into the same line of work as this man, I would be extremely disappointed to understand that you meant politics.\u201d Then he got in a subtle dig at Weah for playing for Chelsea \u2014 a rival to Mamdani\u2019s Arsenal, whose uniform the mayor turned into a custom kurta<\/a> during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in May.<\/p>\n

But he has also treated his commentary on sports as almost separate from his broader political agenda. While Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) (still angry about the Brooklyn Dodgers\u2019 owner moving them to Los Angeles<\/a> in his youth) calls MLB team owners \u201cbaseball oligarchs,\u201d<\/a> Mamdani has assiduously avoided comments on Knicks owner James Dolan\u2019s controversial invite to Trump to watch the finals, aside from noting that he would be in a much cheaper part of Madison Square Garden, with a standing-room-only ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging with the sphere of sports for politicians can be more politically effective by being less explicitly political,\u201d said Jules Boykoff, a former professional soccer player who is a professor at Pacific University and has written multiple books on sports and politics.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s sports-focused mayoralty hasn\u2019t been all sunshine. After he attended a New York Mets game earlier this year and the baseball team went on a long losing streak, the New York Post <\/i>dubbed it<\/a> the \u201ccurse of the Mambino.\u201d Any politician who dares to be a public sports fan exposes themselves to the vicissitudes of a game they cannot control \u2014 no matter how powerful any lucky jersey is.<\/p>\n

But flexing sports fandom can work to advance a political agenda as well. If sports are often a reflection of society, and the World Cup is the globe\u2019s most important sporting event, it stands to reason that a politician who can confidently talk about sports has a chance to benefit. Working with FIFA, which is frequently excoriated by the global left<\/a>, Mamdani secured 1,000 tickets for just $50 to see World Cup games that are otherwise selling for thousands of dollars. That\u2019s a very public way to advance his democratic socialist agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it could be effective politically, moving through the sport of soccer to make political arguments without actually talking about politics directly,\u201d said Boykoff. \u201cJust getting people tickets, making sure the working class is involved \u2014 I do see that as very much a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"