January 4 – Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee (pictured) is the latest eye-catching name to lend their support to the United States bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, taking his place alongside the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Drew Carey and Henry Kissinger on the Board of directors.
Lee, a regular courtside spectator at New York Knicks NBA games at Madison Square Garden, is also a huge football fan and particularly the English Premier League, where he supports Arsenal.
Lee also became the 40,000th season ticket-holder for Inter Milan in Italy’s Serie A.
Sunil Gulati, the chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of the US Soccer Federation (USSF), said: ”Spike Lee owns a distinct creative spirit and unbridled passion for sport and we’re privileged to be able to incorporate his voice into the development of our bid.
“As a fan of soccer and a father of a youth level player, Spike will provide a unique and invaluable perspective to our board of directors.”
Sports provide a common thematic element in Spike Lee films as baseball is consistently referenced in most of Lee’s pictures.
In 1999’s Summer of Sam, Reggie Jackson and the New York Yankees were recurrent themes used to connect the plot of the story with the popular culture of the time.
While Lee has not made any films about football, the sport has influenced his film career stylistically.
After seeing the biopic on France’s Zinedine Zidane, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, Lee applied the film’s format of numerous cameras tracking an individual player on the football field to the basketball court for his ESPN documentary on Kobe Bryant, Kobe Doin’ Work.
Lee said: ”The sport of soccer has a global unifying aspect that allows it to break down social barriers and sets it among other universal languages such as music and the visual arts.
“This unique quality is embedding the sport in the diverse American cultural landscape.
“I’m honoured to be part of the USA Bid Committee and its efforts to bring the FIFA World Cup back to our country as we see the second half of our soccer history develop in front of our eyes.”
Lee was the producer, writer and director of Do The Right Thing in 1989, his breakthrough film that was nominated for two Academy Awards.
The film was deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress in 1999 and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, one of five films to do so in its first year of eligibility.
Lee’s production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983.
Lee joins the Board, which recently welcomed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ESPN Executive vice president for content John Skipper, Walt Disney Company President and chief executive Robert Iger, Major League Soccer (MLS) founding investor Philip Anschutz, Univision chief executive Joe Uva, New England Revolution and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
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