Ben Trammell
Since I was young, I have always loved athletics. Growing up in Kentucky, basketball was everything. If you didn’t play, it was probably because football caught your attention — but I was one of the few who fell in love with baseball. After playing all three sports in high school, I was fortunate enough to receive an offer to play baseball at Centre College, a small liberal arts school just down the road from my hometown. During my time at Centre, I spent a semester studying abroad in Strasbourg, France, where I discovered my passion for political affairs. My most vivid memory from visiting European institutions in Strasbourg, however, is not of the legislative chambers, but of a baseball field located across the street from the European Parliament. After admiring the field for a moment, I quickly went about the rest of my day without thinking much of it. However, in hindsight, that moment was the catalyst for my interest in the intersection of sports and politics.
After graduating from Centre, I chose to continue my education at the University of Kentucky’s (U.K.) Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, focusing on security and intelligence issues. What has intrigued me most, however, is an independent study I undertook on Sports Diplomacy during my final semester. Collaborating with a fellow student, Sam Dantzler, and Patterson faculty, we explored ways to leverage U.K.’s prominent presence in college sports to expand the curriculum beyond traditional frameworks. Therefore, increasing the diversity of future course offerings and by extension, demographics of incoming Patterson cohorts.
Through our study, we published an article in the Patterson Journal of International Affairs examining Major League Baseball’s international initiatives, the NFL’s expansion into Europe and South America, and their broader implications for American politics. We also had the opportunity to guest lecture at Meredith College and record a podcast series. Redline Sports is the culmination of that work; a platform dedicated to raising awareness of sports’ power as tool for diplomacy and power in an increasingly unpredictable era.
At a time when traditional frameworks are crumbling, we continue to believe in the unique resiliency of sports to bridge the globe. Thanks for joining us on the adventure, cheers!
Sam Dantzler
Growing up in the football locker room, I was always struck by the ability for the game to take dozens of men from all different walks of life, cultural backgrounds, and belief systems and unite them behind a shared common interest. It’s cliche, sure – but the locker room makes up the best we have to offer. I was born and raised in a small town in Southwest Virginia – meaning diversity and differences in perspective were sometimes hard to come by. That’s not to say there weren’t great lessons to be had from growing up in this reality. In fact, when I stepped into a college football locker room at Randolph-Macon College for the first time it, it made my appreciation for the many guys from all over the country and all over the political, social, and economic spectrum that much greater.
The proposition of a college football team is something rare in today’s institutions and something that I think makes it incredibly unique. Anyone who’s lived it, or experienced something similar in another sport, knows the feeling: dozens (in my case, over a hundred) of individuals waking up at 5am to compete and work their asses off because they understand there’s a goal to be achieved that’s greater than the individual. Sports do this better than almost any other vehicle. They are a uniting force that few other fabrics of our society can replicate. That small taste of this diversity rich, uniting force in college sparked an interest in me to seek out that same dynamic professionally.
After a year coaching football at my alma mater, I enrolled at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky. I couldn’t shake the sense that the same unifying power I’d seen in sports had a place in diplomacy and international relations. Both are built on cooperation, understanding, and the pursuit of common goals. I’d seen that firsthand in college, and I knew it was just a small glimpse of the global force sports can be – a true universal language.
Unlike some other tools of cultural connection, two kids from completely different sides of the world with a makeshift soccer goal and a ball can immediately connect through a level of mutual understanding that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. That’s why sports diplomacy remains one of the State Department’s most effective outreach programs: it works. Sports bridge divides, foster empathy, and achieve what diplomacy so often strives for. The connections are undeniable.
You can see it everywhere. Look around Dodger Stadium on any given night: thousands of fans of every culture, language, and belief, united behind the same team. Or take a Premier League match – 11 players on the field, 11 countries represented, multiple religions and languages, all pulling in the same direction. Think back to ping-pong diplomacy between the U.S. and China in the 1970s, or baseball players bringing “diamond diplomacy” to Japan in the 1920s. Sports have always been a stage for connection and understanding. Sports are global. Sports are diplomacy.
As Ben and I entered our final semester at the Patterson School, we knew this dynamic was something worth exploring further, especially in the American context. Over the next decade, the U.S. will host the World Cup and the Olympics, two enormous opportunities to project soft power through sport. At a time when other instruments of American influence, like USAID, are under pressure or being restructured, sports remain one of the most resilient and accessible tools of engagement.
That realization sparked the creation of this independent study – and ultimately, Redline Sports. This project has been transformative for both of us, merging our academic pursuits with our lifelong passion for athletics. We started Redline because we saw a gap in the conversation. Not enough people are talking about how sports diplomacy, development, and commerce shape the world, and the future of America’s role in it.
So here we are: excited, motivated, and ready to explore the intersection of sports, diplomacy, and global cooperation. Thanks for joining us along the way!
