"David Beckham’s value is no longer how well he can bend it. It’s now all about how well he can spin it."

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     November 14, 2022 A great and sometimes exhausting thing about being a journalist is that you are never truly off the clock. Something will happen on your vacation or on your walk to work that will prompt a question that becomes a story. The things you read, the conversations you have with friends, the program you put on in the background while you make breakfast. You end up writing about these things. You can’t help yourself. That’s how I came to write a [magazine story about soccer]( that’s not really about soccer. I’ve followed the sport for years. On weekends (okay, sometimes weekdays too—don’t tell my boss) I keep a game on in the background the way some people listen to Spotify. But soccer’s [increasingly warped finances]( were causing casual fans like me to learn about sovereign wealth funds, private equity, and oligarchs. I was reading about tax evasion and inequality; regulatory capture and shell companies; sports-washing and soft power. It was like a crash course on global wealth and how it moved around and what people wanted with it. It was impossible to follow the action on the field and not come away thinking in some way about the action off of it. Then this spring, Russia invaded Ukraine, and the stories I’d been reading in my free time began merging inescapably with the stories I was reading in the A-section of the New York Times—from Gazprom’s importance to the German economy, to the exalted status of oligarchs like Roman Abramovich, to the way events like the 2018 World Cup had been used to strengthen Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. All anyone wanted to talk about was the money flowing into the sport and the moral compromises fans and leaders had made in order to get a hold of more of it. Soccer, I explained in the essay that [became our November/December cover story](, is not driving how the world works. But it’s a decoder ring for what really is. [Just ask David Beckham](. —Tim Murphy P.S. At Mother Jones, we believe our journalism is an ongoing conversation with our audience, and that’s why we’d like to better understand the needs of our Black readers. Here’s a short [survey if you have a moment.]( Thanks so much for your help! Advertisement [WLU Press]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [How the Story of Soccer Became the Story of Everything]( Oligarchs, private-equity moguls, and petro states took over the sport—and the world. BY TIM MURPHY SPONSORED CONTENT BY MONEY SCOOP   Money Scoop Become a personal finance expert with Money Scoop - the free newsletter that makes you smarter about your money. From investing tips to budgeting strategies, Money scoop has all the tools you need to make your money work for you. [Subscribe for free.]( [Trending] [Election-denying secretary of state candidates got crushed]( BY ALI BRELAND   [Yes, Democrats really do "need Georgia"]( BY JEREMY SCHULMAN   [The midterms brought some bad news for public education]( BY ISABELA DIAS   [Elon Musk responded to a senator the only way he knows how]( BY ALI BRELAND Advertisement [WLU Press]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [Qatar's soccer investments are about a lot more than just the World Cup]( A walk through the oil nation's sports empire. BY TIM MURPHY [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755