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Fox may have already lost its World Cup breakout star in Zlatan Ibrahimović
Zlatan Ibrahimović appeared to bid farewell to Fox Sports after the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, suggesting his time in the network’s studio was a one-tournament experiment. “You made it easy for me. I hope, America, you enjoyed it as much as I did, and this is also my farewell to the studio,” Ibrahimović said…
Sunday Sports: Finals of the Watertown City Golf Tournament and more
Here’s a recap of your North Country sports this Sunday.
Bangor businesses hope World Cup excitement scores big with local fans
As the world’s biggest soccer tournament comes to a close with its championship match, Bangor businesses are hoping the global excitement translates into packed dining rooms and a busy Sunday afternoo...
Spain or Argentina? Politicians are divided on the World Cup final - Live Updates
We asked some of the most dedicated tourney followers in American politics to share their predictions for the final.
Spain's Pau Cubarsí Wins 2026 World Cup Young Player Award
Spain's Pau Cubarsí has won the 2026 FIFA World Cup Young Player Award, given to the tournament's top player under the age of 21.
What Do The World Cup Final Winners Get?
It's not just the winners of the World Cup getting paid at the end of the tournament, but the champions will get that and much, much more.
I went on Walmart's World Cup tour. It was peak America.
International World Cup fans fell in love with Walmart. I attended one of the tours the company organized to seize on the attention.
Competing for the crown: Rivers Casino wants to be the ‘entertainment capital of Hampton Roads’
More than just gambling, Rivers Casino in Portsmouth has restaurants and live touring acts, and aims to be the No. 1 option for entertainment in Hampton Roads.
Arsenal's World Cup finalists
It's European versus world champions in Sunday's World Cup final and Arsenal have three players in Luis de la Fuente's Spain side who face Argentina live on the BBC from 19:00 BST. Mikel Merino has been dubbed the World Cup 'super sub' after scoring two last-minute winners in the knockout stages to eliminate Portugal and Belgium from the competition. At this tournament, he has become the first player in World Cup history to score the winning goal in two different knockout-stage matches as a substitute, and also the first Spanish player to score two winning goals after the 80th minute at the World Cup.
For Gainesville High alum, acting in ‘Spamalot’ at Fox Theatre means a lot
Meet Delaney Benson, a Gainesville native who is returning home as a cast member of the touring company of "Spamalot," which plays at the Fox Theatre from July 21-26.
Where is the next World Cup? See hosts for 2030 and 2034
The 2026 World Cup ends today at MetLife. Here's where the next tournaments will be played in 2030 and 2034.
Washington Huskies Forward Leads Serbia to Championship of International Tournament
Huskies forward Nikola Dzepina will face another potential UW recruit, Urban Kroflic, in the championship game of the FIBA EuroBasket tournament.
Ricky Gervais rejects calls to tone down comedy: 'Be offended if you want'
Ricky Gervais says backlash only makes his jokes funnier, revealing why he's finally done addressing cancel culture in his stand-up tours now.
Kings’ Darnell Credits Team for Ending Summer on High Note
Sacramento salvaged their tournament with a balanced offensive clinic, providing coach Chris Darnell vital evaluations of playmaking prospects and rookie shooters ahead of the regular season.
The beginning of the end
To start our final weekend of an incredible World Cup tournament: the third-place match in Miami.
I live in popular New England tourist city year-round: What it's like
As a local in Newport, Rhode Island, living in a popular New England city that attracts tourists year-round comes with challenges and surprises.
New Baystate Franklin doctors explore rural health needs on county tour
Six new Baystate Franklin family medicine residents toured Franklin County to learn about local community support services.
Band of Horses celebrates 20th anniversary with Dinosaur Jr.
Band of Horses celebrates the 20th anniversary of their debut album, “Everything All the Time,” on a co-headlining tour with Dinosaur Jr., where the album will be performed in full
For Singer Judy Collins, A 'Farewell Tour' Doesn't Necessarily Mean 'Goodbye'
Despite the way her 50-city tour is being promoted, the singer admitted, “I’m always working, because I love to work, and it makes me feel happy.”
Marco Bassetti on why global entertainment still depends on local culture
In an age when viewers can drift from TikTok to Netflix to YouTube within minutes, the World Cup remains a rare thing: a live event that can capture the attention of a huge, simultaneous worldwide audience. Banijay Live, part of Banijay Entertainment that is behind hit TV franchises including "MasterChef," "Big Brother," and "The Traitors," is producing the tournament's closing ceremony on July 19 at the New York New Jersey Stadium. Marco Bassetti, its chief executive, says earning that kind of global attention is harder than ever — and keeping it depends on understanding local culture.
Where to watch AVP beach volleyball today: TV schedule, channel, live stream for New York Central Park tournament
Here's everything you need to know about AVP beach volleyball today, including TV channel and streaming options for the Central Park meet.
Bryson DeChambeau Update: Latest On His Controversial British Open Penalty
Bryson DeChambeau is once again at the top of the headlines when it comes to a major golfing tournament. The British Open was one of his best opening rounds he's had in a very long time, and he followed it up with a great Friday. He was originally just one back of the leader and […] The post Bryson DeChambeau Update: Latest On His Controversial British Open Penalty appeared first on Stadium Rant.
Finding My Sunderland Family in America
For years, supporting Sunderland in America felt like a lonely journey. How did one pre-season tour help one fan discover a community he never knew existed?
Local business owner reacts to AC/DC bringing tour to Madison amid heat, air quality concerns
MADISON, Wis. — Rock legends AC/DC will bring their "PWR Up" tour to Camp Randall Stadium on Sunday, drawing thousands of fans to the venue and surrounding businesses. However, the
Homestead businesses gain new customers from Parkway East detour
The Parkway East detour is sending drivers through Homestead, and local businesses are seeing benefits from the increased traffic.
Preparation Spreads the Value of the World Cup Across the Entire Sports Marketing World
The soccer tournament showed how being ready leads to success.
Simone Ashley On Returning For <i>Bridgerton</i> Season 5, Her New Music Career & Touring
Simone Ashley on returning for Bridgerton Season 5, her new EP Songs I Wrote In New York, and the world tour she's hoping to make happen.
World Cup winners to be presented with championship rings in tournament first
FIFA described it as "bringing one of the most recognisable American sporting traditions to the global game".
2026 Lucid Gravity Touring review: A strong act 2
Quick, comfortable, roomy, and agile for a large electric SUV.
Ribbon cutting, tours planned to celebrate completion of Kelce College of Business building and Besse Hotel renovation
Pittsburg State University and the community will celebrate the completion of two transformative projects with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and self-guided tours on Aug. 11.
Sports without politics is a fantasy and the World Cup proves it
From ancient Greece to Nazi Germany, sport and politics have long been intertwined. Nevertheless, we still imagine that international sport can be kept above the fray and serve as a neutral arena where nations compete on merit alone. In this article, diplomacy scholar Geoffrey Allen Pigman argues the 2026 FIFA World Cup shows this is a dangerous illusion. When international sport is left entirely to revenue-maximizing private bodies like FIFA, it doesn't escape politics, but rather surrenders to its worst expressions. With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics fast approaching, the IOC must decide whether to learn that lesson or repeat the same mistakes. The largest and most lucrative FIFA World Cup ever draws toward its climactic conclusion amidst a swirl of controversy. Team members, staff, fans, and spectators have been denied their right to enter the United States to participate, and US President Donald Trump intervened with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to overturn a referee’s call that Trump believed disadvantaged the US national team. It is a moment to step back and reflect on what the purposes of international sport mega-events like the World Cup, and international sport more broadly, are, and what they should be. Does international sport serve public purposes? Is there a public interest? Or is it primarily a private endeavor organized by commercial enterprises to entertain the global public (and generate profit in the process), which is occasionally used by governments and leaders for raisons d’etat? Central to the idea of sport is the principle of fair play, which in the international context demands that games be free from political interference. However, it is impossible to separate sport from politics, all claims to the contrary notwithstanding. The most positive political use of international sport through the millennia has been to facilitate diplomacy. The use of international sport for diplomatic objectives has existed since at least the time of the ancient Olympic Games, around which was instituted the custom of the Ekecheiria, or Olympic Truce, between participating states to facilitate fair competition and diplomatic achievements by ensuring that participants could travel safely to the Olympiad. In his seminal work On Diplomacy (1987), diplomacy scholar James Der Derian characterized the objectives of diplomacy as overcoming alienation and mediating estrangement between governments and between peoples. One increasingly important diplomatic tool in the technology-infused media environment over the past century has been public diplomacy, under which governments and non-state diplomatic actors (e.g. transnational corporations) communicate to global publics about their international policy objectives and to shape their global brand image. Political scientist Michał Kobierecki, in his important book Sports Diplomacy (2020), views sports diplomacy as falling broadly within the ambit of public diplomacy, as international sport intimately involves the participation of global publics as spectators and consumers of global media. Diplomacy scholar Stuart Murray and this author, in a 2013 article, distinguish between international sport used for diplomatic purposes and international sport-as-diplomacy, which encompasses the range of diplomacy that occurs as teams and competitors, spectators and fans, and government officials all converge for international sporting events like the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. Diplomacy scholar H.E. Chehabi, in a 2001 article on US-Iran sports diplomacy, describes the interaction between spectators and fans at international sporting events as “people-to-people diplomacy,” in which relationships develop independently of governments and their objectives. Diplomacy by the aforementioned definitions is often unsuccessful. Moreover, all too often the tools of diplomacy may be employed by governments and other actors to thwart or oppose the objectives of diplomacy as characterized by Der Derian. Governments routinely use the tools of public diplomacy to disseminate propaganda, spreading misinformation in the attempt to deceive global publics about their objectives and to create misleading impressions about their brand identity. Within sports diplomacy, the term “sportswashing” has been coined recently to describe how governments invest in and promote international sport to create positive global public impressions of their nations and, in doing so, to distract the global public from their deficient records in areas such as human rights and democratic governance. Murray, in his 2018 book Sports Diplomacy: Origins, Theory and Practice, introduces the concept of sports anti-diplomacy, wherein governments intentionally use international sport to advance aggressive and nationalistic objectives. Obvious historical examples include Hitler’s use of the 1936 Berlin Olympics to glorify his Third Reich and the 1969 El Salvador-Honduras football “war.” SUGGESTED READING The beautiful game made ugly By Emily Ryall FIFA argues that it is and seeks to be apolitical in its stewardship of international Association Football (soccer). FIFA policies governing bids to host the World Cup require uninhibited and non-discriminatory access for players, team staff, and spectators of all participating countries to host nations and venues. It became clear soon after Trump returned to power in the United States in January 2025 that Trump’s political intentions and objectives to limit non-US citizens from living and working in the United States and, in numerous cases, even visiting the country, would collide with FIFA’s host nation policies. Beginning soon after the start of the second Trump administration, US federal authorities imposed restrictions on entry to the United States of citizens of between 20 and 40 countries for any purpose, with only limited exceptions. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began arresting non-US citizens in the United States, including persons with and without legal status, holding them in jails, concentration camps, and other detention facilities until they were deported to their home or third countries, where they faced substantive risks to their personal safety. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, in an effort to ensure the most successful and lucrative World Cup in history, engaged diplomatically with President Trump in an attempt to facilitate entry to the US for World Cup participants. Infantino did all in his power to ingratiate himself with Trump, to the extent of creating a FIFA “Peace Prize,” which he awarded to Trump in December 2025 at a ceremony in the then Trump-controlled John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the World Cup draw. The prize was an ersatz consolation for someone who aspired in vain to win the rather more prestigious and well-known Nobel Peace Prize. And in the run-up to the World Cup, conditions became worse. In February 2026, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a war of aggression against Iran, illegal under international law, under the false pretence that Iran’s government was preparing to attack the United States and Israel. During the US aerial bombardment of Iran, US planes bombed Azadi Stadium, the facility where Iran’s national football team trained. As the 2026 FIFA World Cup began, it was clear that Infantino’s efforts had been for naught: the Trump administration would not adhere to FIFA policies governing access to World Cup host nations. World Cup referee Omar Artan, a citizen of Somalia, was denied a US visa to enter the United States to participate in the World Cup. Trump’s government only granted US visas to Iran’s football team ten days before they were scheduled to arrive for the tournament. Numerous members of the support staff for Iran’s team were denied US visas. Iran’s team, which had been scheduled to train in Arizona, was directed to shift its training site to Tijuana, Mexico, notwithstanding that all three of their group stage matches took place at US venues. The US Department of Homeland Security only permitted the Iranian team to enter the US on the day before each scheduled match and then to return to Mexico immediately after playing. Members of Iraq’s and Switzerland’s football teams were delayed for hours by US officials at the US border, and an Iraqi team photographer was refused entry. Spectators and fans from Haïti and Iran were denied entry to the United States altogether. A large number of fans from a range of countries had their applications for US visas rejected. There were multiple off-ramps through which participants could have avoided the negative consequences of Trump’s decisions for the 2026 World Cup. Once it was clear that the Trump government intended to violate the established expectations for World Cup hosts, FIFA could have shifted the matches scheduled to take place in the United States to Mexico and Canada. The three nations were already designated as co-hosts, and host cities and venues had been selected. Once it was clear that FIFA, governed by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino’s dependent and dysfunctional relationship with Trump, would never consider this option on its own, it fell to the national football federations to act. The national federations, particularly some combination of federations of the leading contenders (France, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Morocco, England, Germany, etc.), could have refused to participate under the US-imposed conditions or, at the least, demanded an ironclad agreement with the Trump government that FIFA policies on access would be respected. ___ International sport is inextricably entangled with diplomacy of different sorts, for good or ill, it cannot be considered to be in the purely private realm and left to revenue-maximizing private actors. ___ Why did neither FIFA nor the national football federations act to protect the interests of players, team staff, referees, fans, and spectators? In essence, the relentless engines of capitalism prevailed over norm observance, ethics, and fair play. The revenue interests of FIFA, sponsors, global media, and host cities won out. FIFA’s managers viewed hosting another World Cup principally in the United States as a veritable pot of gold for FIFA and its collaborators. FIFA has estimated its own revenue over the 2023-26 budget cycle, which includes the 2026 World Cup, at $13 billion, revised up from an initial projection of $11 billion, and 72% higher than the previous revenue cycle. Of that total, FIFA is estimated to have generated $8.9 billion from the Cup itself in revenue from TV rights ($3.92 billion), sponsorships ($2.69 billion), ticket sales ($3.1 billion), licensing rights, and other sources. A joint study by FIFA and the World Trade Organization estimates that the World Cup will contribute over $40 billion to global GDP, including nearly $14 billion in direct visitor spending in the three host countries (but principally in the United States, which hosted the lion’s share of the matches). The FIFA World Cup is now reportedly “the single most lucrative recurring commercial property in global sport.” And yet, notwithstanding the Trump government’s uses of the World Cup for sports anti-diplomacy, and the climate of anxiety that this created for participants and spectators, diplomacy that did not depend upon governments was able to thrive at the World Cup. Examples of successful people-to-people diplomacy were legion, as citizens of towns and cities across the States, as well as in Mexico and Canada, welcomed team members, their families and supporters, to training sites across North America. Fans of different teams joined together in person in stadiums for matches, at watch parties and bars, and at welcome events sponsored by host cities. The joy and camaraderie shared between the citizenry of Boston and Scotland’s “Tartan Army” of fans is but one example of how the “Beautiful Game” brings people together. Friendships forged across continents are likely to endure well beyond the Cup final. Even those achievements cannot be seen as unalloyed, however. As South African football fan Byron Pillay commented to Al Jazeera, “Football is called the Beautiful Game for a reason, for its ability to unite people. But it’s hard to believe in that magic with the politics and war rhetoric off the field of play, especially when one of the tournament hosts is central to that.” Ultimately, the experience of the 2026 FIFA World Cup illustrates that, as international sport is inextricably entangled with diplomacy of different sorts, for good or ill, it cannot be considered to be in the purely private realm and left to revenue-maximizing private actors. As long as there is the possibility of diplomatic progress in mediating estrangement between governments or between peoples, there is a broad and overarching public interest in international sport. Likewise, as it would be difficult to put on an international sport mega-event without international sporting organizations like FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), global media firms, and companies purchasing sponsorships, public and private interests in international sport must coexist, most likely somewhere on a shifting spectrum between partnership and rivalry or cross purposes. As the World Cup wraps up, the IOC needs to consider its lessons before the scheduled 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if they want to avoid a media-hyped Trump version of the 1936 Berlin Olympiad. The IOC and the National Olympic Committees need to set conditions on and make demands of Trump’s government with clearly articulated consequences for non-compliance, up to and including cancellation of the Games. Time is running out for the IOC, as unlike with the FIFA World Cup, there is no at-the-ready alternate venue for Los Angeles.
Hattiesburg lands Mississippi Soccer Association State Cup, strengthening reputation as a sports tourism destination
City and tourism leaders say years of investment in athletic facilities and partnerships are paying off as Hattiesburg prepares to host the Mississippi Soccer Association State Cup for the first time in 2027.
UK’s Enviropods summer camp gives middle schoolers a look at weather science careers
The summer camp tour was designed to visit areas impacted by natural disasters in recent years. The stop in Perry County comes nearly four years after the devastating 2022 flood.
Zendaya goes full Greek goddess on 'The Odyssey' press tour: An otherworldly winged gown, a gilded Zuhair Murad look and more
Zendaya's recent dresses, with their ethereal silhouettes, shield-like details and nods to classic Greek sculpture, have been nothing short of divine.
England players stunned by Tuchel tactics
England players were shocked by Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup retreat that resulted in his team being dumped out of the tournament by Argentina.
Ex-MLB star returning to baseball after being found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor
Former Tampa Bay Rays star Wander Franco will play for the Dominican Republic in an upcoming baseball tournament.
As fires burn, Boundary Waters businesses confront lost peak season
After days spent evacuating campers from the Boundary Waters as wildfires spread, outfitters and tourism businesses are beginning to consider the financial fallout. With the wilderness closed during the height of the summer season, many are facing mounting cancellations and an uncertain future.
World Cup reader Q&A: post your questions for Guardian sports reporter Nick Ames now
After 102 games we know that 2026 World Cup final will be between Spain and Argentina in New Jersey on Sunday. Our football correspondant Nick Ames has been in the US and Mexico all tournament – post your questions for him now
U.S. and U.K. soldiers participate in Armed Forces Entertainment All-Star Soccer Tour
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to V Corps subordinate units, Scottish soldiers from the U.K. army and professional soccer players touring with the Armed Forces Entertainment Heat Wave Summer Series, pose for a group photo after completing the scrimmage game during the All-Star Soccer Tour clinic at Tapa Army Base, Estonia, July 9, 2026. The AFE summer programming brings world-class entertainers, athletes, and performers overseas to connect with service members stationed around the globe. By providing unique opportunities for Soldiers to engage with professional talent, build morale, and share memorable experiences away from the mission, the program strengthens the resilience, camaraderie and sense of community that are essential to the military. V Corps is the U.S. Army's only forward-deployed corps, serving as the senior tactical headquarters for Army forces in Eastern Europe to deter conflict and provide combat-ready forces alongside our NATO allies. V Corps is operationalizing and expanding the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative with Allies, rapidly integrating emerging technologies into training and tactical plans. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Aaron Kaczur, 196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)
World Cup tourism significantly boosts McKinney Airbnb host's business
Country Roads lead Japanese business leaders to tour Mid-Ohio Valley looking for opportunities
DAVISVILLE – Local business and development leaders hope that country roads will lead a number of Japanese businesses to West Virginia to develop businesses in Wood County. A delegation from Japan is in the area this week looking at opportunities to possibly locate businesses locally. There were 19 people in the delegation, including four corporate […]
Japanese business leaders tour Mid-Ohio Valley looking for opportunities
DAVISVILLE – Local business and development leaders hope that country roads will lead a number of Japanese businesses to West Virginia to develop businesses in Wood County. A delegation from Japan is in the area this week looking at opportunities to possibly locate businesses locally. There were 19 people in the delegation, including four corporate […]
Japanese business delegation tours Wood County industrial sites in economic development push
Region's industrial leaders hope visits lead to new business investment
Summer Science Day 2026 expands learning opportunities for community
On July 11 at the Eccles Health Sciences Education Building, the Summer Science Day featured multiple science-related presentations, lab tours, story times and tabling opportunities open to all ages. The day-long event was presented by the University of Utah Stark Science Learning Center (SSLC) to explore science and the career opportunities it includes. Primarily...
Colorado festivals feature lavender, jazz, Celtic entertainment this weekend
Lavender Festival: The fragrant purple herb has many uses, and you’ll be a new person after visiting the more than 2,000 plants at this festival, with its guided tours, and food and drinks made with lavender, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Denver Botanic Gardens, Chatfield Farms location, 8500 W. Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton, […]
Colorado festivals feature lavender, jazz, Celtic entertainment, whitewater competitions this weekend
Lavender Festival: The fragrant purple herb has many uses, and you’ll be a new person after visiting the more than 2,000 plants at this festival, with its guided tours, and food and drinks made with lavender, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Denver Botanic Gardens, Chatfield Farms location, 8500 W. Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton, […]
The World Cup used to let us micro-dose politics. Now it is engulfed by it
Whether it is our ‘identity maths’, naked nostalgia or diaspora experience. All seem scarred by the political contexts bearing down on this tournament
NextGen internship program offers a whirlwind tour of genetics
From working in a research lab to participating in hands-on group activities, high school students get an inside look at biomedical science during a five-week summer internship with the Department of Human Genetics.
14 entertaining things to do in the Wilmington area this weekend
We've got big touring bands, intimate listening room shows, a big new musical at Thalian Hall and a couple of fun film screenings as well.
Sen. Padilla tours Boyle Heights warehouse fire site amid community health concerns
Shane Ryan defends Rory McIlroy ‘legacy’ question after internet blowback
The final of golf’s four major championships begins later this week at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, and players are fulfilling their pre-tournament media obligations. As one would expect before an Open Championship, golf fans were hanging on every word six-time major winner Rory McIlroy gave to the press. But it was one…
Cottonwood Fire drives tourist drought for Piute County businesses still open
While firefighters continue to make progress on the Cottonwood Fire in Fishlake National Forest, some business owners on the other side of the mountain in Piute
Flow of Parkway closure detours continues to surprise local businesses
During rush hour, it took Live Drive Four nearly 40 minutes combined to cross the Rankin and Homestead Grays bridges. Despite that, business owners said things haven't slowed down.
Sen. Padilla tours Boyle Heights warehouse fire site amid community health concerns: LAFD chief says ammonia wasn't leaked
While it was originally thought that ammonia had leaked during the fire, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jamie Moore, who led Tuesday's tour, said the ammonia in the building was never exposed to any flames and was never a threat.
Tom Cruise’s love for ‘Amores Perros’ led him to ‘Digger’
Tom Cruise has launched an early promotional tour — and preview of a potential Hollywood awards campaign — for his next film. The 64-year-old star says he still remembers being
Sold-out Henry Cho show boosts Bloomington Center for Performing Arts
The Bloomington Center for Performing Arts sold out over 1,100 tickets for comedian Henry Cho's July 12 performance, part of his The Empty Nest Tour, demonstrating the city's growing interest in arts ...
47 revelatory hours with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced
To review this month’s supposed remake of 2013’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, I must first correct the record. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced isn’t a game about pirates (and assassins) in the 18th century Caribbean. Sure, sure, that’s what the trailers would have you believe. They’ve go their clips of Edward Kenway swinging his swords and steering his pirate ship into cannon-blasting combat against British frigates. Is Resynced truly a pirate game? Of the 47 hours I spent playing Resynced over the past few weeks, I will admit I spent maybe 44 (?) of them collecting plunder with Blackbeard, drinking rum with Anne Bonny and debating the pros and cons of the lawless pirate-run settlement Nassau with Benjamin Hornigold. I may in fact have spent dozens of hours sailing to remote islands, reading treasure maps, opening messages left in bottles, sinking the odd Man o’ War with a well-timed broadside, collecting sea shanties for my crew, befriending a pet monkey, and hunting whales. I am nevertheless neither so Gullible nor so Narrow-Minded as to call the magnificent Resynced a “pirate remake.” Oh no. Forget any reviews of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced you may have read. Forget what you yourself may have played, if you’ve spent any time with the game since its launch. What Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is really about I’m here to give you the scoop (spoilers for Resynced’s Animus menu lore, which many players are probably not going to see): Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the new game whose development was led by Ubisoft Singapore, is set in the year 2096. It’s about a societal split, about revolution, about an old Assassin’s Creed adventure repurposed in the series’ distant future as propaganda or samizdat. It’s about the overheated future of 2096, essentially conquered by the series’ well-established nefarious Templar-run company Abstergo. (In this future, Abstergo is, among other things, remaking a 2013 pirate movie called Devils of the Caribbean, but this time in VR. The VR version will be backed by a marketing plan that involves AI influencers, a 10,000-avatar “metaverse premiere event” and that manufacturing of memes aimed at “50 million VR nodes.” See what I mean about Abstergo being evil?) Resynced is about a late 21st-century population mollified by the widespread use of Abstergo’s Animus devices which let people experience the lives of historical figures culled from “genetic memories.” It’s about an insurgent faction of Assassins. And it’s about a plan to wake the population into revolutionary fervor by showing them the memories of 18th century pirate Edward Kenway, who—as depicted in the original Black Flag and again in Resynced—gradually comes to an understanding about the Assassins of his day and their centuries old fight for freedom. Resynced is also about an AI developed within the late 21st-century Animus, called Ego. It has found a way to alter genetic memories, to create and show Animus users false ones. The game is about Ego’s efforts to tell the people experiencing Edward Kenway’s memories that Kenway was wrong, that fighting against order is folly, that we should crave a world where “compliance is rewarded with power.” Who are we in this game? We’re an unnamed Animus user in 2096 who experiences Kenway’s journey virtually. At four moments during Kenway’s exploits in the Caribbean our virtual jaunt can be interrupted for 10-15 minutes, as we explore Animus “rifts” where Ego explicitly tries to tell us how wrong Kenway was. None of this is what 2013’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was about, of course. That was a different game, even if you also spent dozens of hours pirating as Kenway in that game, across missions and a map that’s been faithfully reintroduced and rebuilt for Resynced. The 2013 Black Flag was about you playing as an unnamed researcher newly hired in 2013 by Abstergo Entertainment, the video game development wing of the Templars’ evil-corp. In that game, you were assigned to use the Animus to dive into the genetic memories of Desmond Miles, a man who died in Assassin’s Creed III and who was descended from a long line of Assassins (and at least one Templar) whose adventures were featured across the prior AC games. In 2013’s Black Flag, your mission was to plumb the Edward Kenway experience for material that Abstergo could use in productions such as the motion picture Devils of the Caribbean, though the Templars had some ulterior motives for the assignment. Resynced is therefore not a remake of 2013’s Black Flag. It’s a sequel. It is a new game about a new exploration of Edward Kenway’s pirate/assassin journey, set 83 years after the framing sequences of the original game. Resynced provides a new narrative framework that, thanks to the concept of an AI that wants to alter historical memories, arrives with creative justification to tweak a now-classic 13-year old game. That makes Resynced, already a hot seller, a tantalizing hint of where Ubisoft could go with a line of Assassin’s Creed remakes. They could remake the first game, the Ezio games, even the recent ones set in ancient Egypt and Greece. And for each, they could not just modernize the graphics and controls but expand and alter their sequences of events to use them as reference points for a conflict set in the late 21st century, as rival factions try to weaponize historical memories. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, even when that work consists of ravings about Assassin’s Creed’s modern day plot, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe A story most players will probably miss If you didn’t know any of this, I’m not surprised. If you played the game and still didn’t catch it, I’m not a bit shocked. If Ubisoft has no plans to do more of this, I won’t fall down. Almost all of what I’ve described is optional and missable in Black Flag Resynced. I nearly missed it myself, as I planned for a breezy playthrough of an old Assassin’s Creed favorite. Instead, I found myself in a 40+ hour hunt for the “real” story, buried deeper in Resynced than any gold-filled chest. The story of 2096 is Resynced’s meta-story, told in two remote pockets of the game: 1) four optional playable “rifts” that players may find as they proceed through Resynced’s pirate fantasy , 2) in dozens of text files tucked three menus deep in the game’s barely-interactive Animus hub. Assassin’s Creed games have almost always had a meta-story about people in the 21st century (usually matching the game’s release year) and their connections to the main history portions you play. Those meta-stories have always been squeezed into the margins, though seldom as severely and as, uh, graphiaclly simple, as in recent games. Back in 2013, the modern-day exploits of you as an Abstergo Entertainment employee were prominent. They were portrayed via first-person portions that occasionally interrupted the third-person Kenway experience and could be explored for hours, complete with their own missions, side quests and puzzles. Resynced’s 2096 story—of Assassin “Watchers” vs. Abstergo/Tempar goons, of rogue AIs, of panicking scientists, of a woman wondering why her Animus-addicted husband is muttering about Mary Read (“What does he mean by Assassins?”), of a fight for the population’s hearts and minds via varying interpretations of Edward Kenway’s life choices—is mostly told through unlockable text files. The files are interesting. Offered via diary entries, intercepted chats and news reports, they present varied perspectives of a world in crisis. One set works as a narrative puzzle as it reveals the Rashomonic interpretations of a massacre, or was that a successful Assassin hit? Another favorite reveals the rising bitterness of a person who, through Edward Kenway’s journey, now shakes at the ignored evil around him. One surmises that Ubisoft is averse to putting the Assassin’s Creed’s meta-story in the way of more marketable pirate playgrounds and ninja/samurai epics. Instead, we get a better-than-nothing text-in-menus approach introduced in 2025’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows. In Shadows, players unlocked the meta-story text files largely via time-gated missions that called on the user to kill X number of enemy type Y, clear three enemy castles, re-win a three-phase fighting tournament, and other grinds. Time restrictions on accessing these missions and unlocking the files meant it could take players months to access the full story in-game. But even in the most hardcore Assassin’s Creed hangouts, the fanbase instead seemed to throw up their hands rather than grind to keep up. In Resynced, Ubisoft has shown some mercy, diminishing the amount of new text files that are tied to timed grinds. Now, most of the text-based 2096 lore are associated with “data file” collectibles that players can find in the world. That includes a batch of written entries that explain a historical link between the feudal Japan era in Shadows and the piracy adventures in Black Flag. Players who explore a lot will find dozens of data files, though the game does not appear to offer any in-game tracker for finding each one. You just need to keep looking for them. As of this writing, I have most of them, but not all. I can’t find any full guide for them online. And even Ubisoft’s optional $5 microtransaction that reveals lots of items in-game does not appear to reveal the locations of the text files (at least the official description omits them from its collectibles list). That’s not a huge bother, because tracking the data files down compelled me to re-explore the waves and islands of Black Flag. That was a thoroughly pleasant task to do for the first time in a dozen years. I expect many players, though, will be content to wait for the files to be reproduced in an online AC wiki somewhere, the easier to read on a web page. It may not seem enticing to play a video game in order to gradually unlock pages of text to read. Why not, you may ask, just read a book, where they put the pages in order? For one, they’ve not tucked this latest installment of Assassin’s Creed’s meta saga in a book. I also enjoy the unordered delivery, the dawning comprehension of a story about 2096’s desperate people and questionable tech, which I glimpsed first at its middle, then the end, then the front, then other moments in between1. I am also enamored with the idea of the Assassin’s Creed games I’ve previously played, including Black Flag, being repurposed for an information war. The ideas in Resynced’s meta-story, which builds off characters and ideas in Shadows’ chunks of text, are strong. The potential of where they could go with it is exciting. As for the pirate stuff? Looks great, controls pretty well, is fun to play and oh so speedy in terms of how much of a good time you can have with each sit-down. It never gets old to chase a new shanty page across a rooftop, bombard a fort with upgraded mortars or use a diving bell to explore sunken wrecks (hats off to the team at Ubisoft Barcelona that worked on the underwater portions in Resynced; that team is now facing layoffs, such is the misery of modern gaming and oft-troubled Ubisoft). New pirate missions in Resynced involving new ally characters are brief, dramatic and add more to Edward’s story, even if the gameplay perks they provide barely enhance the gameplay. A new denouement for high-class pirate Stede Bonnet is affecting; a new hunt for Blackbeard’s treasure is a welcome extra moment. A new epilogue to hunt down a pirate killer, on the other hand, over-complicates Kenway’s character. The ending credits remain my favorite of any game I’ve ever played. Black Flag provides great source material. The revisit is well-made and a great sign of what could be. It is offered in a different wrapper that hints at an opportunity for more interesting remakes to come, should Ubisoft choose to pursue such treasures—and as we brace to resist or comply with an Abstergo future. 1 The messages that Edward Kenway finds in bottles tell another out-of-order story, one about a man reckoning with the strange memories and voices he’s heard in his head since he was a boy. That tale was also in the 2013 game and develops into one of Black Flag’s most compelling character arcs. In Resynced, it has lost its climax, because the bottle story previously paid off in the halls of the first-person Abstergo Entertainment, which is exclusive to the older game. An altered resolution, written by the 2013 game’s lead writer is fine, doesn’t invalidate the 2013 version, but makes for an inferior final note.
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