by Viktoria Loidl (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) This blog post was written for the course "Current Issues in Global and EU Affairs", which took place from February 11-May 9, 2019. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) taking on Jonny Howson (Norwich City) Image Credit: Ben Sutherland, via Wikimedia Commons Sport is not only good for our bodies but also the economy and transatlantic relations between the European Union and the United States of America. The sports industry is a large and fast-growing sector. Additionally, it creates a multitude of employment opportunities and contributes to EU gross value added. In sum, the industry contributes about € 294 billion to the EU’s gross value added and employs roughly 4.5 million people throughout a variety of different sub-industries. As roughly 3% of employment in the EU are within sport-related industries, the EU actively promotes growth in this sector through tourism, media, fit...