Atlantic Council launches sports policy center with Kalshi backing
The Atlantic Council launched the Power of Sports Center on Tuesday with backing from Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated prediction market. The new organization will study how sports shape global policy and economics. Kalshi said the partnership advances its mission to expand financial markets to include all events with economic impact, not just traditional asset classes. The center was announced September 22, 2026, with no disclosed financial terms.
Kalshi is building influence outside trading floors just as tribal opposition and Polymarket's LeBron James deal squeeze it on two fronts. The Atlantic Council partnership gives Kalshi a policy voice to shape how regulators and lawmakers think about sports event contracts before courtrooms do. That matters because the Tunica-Biloxi deal fractured tribal unity Kalshi faces in Ninth Circuit cases, and James now gives Polymarket the marketing edge Kalshi never held alone.
The Power of Sports Center lets Kalshi seed research and convenings that define sports contracts as economic infrastructure, not gambling. Polymarket has no comparable think tank conduit. The platform that wins the policy narrative will ease its own regulatory path while its rival spends on celebrity instead.