The NHL is not only considering more outdoor games. It is considering more overseas games. Chief operating officer John Collins referred Sunday to a “European business plan” and ideas ranging from resurrecting the World Cup to starting something like a champions league. But first the NHL has to reach a deal to go to the Sochi Olympics, which are less than a year away now. There remain several open issues between the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee. The four organizations will meet this week.

Phil Mickelson has won three green jackets, and he was the one asking all the questions Sunday during a practice round at the Masters. In his group was Augusta National's newest member — former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice...Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore made history in August when they became the first women invited to join the home of the Masters.

State-owned Qatari television network Al Jazeera is exploring the acquisition of Spain’s La Liga premier soccer league rights in a bid to expand its budding global sports franchise, tweak its business model in a world in which pan-Arab television is on the decline and compensate for mounting criticism of its coverage of popular revolts in the Middle East and North Africa.

In sport, China has discovered a new brand of soft power to extend its influence across the globe...In recent times, starting from the successful 2008 Summer Olympic Games, China has also used sport to extend its influence in the global community. The global influence of Chinese athletes such as tennis player Li Na, hurdler Liu Xiang and basketball player Yao Ming are key examples.

Japanese Internet billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani has a solution for Japan’s diplomatic woes with China: let more Chinese players play on the country’s sports teams...Japan is missing out on a chance to build goodwill across the globe by restricting the number of foreign players, said Mr. Mikitani, who is also a member of a panel on industrial competitiveness reporting to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.

It's not just about building stadiums or sponsoring training programs and competitions. The government is using the soft power of culture to change the public perception of women athletes. One example is "Hey'Ya Arab Women in Sport," the brilliant exhibit by photographer and frequent Condé Nast Traveler contributor Brigitte Lacombe which runs at the Katara Cultural Village through June 13.

Across Africa, the growing presence of Chinese investments in economy and infrastructure is evident. In the last ten years, various state-owned firms, even a number of private companies, have become major investors in Africa with China being the single largest bilateral source of annual foreign investment in Africa. Indeed Chinese investment permeates almost every sector of Africa’s economy. As of mid-2012, China’s Ministry of Commerce estimated that cumulated foreign direct investment in Africa had exceeded $14.7 billion.