The US World Cup bid committee announced on Monday that Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee accepted an invitation to join the Board of Directors for the Committee as they work to bring the FIFA World Cup to the United States either in 2018 or 2022.

Lee is always seen sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden during New York Knicks home games. Lee also is an avid Gunners fan as well as Italian powerhouse Inter Milan.

“Spike Lee owns a distinct creative spirit and unbridled passion for sport and we’re privileged to be able to incorporate his voice into the development of our bid,” said Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer. “As a fan of soccer and a father of a youth level player, Spike will provide a unique and invaluable perspective to our board of directors.”

Sports provide a common thematic element in Spike Lee films and specifically baseball is consistently referenced in most of Lee’s pictures. In 1999’s Summer of Sam, Reggie Jackson and the New York Yankees were recurrent themes used to connect the plot of the story with the popular culture of the time. While Lee has not made any films about soccer, the beautiful game has influenced his film career stylistically. After seeing the biopic on France’s Zinedine Zidane, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, Lee applied the film’s format of numerous cameras tracking an individual player on the football field to the basketball court for his ESPN documentary on Kobe Bryant, Kobe Doin’ Work.

“The sport of soccer has a global unifying aspect that allows it to break down social barriers and sets it among other universal languages such as music and the visual arts.” said Academy Award-nominated director Lee. “This unique quality is embedding the sport in the diverse American cultural landscape. I’m honored to be part of the USA Bid Committee and its efforts to bring the FIFA World Cup back to our country as we see the second half of our soccer history develop in front of our eyes.”

Lee was the producer, writer and director of Do The Right Thing in 1989, his breakthrough film that was nominated for two Academy Awards. The film was deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress in 1999 and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, one of five films to do so in its first year of eligibility. Lee’s production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983.

The United States, Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan and Russia have formally declared their desire to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022. Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have each submitted joint bids for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, while Qatar and South Korea have applied as candidates to play host only to the tournament in 2022. Mexico withdrew its bid in September. Following that announcement, CONCACAF issued a public endorsement for the United States bid in November that pledged the full support of soccer’s governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean.