Scandal appears to be hitting sport on an almost daily basis. It poses a major challenge to all stakeholders and in the past year none of the major sports has been immune. Evidence and allegations of a wide range of scandal and corruption have hit virtually every major sport. A small sample includes:
- Golf: extra marital affairs – Tiger Woods
- Formula 1: deliberate car crash to influence result – Renault
- Snooker: match fixing – John Higgins
- Rugby: ‘bloodgate’ fake injury – Harlequins
- Soccer: take your pick from financial mismanagement (Portsmouth et al), deliberate handball (Thierry Henry), extra marital affairs (John Terry), allegations of underage sex with a prostitute, (Franck Ribery), fans seek sponsor boycott (Man Utd) etc.
- Cycling: widespread doping
- Cricket: financial irregularities – IPL
- NFL: sexual assault – Ben Roethlisberger
The reality is that young successful sportsmen in particular frequently become embroiled in one type of scandal or another. Among women the frequency appears to be much lower but instances of performance enhancing drug use, for example, are hardly unheard of.
For those running sport, greed, misuse of power and financial malpractice appear all too common. Whether it be deliberate dishonest activity or financial incompetence, many sports have been tainted by the behaviour of those whose role is to promote and protect.
The latest issue of the International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship is devoted to the subject of scandal and corruption and features research to demonstrate the extent of some of the problems, the public attitude to them and the strategies that can be adopted by sponsors and rights holders.
It is clear that scandal will not go away. Indeed, the Journal demonstrates that the rates of incidence are likely to grow. The number of young, immature stars with vast amounts of disposable income is growing at a similar rate to the ownership of mobile video cameras.
The general public can and does supply media organisations with photographic content. A soccer star on holiday or in a nightclub is now rarely more than a few feet from a trigger happy onlooker. Kiss and tell stories can earn huge rewards for the informer. One small indiscretion and you’re front page news!
In the past rights holders and sponsors have reacted slowly and inappropriately. Their actions have often contributed to the story being bigger than it might have been and the impact has been greater and more damaging as a result.
To an extent, this is still the case but the smart operators have developed sophisticated strategies for dealing with the issues.
This includes contracts with morality clauses that can either trigger a reduced payment or, if desired, a termination. Alternatively, several sponsors have stuck with the ‘guilty’ party to help them to address the issues. This ranges from encouraging individuals to seek therapy or rehabilitation, to actually providing resources to sports governing bodies. A good example was French lottery company, Française des Jeux, which set up a programme in the late 1990s to help eradicate doping in cycling. The programme obviously had only limited success, but the fact that the company attempted to resolve a massive problem facing the most iconic of France’s sporting jewels instead of simply walking away was well received by the public.
IMR continues to research and publish the latest material in this contentious area and is currently finalising a new report, Sports Sponsorship & the Law, which considers the legal aspects of many of the issues considered here.
The report is due for publication in late May. To register your interest, simply email info@imrpublications.com and full details will be sent shortly.
For more information on the Scandal and Corruption issue of the Journal, including full executive summaries of all the papers, visit the Latest issue pages.
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