Research published by the International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship shows that younger people and sports fans are more tolerant of doping in sport than older people or non-fans.

Professor Harry Arne Solberg, who led the research project points out that the majority of respondents were critical of doping, but the findings did reveal significant differences among the various demographic groups.

"The more interested people were in sport, the more liberal were their attitudes towards doping. First, they tended to disagree that the commercial actors [such as sponsors and broadcasters] who continued to be involved in doping sports were accomplices in doping. Second, the same tendency of disagreement applied to the suggestion that TV stations should cease broadcasting events such as the Tour de France that had had repeated doping exposure.

"We can only speculate about the reasons for this pattern. One possibility may be that for this group, the desire to watch sport was stronger than the reluctance toward doping. Furthermore, they also tended to be less motivated to reduce their purchases from sponsors involved in sports where doping occurred than from others."

The research also confirmed that the older people were, the more negative they were towards doping. When questioned about their suspicions of doping in sport, the respondents clearly felt that international athletes were more likely to use performance enhancing drugs than domestic athletes.

In terms of the actual sports that the respondents mistrusted, top of the list came cycling, followed by athletics and boxing. Football was close to the bottom of the list with motorsport the most trusted.

The majority of respondents were in favour of taking tough action against athletes involved in doping. 86% agreed strongly that sponsors should reduce their support for 'doping sports' such as cycling, while 80% agreed strongly that they should withdraw.

A large proportion (58%) also strongly supported the idea that athletes and sports federations that were exposed in doping should pay back the support of their sponsors.

Paul Kitchin, deputy editor of the International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, believes that greater knowledge of sport could explain the different attitudes among respondents.

“This research study shows that younger respondents and actual sports fans did not feel the drug incidents are just cause to cancel sponsorships and/or broadcasts.  Possibly these respondents are more aware of the reality of doping in professional sport and realise it is the individual athletes and teams that are tainted and not the commercial partners.”

Note

Polling was undertaken using telephone interviews. 925 persons completed the interview, with an average interview duration of 14.8 minutes. All interviews took place in May 2008