From American football to soccer, basketball to cricket, the appeal of top players goes beyond just fame. To many fans they are heroes and idols. Young people aspire to emulate their achievements on the playing field and follow their example in everyday life.
At their best they create dreams that fans buy into, boosting the club’s reputation and capital. But that’s also what creates the jeopardy. If any one of these idol falls from grace, it can not only impact on the club’s brand but also dent the hopes and dreams of young supporters – creating reputational, financial and governance headaches in the process.
To get ahead of these issues, clubs need to monitor what their stars are saying and what’s being said about them, strengthen due diligence when signing players, model the financial impact of a reputational incident and have a comprehensive plan to minimize the damage if a crisis occurs.
A team of stars multiplies the risks
The perils of associations with famous personalities have been increasing in all areas of business in recent years. We’ve seen high profile cases where the misconduct of a brand ambassador has wiped many millions of value in revenue and stock prices.
Sports clubs are open to these issues, multiplied many times. A single team can have dozens of stars whose media wattage and fan following rivals that of the club itself. The biggest stars are brands in themselves and account for a huge amount of revenue, merchandise sales and pulling power. That creates a great concentration of opportunity – but also risk.
Young players are more likely to misbehave
Most players are young men in their twenties, who are statistically more prone to behaviours such as alcohol and substance misuse, assault and misconduct.[1] Sexual harassment and violence against women and girls are real and present risks, as well as doping, match fixing, racism and discrimination and indecent behavior or gestures on the pitch. In one recent case, a high-profile player was prosecuted for running a large dogfighting ring.
Even if most squad members live up to the club’s values, it only takes one out of 30 or 40 members to inflict reputational damage.
Because of their fame, what players say can also be big news and is likely to be amplified around the world in a 24/7 news and social media cycle. A misjudged comment or mistaken retweet can reverberate in real time causing real and lasting damage.
Sponsors can get caught in the backlash
Damaging incidents not only tarnish the reputations of the players and clubs involved, but also hurt the club’s sponsors, who may find themselves caught up in the backlash. For example, a sponsor might suffer loss of sales or consumer trust through association with a disgraced player. As the impact ripples out, they might pull the plug on deals they’ve signed with the team.
With so much at stake, and as the worlds of celebrity and sport converge, where more media attention is focused on players, it may be time for clubs to rethink their approach to managing reputation and move from a PR-led strategy to one focused on the financial and organizational risks.
