Sports crises expose sponsors' most valuable assets, their brands, to the resulting fallout. How to minimize its impact? Sport is never far from controversy. Whether it's inappropriate alcohol-related behavior, drug abuse allegations, or inappropriate public musings on a thorny political issue, the national press is full of sports stars dragging the image of their employers – and sports that they represent – ​​in the proverbial mud. Such crises can have major impacts on existing sponsorship partners and the potential to attract new revenue to the sport. The medium is only beginning to prove its commercial viability in terms of return on investment over the past five years, and some believe brands are scared off by the risks inherent in sports sponsorship deals. Football is the most obvious sport whose commercial value has been tainted by the actions of its players. While the game still attracts multi-million pound investment from brands due to the massive media attention it receives, many are questioning the wisdom of their associations in light of a seemingly constant negative headlines. The culpability of the player involved in many of these cases may not be relevant. As one sponsorship industry expert says: “A sports star can be cleared of any wrongdoing following the emergence of a scandal, but would you put him back on the road for your brand? I know I wouldn't. »The downside to any sponsorship deal is knowing that the sponsoring organization's most valuable marketing asset, its brand, is exposed to the risks inherent in professional sports. The key question is the strength of the link between shocks, crises and general bad behavior of top athletes, and the image and brand equity of sponsors. Anyway, when the mud flies, does it stick to the marks? According to David Abrahams, senior vice president of Marsh Risk Consulting Practice and an expert in brand risk, there is often a demonstrable link between how a crisis is handled by a company and what happens to that company and its associated brand. “How any crisis is handled becomes a visible test of management capacity,” he says. “If this crisis results from a fundamental breach of trust or performance, the cumulative effect of poor management can be devastating.” Crisis management The scale of the problem facing sponsors is closely related to the shock value of an incident in media terms..