PARIS — Russia hosting the
2018 World Cup,
the scandal-plagued
2014 Winter Olympics and Gazprom’s sponsorship of the
Champions League were powerful tools for the country’s global image and gained
Vladimir Putin prestige amongst the Russian population.
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However, the
Russian president’s decision to invade
Ukraine has resulted in destroying the warm global afterglow and experts
believe it could cost him dearly internally.
Saint Petersburg has already been stripped of
hosting this year’s Champions League final with Gazprom’s reported
40-million-euro ($45 million) a year sponsorship deal with
UEFA also in doubt.
The Russian Formula One Grand Prix has been
cancelled and there are calls for the country’s football team to be expelled
from the 2022 World Cup play-offs.
“Sport has always had a tremendous impact on
society,” Michael Payne, former head of marketing at the
International Olympic Committee (IOC), told AFP.
“The South African sports boycott over apartheid
probably had as much or greater impact than economic sanctions, over forcing
regime policy change.”
For Hugh Robertson, Chairman of the
British Olympic Association (BOA), a blanket sports ban could affect Putin’s standing
domestically.
“Sport is disproportionately important to absolutist
regimes,” he told AFP.
“The potential inability to compete would hit Russia
hard.”
Payne, who in nearly two decades at the IOC was
widely credited with transforming its brand and finances through sponsorship,
said Putin risked his standing with his own people.
“Putin may not care what the rest of the world
thinks of him, but he has to care what the Russian people think of him,” said
the Irishman.
“Lose their support and it is game over – and the
actions of the sports community has the potential to be a very important
influencer towards the Russian people.”
‘A greater good’
Prominent Russian sports stars have not been shy in
voicing their disquiet over
Putin’s invasion.
Andrey Rublev, who won the Dubai ATP title on
Saturday, veteran Russian football international Fedor Smolov, United
States-based ice hockey great Alex Ovechkin and cyclist Pavel Sivakov, who
rides for the Ineos team have all expressed a desire for peace.
“Russian athletes speaking out to their national fan
base, will only serve to further prompt the local population to question the
actions of their leadership, and undermine the local national support for the
war,” said Payne.
However, another former IOC marketing executive
Terrence Burns, who since leaving the organization has played a key role in
five successful
Olympic bid city campaigns, has doubts about their impact.
“You are making the assumption that Russian people
actually see, read, and hear ‘real news’,” he told AFP.
“I do not believe that is the case. The Government
will portray Russia as a victim of a great global conspiracy led by the USA and
the West.
“It is an old Russian trope they have used quite
effectively since the Soviet days.”
Burns says sadly the athletes must also be punished
for their government’s aggression.
“I believe that Russia must pay the price for what
it has done,” he said.
“Sadly that has to include her athletes as well.
“Many people, like me, believed that by helping them
host the Olympics and World Cup could somehow open and liberalize the society,
creating new paths of progress for Russia’s young people. Again we were wrong.”
Robertson too says allowing Russians to compete when
Ukrainians are unable to due to the conflict is “morally inconceivable.”
Payne says individual sports have to look at a
bigger moral picture than their own potential losses over cutting Russian
sponsorship contracts.
“The sports world risks losing far more by not
reacting, than the loss of one or two Russian sponsors.”
Former British lawmaker Robertson, who as Minister
for Sport and the Olympics delivered the highly successful 2012 London Games,
agrees.
“The sporting world may have to wean itself off
Russian money,” said the 59-year-old.
“Over the past few days, it has become apparent that
political, economic and trade sanctions will hurt the West as well as Russia but
this is a price that we will have to pay to achieve a greater good.”
For Robertson sport could not stand idle by in
response to
Russia’s invasion.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine will impact sport but the
consequences of inaction, or prevarication, will be far more serious.”
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