Accountability in Sports Management Report (Assessment)

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Introduction

Sporting activities are a multibillion industry. Image is one of the most important aspects of sports. Sponsorship deals account for a sizeable percentage of sports revenue. In addition, television rights also account for a significant percentage of sports revenue. This necessitates parties that are involved in sports management to have a high level of accountability.

Accountability would help in maintaining the image of sports. One of the major features of sports is unpredictability. It is vital for relevant organizations to ensure that they maintain the unpredictability of sports. Accountability helps in improving the governance of sports. One of the major advantages of sports is the fact that it brings people and countries in a manner that is impossible using other means.

Despite the fact that sporting activities are not inherently a business in economic terms, its activities have huge implications on business activities. Football is the most popular sport. The World, which takes place every four years, is the most watched sports event. Therefore, it is vital for FIFA, the international organization that manages global football, to have a high level of accountability. Accountability of FIFA would help in improving the management of football. This would have great benefits to various football stakeholders.

Review of Article

Roger Pielke’s article, ‘how can FIFA be held accountable?’ discusses the accountability issues that FIFA faces. FIFA is the international organization that oversees football (soccer). The organization also has jurisdiction over various international football competitions. Various parties have accused FIFA of engaging in corruption.

In addition, various stakeholders have accused FIFA of lack of transparency and accountability. This has necessitated FIFA to implement various initiatives to clear its name. In 2011, FIFA implemented process that strived to improve its governance. This initiative would end on May 2013. This article uses literature on international relations to determine whether FIFA is accountable and how various stakeholders may ensure the accountability of FIFA.

According to the article, it is not easy to hold FIFA accountable. This is due to the various complex factors that are involved in management of football. The experience from reforming the International Olympic Committee over the last decade may provide a template on how to reform FIFA.

However, it is clear that for any accountability measure to be effective, it must use various methods of accountability simultaneously (Pielke, 2013). This article may help in understanding the mechanisms that various stakeholders may use to ensure the accountability of large international organizations.

Personal Analysis and Reflection

Accountability is one of the most important issues in global governance. Governance refers to the making and implementing rules that help in the efficient running of a certain entity. Global governance is governance in a global scale (Rosner & Shropshire, 2011). Therefore, good governance and accountability are synonymous.

Accountability helps in improving the management of sports organizations. However, it is difficult for global organizations to enforce accountability. This is because there are various global politics that are inherent in global organizations. In addition, global organizations have various incompatible systems that may make it difficult for global organizations to make decisions that would improve accountability.

As of 2013, FIFA has 209 member associations. Most of these member associations are from sovereign countries. FIFA organized the associations into 6 regional confederations to ease the management of the associations (Pielke, 2013). The member associations have different operating environments.

This makes it difficult for FIFA to manage them. In addition, governments may provide various supporting structures to the member associations. FIFA opposes government interference in management of football. However, in most instances it is impossible for the member associations to function effectively without government interference. This is one poses several problems to FIFA. Government interference and different operating environments make it difficult for FIFA to manage the associations effectively.

The complex nature of global football makes it difficult to implement initiatives that strive to improve accountability. The complex nature of football hinders hierarchy accountability in football. FIFA strive to ensure that there is hierarchy accountability in management of football.

According to FIFA’s governance structure, the president and members of the executive committee are the highest authority in the organization. They do not report to any higher authority. On the other hand, the heads of various member associations should report to the head of the regional confederations. In addition, the heads of the member associations should also be accountable to the government departments that control sports.

This is because the departments may provide structures to facilitate the development of football in the country. In addition, the government departments may also provide funding to the associations. In some instances, this may create a conflict of interest between FIFA and governments. However, FIFA prohibits government interference in management of football. FIFA has banned several associations in the past due to the government interference in management of football.

Corporate sponsors help in funding various sports. They account for a sizeable percentage of the revenue of sports organizations. Therefore, it is vital for sports organizations to have market accountability. The World Cup is the major global football showcase. It takes place every four years.

FIFA has various corporate sponsors in every World Cup. These corporate sponsors benefit from the publicity of the World Cup, which reaches billions of people across the globe (Kang, Lee, Goo, 2012). Adidas’ significant increase in revenue due to the 2010 World Cup is a clear illustration of the benefits that corporate sponsors get from the World Cup. In 2010, revenue of Adidas due to the sale of football and jerseys was more than $2 billion (Pielke, 2013). Therefore, it is vital for FIFA to ensure that there is accountable in football.

Corruption threatens to tarnish the image of the sport. Match fixing and doping are some of the activities that threaten to tarnish the image of football (Thornton, Champion & Ruddell, 2011). Match fixing scandals involving several teams in the Italian premier league (Serie A) in one of the most recent corrupt activities that threaten to tarnish the image of football.

After the revelations of corruption, various sponsors issued statements condemning the activity. Corruption threatens to derail the gains made in sports. This is because it tarnishes the image of sports. This may reduce the support that sports get from various parties.

Therefore, it is vital for relevant authorities to ensure that they formulate policies that would help in reducing corruption. This would help in safeguarding the integrity of sports (Bodin & Sempe, 2011). Endemic corruption in sports would derail the gain made in sports management. This would pose high risks to sports since in sports perception is everything.

References

Bodin, D. & Sempe, G. (2011). Ethics and sport in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Kang, S., Lee, S. & Goo, K. (2012). The influence of multimedia exposure on purchase intention of sponsored products: The case of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. International Journal of Sport Communication, 5(2), 153-175.

Pielke, R. (2013). How can FIFA be held accountable? Sports Management Review, 12(1), 1-13.

Rosner, S.R. & Shropshire, K.L. (2011). The business of sports. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Thornton, P., Champion, W.T. & Ruddell, L.S. (2011). Sports ethics for sports management professionals. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

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