Is Wii tennis sport?

It enables a contest with an uncertain outcome to take place between competitors, and requires physical as well mental effort to play it - but is it actually sport? Taking an alternative view, could Wii tennis be reconceptualising sport for the 21st century?

Sport sponsorship at the crossroads

The economic downturn has resulted in numerous sport sponsors withdrawing their support from individuals, teams and events. The Benetton and Williams F1 teams have suffered, as have Tiger Woods, Manchester United and the Epsom Derby. While there appears to be a new industrial morality emerging - 'we can't spend on sport while we are making people redundant' - there also appears to be something of a 'slash-and-burn' mentality emerging too. What does this imply, especially when former sponsors continue to engage in other forms of marketing communication? Does it suggest that, compared to marketing communication techniques such as television advertising and direct marketing, sponsorship is less effective? Why aren't television advertising budgets being slashed in the same way as sponsorship? Is sponsorship the unfortunate victim of a knee-jerk reaction amongst sponsors? Sponsorship would therefore appear to be at a crossroads raising some important questions: what is it? How does it work? How should it work? How should it be organised, implemented and managed? What is it good at doing? And, ultimately, do we need to reappraise our perception of sponsorship, and is there a consequent need for a new sponsorship paradigm to emerge?

Get the balance right

In order to strengthen the uncertainty of outcome, sporting contests require competitive balance. There are several ways to achieve this balance including a player draft system, salary caps, wage to turnover ratio caps and so on. The aim of such measures is to equalise the participants taking part in a contest. Could such measures ever work in, say, football or Formula One motor racing? Do they need to, do we actually need them? Can non-US sports learn anything from the interventionist approaches of US sports and their governing federations? Are there new and different ways of creating effective balance? Could there be a generic approach that will work for all sports, or will different measures be needed according to the degree of imbalance that exists in different sports?

Time for some uncertainty

At the heart of sport is the uncertainty of outcome - not knowing who the winner will be in a contest involving two or more competitors. With continuing economic problems, there is a real chance for sport to re-assert and strengthen its most distinctive feature, some thing that strongly differentiates it from other industries. How should this be done, both across sport and within specific sports?

What is going to happen to horse racing?

British horse racing is in something of a state of turmoil at the moment. The Derby and the King George VI Stakes are both still seeking sponsors, while there have been various recent betting scandals that some see as having tarnished the good name of the sport. All the while, horse racing still faces many of its perpetual problems, such as asset utilisation i.e. what to do with the race courses when events are not taking place. While sports such as darts have come out fighting in recent times by looking to new markets while seeking to enhance commercial appeal, horse racing still has some way to go in this regard. We are therefore left to ask: how can, and how should, horse racing change if the ravages of the current downturn are not to undermine the sport´s heritage? How can the sport attract and retain new customers? Will television coverage of horse racing ever again reach the heights of the glory days of two or three decades ago? And how can lucrative sponsors be secured when some people clearly have preconceived ideas about what horse racing is and who it appeals to?

The good, the bad, and sport

The contemporary and orthodox view of sport is that it is unequivocally positive. Events such as the Global Sports Forum (taking place in Barcelona over the next three days) appear to celebrate what sport can achieve, while the legacy plan of the 2012 London Olympic Games is clear about the positive impact that sport can have on economy, society, health etc. However, some people question this view; sport can be aggressive, divisive, confrontational, and may sometimes lead to crime and even war. If one reads Ryszard Kapuscinski's book 'The Soccer War' or Joe Humphrey's book 'Foul Play', the negative effects of sport are clear. On this basis, should we simply accept the currently prevailing view that sport is all good?

Platini financial plan - a response

Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the English Premier League, has responded to Michel Platini's wage cost plan by claiming that it will reinforce and exacerbate the established financial order in European football rather than successfully addressing it i.e. a club like Real Madrid, with an annual turnover of $471 million per year, will have a far greater amount of money to spend on player salaries than clubs that turnover considerably less. Is Scudamore right? Will his comments effectively kill Platini's plan? Does Platini's plan need thinking through in more detail? Or is it simply a case of the league that benefits most by paying high wage costs trying to defend against an undesirable development? Perhaps there is an alternative, more creative, and ultimately more effective way to address some of the perceived financial problems in European football?

Changing the rules

Football is set to consider extending the half-time break to twenty minutes, a franchising system is on the agenda in NASCAR, Formula 1 is exploring a revamp of its points scoring system, and the UEFA Cup will re-emerge next season as the Europa Cup. How important to sport is the regular updating of competition format, rules, regulations and points scoring systems? Do they help sport to retain its central appeal? Is something much more fundamental required to ensure that sports do not become too complacent? Or are such regular changes troublesome, needlessly causing competitors unnecessary problems? To what extent is change an important part of sport and a competitive challenge to those who participate in it? Does the current downturn provide a real opportunity for some sports to address the nature of their competition structures, rules, regulations and points scoring formats?

Fit and proper people

Much has been made over the last decade of the numerous people who have become involved in sport, especially football club ownership, only for subsequent questions to be raised about their other business activities. Whether these people have been of a fit and proper nature to be involved in sport has thus become an important issue that has still to be completely satisfactorily addressed, both in football and elsewhere in sport. It is therefore interesting that the England and Wales Cricket Board has just severed all connections with Sir Allen Stanford following allegations concerning fraudulent activities in which he has apparently been involved. Will the cricket authorities be consequently spurred on to become the first sport to implement a rigorous fit and proper person test? Or does much broader and deeper action need to be taken across sport to ensure that good governance principles in sport are upheld?

Cycling into oblivion?

The professional cycling season is now firmly underway following events in countries such as Qatar, and with preparations for the spring classics now taking place. But what will this season bring? Events are being cancelled, sponsors are withdrawing and teams are folding - can the sport continue in the same vein as it has done over the last decade or so? How many more drugs scandals can the sport inflict upon itself? Are we effectively seeing a free-market (rather than a regulatory) solution to cycling´s problems, whereby the sport will have to change because it can no longer sustain itself? Are the teams and riders to blame? Or are our expectations of professional cycling too great? Long stages? Riders facing too many PR and commercial duties? The need to be successful has become evermore imperative? Media demands are too great? Does this all mean that we could be witnessing the death of a sport, or is there a way back from the edge of the precipice?

Brand Beckham on the move

With all the talk of David Beckham possibly making his move to AC Milan permanent, some important issues emerge: has Beckham succeeded or failed in LA? Is his proposed move to Italy the last throw of the dice for Beckham the football player brand? Has Brand Beckham successfully achieved market entry in the US and is now moving on to new markets? Will a period of time spent in Milan imbue the new and emerging (non-football playing) Brand Beckham with all the qualities necessary for a successful post-football career? Is the desire to play (for England) an indication that at the heart of Brand Beckham football is still the most important componant of the brand? What conclusions should we draw about US soccer? Is Beckham´s possible departure an indictment of the sport´s relative lack of appeal in the US, or is Beckham likely to have been just another player passing through?

Platini considers UEFA financial regulation plan

Under a proposal being considered by UEFA President Michel Platini (who is seeking to address financial and competition issues in European club football), a club's player salary costs would be limited to a certain proportion of it's annual turnover, but such a move would require unanimous support from across Europe otherwise individual clubs would surely be able to to argue that it is an illegal restraint of trade under European Union law?

Sport, the European Union and the Lisbon Treaty

Following the European Union's White Paper on sport, sport has become one of the competences the EU is seeking to achieve through the (currently) unratified Lisbon Treaty. In the Treaty, a model is advocated that is intended to capture the distinctiveness of European sport. Is this an accurate depiction? Is more needed, or is the proposed competence too much? If the Lisbon Treaty is eventually ratified, what will this mean for sport in the EU? Will some nations benefit more than others? If the Treaty is not ratified, will this be an opportunity missed or a lucky escape?

Global tipping point?

With the US and northern Europe in the grip of severe economic problems, and with the Dubai Investment Corporation still being mentioned as a potential purchaser of Liverpool Football Club, the al Maktoum family's purchase of Manchester City, Doha's bid to host the 2014 Olympic Games, Qatar's intention to bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and 2009 F1 Grand Prix races being staged in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, one has to ask whether we are close to a tipping point in the global power base of world sport?

Sport's industrial architecture

The economic downturn could have a profound impact on sport's industrial architecture - defined by Jacobides as 'the roles played by companies in a sector and the rules (standards, regulations and conventions) that connect them. They define the way in which money is made - companies business models. They influence who does what which, in turn, determines who takes what (revenues, market share, competitive advantage and profit'. What will the post-downturn architecture of sport look like?

Sports agents - friend or foe?

The European Union has recently comissioned research that may lead to legislation being introduced aimed at regulating the activities of sports agents. This comes at a time when the Kelvin Jack (v sport agent Mike Berry) case has just passed through the London High Court. Are agents now too powerful? Do some agents abuse whatever power they have? Are agents out of control? Or are sports agents in general being given a bad rap on the basis of a small number of unscrupulous agents? How important are agents to sport, and to the effective functioning of the sport labour market? Do they really need to be specifically regulated or can general EU law be employed to control their activities? Ultimately, do agents actually need regulating?

Football's rich list - the hidden story

The publication of Deloitte's football rich list confirms the status of clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester United as being amongst the sporting world's top revenue generators. However, what is the relationship between these clubs' revenue streams and their debt levels, player transfer fees and salary costs, and the economic downturn? Moreover, if a club signs a player like Cristiano Ronaldo, incurring massive costs in the process, is their presence in a team likely to be sufficient enough to generate revenues that will offset these costs? (Does it need to?) And how would this be reflected in football rich lists?

Opinion divided on legacy of sport events

An intense debate is currently raging in the UK about the legacy sporting events such as the Olympic Games can have, with some people believing the impact can be massive (e.g. evidence indicates the 1992 Barcelona Olympics generated upwards of Euros13 billion worth of economic benefit), while others think any benefits are entirely negligible. But what is 'legacy'? Is 'legacy' purely economic? Or can it be socio-cultural, psychological, physiological and more besides? How should one (does one need to?) measure legacy? And how should sport events be organised and managed to ensure the 'legacy' effect is optimised?

A-Rod drugs confession

US baseball's highest paid player - Alex Rodriguez - has publicly confessed to using performance-enhancing steroids earlier in his career (around 2001), which raises some important questions for agencies such as WADA: how should athletes in any sport be dealt with when they confess to previous misdemeanours? If drug control agencies take retrospective action, will this ultimately silence athletes who wish to confess thereby driving problems underground? But if drug control agencies do not take action, does this effectively condone what the athletes have done? Or is there another approach that can be taken?

Moseley fighting for F1's financial safety

Even though new rules governing the design of F1 cars, intended to cut costs and stave-off economic problems, have only recently been introduced, FIA President Max Moseley has called for further cost-cutting measures in an apparent attempt to safeguard the sport's future. Is this a sensible way forward, unnecessary tinkering or a case of too little too late?

Dutch football club mergers - the future?

Dutch professional football clubs Roda JC Kerkrade and Fortuna Sittard are currently considering whether or not to merge, creating a new club with a new name. Such activity is widespread in other industrial sectors but, given the historical and socio-cultural foundations of European clubs, can they ever work in football and what challenges would the managers of a merged club actually face?

Professional golf's pain

As professional golf continues to suffer (as seen, for instance, through the cancellation of events such as the Indian Masters), one has to ask whether it is Tiger Woods' absence through injury, the economic downturn and its consequences, or a combination of both that is inflicting so much pain upon the sport?

English football - recession-proof?

A value for the Premier League's latest live television rights deal (with BSkyB and Setanta) has just been announced - £1.78 billion - which raises some interesting questions: is this conclusive evidence that the Premier League is recession-proof? Does it guarantee a further three years of affluence for the world's richest football league? Is the Premier League set to grow even stronger? Will we see more problems with competitve balance across English, and indeed European, football as a result of this latest deal?

Cricket's New Premier League Stars

As Englishmen Kevin Pieterson and Andrew Flintoff become Indian Premier League cricket's costliest ever signings (valued at £1.1 million each), is cricket set to become a serious rival for the world's leading sports leagues such as the NBA and the English Premier League?

London's costly Olympics?

Given that London 2012's latest financial statement shows venue construction costs are now predicted to be £1.36bn and that overall event costs are likely to reach £9.3bn, what cost controls could or should be put in place at this stage, and will the Games ultimately constitute good value for money?

Declan Hill's Match Fixing Claims

In the light of Declan Hill's book about match fixing in football (entitled 'The Fix'), if his allegations are true then how serious are the consequences for professional football across the world and how should football's governing bodies effectively address the problems that match fixing may be creating?

WADA's 'Whereabouts' Code

Is WADA's player 'whereabouts' code a positive move and the only way to catch out those athletes using performance-enhancing drugs in sport, or is it an invasive, illegal form of monitoring that breaches the personal privacy of athletes?

N.B. Under the 'whereabouts' code, athletes must provide details of their whereabouts at all times. Officials are then able to turn up without prior notice and drug test the athletes. If an athlete is unavailable for the test, then it counts towards the three 'strikes' that lead to a competition ban.

Close of the January 2009 transfer window

If £150 million really has been spent by English clubs during this recession-hit transfer window, what conclusions should we draw when almost 70% of the total amount spent was accounted for by just two clubs – Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur?