Fine and punishment

Serena Williams has been fined $82,500 for the verbal abuse she gave to an official during the US Open earlier this year. Further punishment could be meted out if she is found guilty of further offences in any of the four tennis grand slams during the next two years: a suspension and a $175,000 fine. Williams' fine is the largest in Grand Slam tennis history, almost doubling the $48,000 fine Jeff Tarango received in the 1990s. At the same time, Williams earned $350,000 from this year's US Open; she has earned $6.5 million in prize money this year; and her career prize money is now heading up towards $28 million (and then there is commercial income on top of that). So, is the fine and punishment Williams has received too much or too little? Has she been targeted because of her position, status and income? Is the punishment consistent with the 'Tarango Tariff'? Is there actually a tariff in tennis to determine how much a player should be fined in such instances? If so, is it clear, transparent and fair? Did Williams actually know what would happen when she started abusing the official? Has an unfair example been made of Williams? Or is the punishment entirely just and fair? Possibly, given her income, she should have been fined even more, and the authorities have actually been lenient? Once Williams breached tennis' code of conduct, surely she must have known what the consequences would be? Or, is there a need for a much clearer and open statement of the punishments a tennis player will receive when unsporting conduct or behaviour is displayed?

Final of The Pitch, Beijing, November 2009

http://www.britishcouncil.org/china-thepitch.htm

http://e-learning.coventry.ac.uk/thepitch/

The cost of failure

This week is a big one for football clubs like Juventus, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, as the final group phase game of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) takes place. Liverpool have already seen their chances in the season's competition disappear following last week's failure to qualify for the knockout phase of the UCL. How damaging is it for Europe's top teams when they fail to qualify for the later stages of the UCL? Is it an irretrievable blow in financial and commercial terms, or simply a short-term problem that can be rectified by a stronger showing in the following season's competition? What is the true extent of the revenue foregone by not qualifying for the knockout phase? Can any shortfall in revenue be made up by participating in the UEFA Europa League, especially if a club has a successful run to the Final of this competition? Having failed to qualify for the knockout phase, how does this impact on clubs like Juve, Inter, Bayern and Liverpool? How seriously would it affect their business models? Just how important is the UCL as a constituent part of the business models at Europe's leading clubs? Indeed, if one of Europe's leading clubs failed to qualify for the UCL two, three, or four seasons in succession, just how much pressure would this put on a business to change the commercial and managerial model it might have in place?

From Brown to Blue

With a British election likely to be little more than six months away, attention has already turned towards the policies of a potentially incumbent Conservative government (although Gordon Brown may still remain hopeful of re-election given that poles suggest Labour are only six points behind the Conservatives). But what will be the impact for sport in the UK of a Cameron victory? From the quasi-autonomous interventionism of Brown's (and Blair's) government, we would move to what? More of the same? A dynamic new age for sport characterised by a completely new model and ideology? Or a return to the laissez faire principles of Thatcher and her predecessors? If the latter really is the case, surely there won't be an accompanying return to the right-wing loathing of sport that was displayed by sport? Factor in the downturn and the hole in government finances that has emerged under Brown, and will this mean that Tory ideology might result in the re-emergence of philanthropy in sport? And how might Cameron seek to support and promote the proliferating commercial sector in sport? What about grassroots, community and non-commercial sport? Interesting too will be the whole issue of how Cameron might address the rise and rise of EU sport, notably the interventionist model which the sport competence of the Lisbon Treaty effectively advocates? While we are here too, come on Liberal Democrats, tell us what sport means to you - surely you are far too silent on this matter?

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem

With online gambling already banned in the US, with Poland now on the verge of a ban, and with the EU set to ratify the Lisbon Treaty (of which a socially responsible sporting competence is a part), just how much time does online gambling have left? More specifically, does sport have to prepare itself for yet another new sponsorship era as online gambling companies disappear from the marketplace following a ban? Is this an extreme outcome for the online gambling industry, and a real concern for sport? Or will online gambling companies an important part of the sporting environment, not least because of the way in which they can identify, track and report instances of irregular gambling activity? In other words: are legislators faced with a simple choice of online gambling companies either being the solution or the source of the problem?

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal

I am pleased to announce that Emerald (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/) has accepted a proposal to begin publishing a brand new sport business journal from the start of 2011.

The publication will be entitled: Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal.The objectives of the journal will be:

• To provide an outlet for high quality research, insight and opinion in the linked and related areas of sport, business and management
• To provide an outlet for high quality research, insight and opinion written by researchers predominantly working in business and management schools
• To examine sport from a business and managerial perspective
• To advance understanding of sport, business and management
• To enhance the academic study and the practice of business and management in and around sport
• To provide opportunities for exploring the latest developments, challenges, issues and thinking in sport e.g. from the perspective of a team, a club or a governing body
• To provide opportunities for exploring the latest developments, challenges, issues and thinking related to sport e.g. from the perspective of a broadcaster, a sponsor, a government department
• To deliver sport business management research that is based on perceived need, robust foundations and strong methodologies
• To deliver sport business management research that is credible, meaningful and scientifically rigorous

Within the context of these objectives, it is anticipated that papers submitted to the journal will normally fall into broad categories that include:

• Fans and customers
• Athletes
• Clubs and teams
• Leagues and competitions
• Events and tournaments
• Stadiums and venues
• Commercial and non-commercial partners
• Governing bodies and representative associations
• Intermediaries and athlete representation
• Traditional and new media outlets
• Suppliers and outlets for sport
• Places and spaces
• Local economic, social and other relevant projects/initiatives

As such, the journal will soon begin accepting submissions drawn from the full-range of business and management disciplines (either individually or inter-disciplinary in nature) including:

• Accounting
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Economics
• Entrepreneurship
• Ethics
• Finance
• Governance
• Human Resource Management
• Information Technology
• International Business
• Law
• Management
• Marketing
• Organisational Behaviour
• Strategy
• Supply-Chain Management

Further information about the journal will be forthcoming in due course.

Trying to kick this blog into action

For followers and readers, I promise to try and kick-start this blog........from now!