Does sport have a greater responsibility to influence behaviour than other industries?

 

Two weeks ago the EBN held the latest of our hugely popular Live shows at the amazing Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London. The panel was joined by more than 60 guests who listened intently and contributed enthusiastically to the debate which focused on the role of sport in influencing sustainability behaviour change amongst fans and supporters.

Hosting our Live shows is a pleasure and a privilege for me as I get to ask the questions and hear up close the answers from some serious subject matter experts and this one was no different. I was joined by Tottenham’s Sustainability Manager Marcus Parry, Adam Harridence, senior partner at More Than a Matchday and a representative of Cornwall based pro cycling team Saint Piran and Matt Hutchinson, a lecturer in sport and business at Keele university and a member of the esteemed Sport Ecology Group.

Later in the show I also interviewed Johnny Owens from the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation but the outcome of that inspiring discussion will form another blog next month.

The interest in the subject we discussed has been unprecedented so I thought I would expand the debate a bit and write some more about it.

“The ocean is our racetrack.”

These words were spoken to me by Andy King, sponsorship director for the Gentoo Sailing team, which competes in the IMOCA series, the pinnacle of ocean racing and which includes the unbelievably demanding Vendee Globe round the world race. As their strap lines says ocean racing is “where sport, technology and the environment intersect” so this is an organisation that firmly understands the challenges sport faces from climate change.

But, like most sports organisations Gentoo relies on sponsorship for much of its funding and Andy argues that ocean racing is unique in that it offers the traditional sponsorship benefits from its rights, such as brand exposure (enormous masts and sails can do that), hospitality, money-can’t-buy-experiences and access to iconic images and content, but it also offers forward thinking businesses a platform to showcase their sustainability strategies. By aligning with a sport that is at the cutting edge of measuring elements of climate change, pollution, and disappearing biodiversity, ESG and sustainability can be legitimately embedded into a sponsorship strategy.  As long as the sponsor is authentic in their own sustainable commitments of course.

Gentoo, for their part, are working with the Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission in UNESCO to advance global ocean science, foster sustainable development and protect marine ecosystems through collaborative research and innovation. The outcome of which is designed to drive change in the way our international waters are governed.

This adds a complete new dimension to the traditional rights that are associated with sponsorship.

The EBN forecasts that Nature Based Solutions will become integral to future sponsorship strategies and indeed nature itself will become a new sponsorship category to rival that of sport, the arts and culture.

In the dog eat dog world of the Premier League commercial sponsorship and sustainability are edging closer together and Marcus Parry, at Tottenham, shared his opinion that in the not too distant future, the work carried out by his team and the club in general will influence sponsorship choices. It may even translate into some of the rights that the club can offer to forward thinking businesses that want to use the power of sport to make big statements to massive audiences.

If this is not exactly sport having a responsibility in this space, it is absolutely clear it has a huge role to play.

Forest Green Rovers is often cited as the poster child for sustainability in football and, having been a lucky guest at their last game of the season (and indeed their last at the New Lawn stadium) against Notts County I can attest that this is a club that really does have sustainability at its heart. It is a shame that their relegation removes them from the spotlight of the EFL but hopefully they will be back.

However, last year in the Christmas holiday I found myself at one of my all-time favourite places, the Valley in south east London. This is the home of the truly fantastic community football club Charlton Athletic and, whilst they may be struggling to escape the depths of League One, they are leading the way in most other areas. As I watched a (sorry to report drab) encounter on the pitch my eye was drawn to their sponsorship messaging and the fact that the environmental consultancy RSK is a principal partner.

This relationship also hints at the future and RSK claim they are partnering with the Addicks to “help the club become more environmentally sustainable”. Years ago I had the absolute pleasure of working with their community trust and I was blown away by the ground breaking work they did (and still do) and here is this fantastic family club blazing a new trail in environmental sustainability.

So, back to the leading question about what, if any responsibility, sport has in influencing our behaviour. And here is the challenge!

Even in the most high-level corporate business the return on investment for shareholders can be nuanced, even if it is ultimately driven by EBITDA and dividend payments, as the triple bottom line approach of organisations like Patagonia shows.

In sport, at least in elite sport, there is very little nuance. Everything is about the short term and whilst we hear coaches try to shift the narrative onto the importance of “performance”, there is really only one thing that matters to supporters and that is winning.

To do that the club must get the maximum return from all of its assets and in sports like football that means the players. How can Spurs, for example, ask their prized assets to sit on a  14 hour return coach trip to, say, Newcastle United on a Saturday, having played three days earlier in a remote part of Europe?

Flying from London to the northeast is definitely not the best outcome for the planet but it will give the players a better chance of winning and, let’s be completely honest, for the foreseeable future that will have primacy in elite sport. I have a number of friends who support Spurs and, whilst they are justifiably proud of the work their Foundation does in disadvantaged communities and they applaud the fact that their club has won some sustainability awards, their biggest beef is that they don’t think the club can compete to win the premier league, and their home defeat in the north London derby, two days after the EBN Live show, just adds to their hurt.

Sport is tribal and long may that continue. Not everyone can win.

And yet…. and yet there is a much bigger challenge coming very quickly down the track, one that will supplant winning as sports’ number one priority.

That, of course, is climate change and the existential threat to sport even taking place – if the event doesn’t happen who cares who would have won or lost?

Andy King of Gentoo told me an interesting story from his boat’s skipper who informed the team that in the leg of the race between New York City and Les Sables d’olonne competitors were being forced to divert both north and south of the traditional racing line because of unforecast storms in the Atlantic. Those storms were, in part, brought about due to a 5 degree increase in average sea temperatures!

And some people still say climate change isn’t a thing!

In the Live show Matt Hutchinson, wearing his Sport Ecology Group hat, spoke about the very real threat to football stadia located close to rivers like those of the two Nottingham clubs and Fulham and many will remember the disaster that befell Carlisle United due to the effects of storm Desmond in 2015. The climate-based irony is that Carlisle were due to play AFC Wimbledon at their iconic community-backed stadium at Plough Lane in October, but that won’t be happening there due to flooding and a huge sink-hole emerging on the pitch. And don’t even think about denying the impact of flooding to the directors, players and supporters of Worcestershire county cricket club with the river Severn annually being an unwanted visitor onto the square at New Road.

Is there a natural conclusion to our question? Like all good debates there are arguments and counter arguments. Sport has a massive role to play in raising awareness amongst consumers and business about the threat of climate change and, whilst winning is still the over-arching purpose, a bigger threat is coming and sport is anything but immune to it.

What price alpine ski racing being something that children watch on old videos and read about in books in 50 years time?