2024’s Big Year of Sport: Putting Reputation Risk Management at the Heart of your Sports Sponsorship Communications Plans

As 2024’s big year of sport is ending, we have an opportunity to reflect upon all that transpired over the summer in Paris as well as at international soccer events held in Germany and the United States.

Going into the end of the year, each week we’re seeing another brand announce a new partnership with a major governing body with an eye to the 2026 global sporting events in North America and Italy, and 2028 in the United States. For any brand looking to make a similar strategic investment – or for a brand in any stage of partnership in the world of sport – it is worthwhile to use the experiences of 2024 to glean insights for future plans.

While there were some amazing celebrations, there were also moments of crisis. Major tournaments this year were shaped by significant global factors, including geopolitical tensions, sabotage of critical infrastructure, crowd management issues, cultural controversies and misinformation. Additionally, extreme weather events such as flooding and high temperatures disrupted multiple events, highlighting the evolving challenges faced by organizers in an increasingly complex world.

And as in past years, the politics, rhetoric and policies of a host nation are on full display and the mega-tournaments and events often become an extension of the host nation’s efforts to influence international perceptions. With major tournaments being hosted in North America in 2026 and 2028, brands should take note that the United States has a long history of political protest and social commentary being infused in its sports. With the political climate continuing to be front of mind for many because of the recent U.S. elections, global brands will need to navigate how their involvement and partnerships will be interpreted across a diverse range of stakeholder groups that may be in direct or indirect opposition due to politics.

What is clear is that while major tournaments offer large rewards, they also pose unique risks. Therefore, it is necessary to start planning now as the risk environment is becoming increasingly more difficult to manage. Heading into 2025 and beyond, here’s how communicators must prepare well in advance with risk mitigation and crisis management practices:

Start planning immediately: Ensure budgets are appropriately allocated to include risk management as a core foundation and start mapping the risk landscape based on what we learned in 2024 and the risks in the years ahead, establish the workback plans and cross-enterprise governance structure necessary to protect your reputation alongside your investment.

Establish an intelligence gathering process: The social media framework many of us rely on for information gathering is becoming more fractured and closed. Ensure that the appropriate teams have identified the right set of channels and tools to keep you apprised of trends, emerging risks and realized threats and start monitoring now. It’s not too early to have an eye on the conversation that your brand is looking to enter.

Build a culture of asking hard questions: Pressure test campaigns, partnerships and plans to ensure that you’ve anticipated how your stakeholders might respond and that you’re mitigating against potential issues that could be avoided, also known as, ‘own goals.’

Create a response process and train against it: It is well established that everyday business practices are insufficient in responding to moments of crisis. Ensure that you have a response team in place as well as the necessary escalation and decision-making process. Codify those processes in a plan and train the organization against that plan, looking for opportunities to strengthen any identified vulnerabilities before kickoff.

Increasingly, as brands look to use mega-sporting events to advance their reputation, they not only have to be prepared for the typical crises that surround a major gathering, but also all the risks associated with a major brand and reputation activation in our increasingly polarized world. The simple truth is this, it is no longer enough for organizations to approach these partnerships and events with a “check the box” crisis playbook that is developed in the final months before the big day. The brands that will truly win at these events will be those that embrace ongoing reputation risk management programs, structured to identify potential threats inherent in marketing activations and in the external environment, mitigate those risks and respond to moments when they materialize. If you are having planning conversations about how you activate for some of the largest celebrations in the world, you should already be actively working to protect that investment.