For two weeks that’s all anyone has talked about. The Djokovicaffair, or the Djokovic saga, or the battle between Djokovic and Australia, or Djokovic’s war against the world…in short, the issue of the unvaccinated world No. 1 completely overshadowed the start of one of the most important tennis tournaments ever, the Australian Open.

It is useless to recount what happened; everyone has already talked about it extensively. The aspect that we are most interested in analyzing, as a sports marketing agency, is that related to the impact or consequences that the affair may have in terms of economics and sponsorship.

But let’s take a step back.

Sponsoring means tying oneself to the values of the sports discipline or athlete being sponsored.

This is a fundamental and unavoidable point from which to start. We always say it and will continue to say it to the point of obsession: sponsorship is not just about putting a logo/brand on a soccer jersey, on a F1, on a MotoGP or providing clothing to a famous tennis player.

Sponsorship is much, much more. In fact, behind every sports discipline there are specific and well-defined values that represent it and that represent the sport even earlier. Sponsorship is first and foremost an association of values.

When a company decides to invest in sports, we always try to understand what the values of the company or brand they want to communicate are, so as to compare them with those of the discipline they are going to invest in to make sure they are in line. The company’s value scale must match that of the sport, team or athlete being sponsored. It is also often the case that companies need to tie in with sport-specific values in order to improve their perceptions.

The values we associate with by investing in a sports sponsorship project are fundamental: fair play, determination, dedication, hard work, sacrifice, resilience, respect for the opponent, and respect for rules. These are just some of the values associated with sports.

Therefore, when choosing a sports subject, whether it is a team or an athlete, great care must be taken and it must be well understood whether there is a match between the parties.

Sponsoring does not mean investing in who wins

Another point to consider when you want to invest in sports. One cannot think of investing based only on the performance of the team or athlete. The result cannot be a determining factor in building a sports marketing project. It is obvious that a company investing in a sports sponsorship always hopes that its team or athlete will get good results or win as much as possible, but we cannot choose based on that.

A top team certainly has greater visibility and attention than a lesser team, but that does not mean we should think of investing only in champions. Sponsorship should be leveraged and communicated regardless of sporting results.

If in fact the team we invest in experiences a series of negative results, one must try to “exploit” and communicate and build a narrative on those as well.

Let’s go back again to the values we talked about just now: resilience, sacrifice, being able to keep going even when everything seems exhausting and difficult, getting back on track after serious injuries, overcoming fears and dark, negative moments. These are all aspects that are part not only of sports programs but of life in general. And they are powerful messages that can and should be part of a communication project that also involves sports.

Sports personalities have become real message vehicles

In addition to the values they represent, sports celebrities have now become media outlets. Thanks to social media reach and also to the ongoing pandemic, we have seen that sports celebrities have begun to use social media more and more extensively, sometimes perhaps even a little too much.

Zoom calls, live, stories, posts, videos…athletes have invaded social media with content related to their private and professional lives, often launching real messages through their behaviors and choices. We have entered their homes, seen what they do, what they eat, what they watch, how they dress, and how they think about various aspects and current issues. The “private” sphere of the sports testimonial hardly exists anymore; they are real media both when they carry out their professional activities as sportsmen and women and when they post thousands of all sorts of content on social media. And here problems often arise. As is the case with the Djokovic case.

I am a professional sportsman, but not only

A sports figure like Novak Djokovic is not just a sports figure. He is not just the extraordinary athlete we follow when he plays tennis.

He is first and foremost the No. 1 tennis player in the world, but he is also a prominent public figure because of the fame and popularity he has achieved through sports achievements, the sponsors who have supported him, and the public that follows him and tennis.

With his behaviors, opinions, values, ideas, actions, on and off the court, Djokovic, as well as any other star athlete, has the power to convey messages to millions of people. But with fame also comes responsibility.

Every athlete is free to think and act as he or she believes, but he or she must also be aware that what he or she says and what he or she does has an impact on the audience that follows him or her and therefore also consequences. Sponsors who support him and invest in him and his image must therefore understand whether the brand and the audience they target are in line with what the testimonial represents, even off the field, as a public figure.

Let’s give examples:

If the athlete I sponsor is doping, I drop him or her.

If the athlete I sponsor is accused and convicted of violence, I drop him.

If the athlete I sponsor violates and disregards the rules, I drop him/her.

This is because the company/brand cannot afford to be associated with these kinds of negative values. In contracts with athletes then, there are always penalties or exit clauses in case of doping, violence, gambling, racism, homophobic attitudes, etc.

The Djokovic case, how will it affect sponsors?

Many are wondering what his sponsors will do . So far there has been total silence from everyone.

Just two days ago I read an article in the Financial Times that Lacoste plans to “review” the events that led to the tennis player’s expulsion from Australia. “As soon as possible, we will be in contact with Novak Djokovic to review the events that accompanied his presence in Australia.

Lacoste, owned by the Swiss MF Brands group, signed a multi-year deal with Djokovic in 2017, moving to replace the giant Uniqlo. According to Forbes, the Serbian tennis player would be worth $30 million a year from the sponsorship ties. In addition to Lacoste, there are in fact Peugeot, Seiko, Head, Asics, UKG.

At this time, the Serbian tennis player’s image has certainly taken on connotations beyond the sporting aspect. His views on the ongoing pandemic and vaccinations, his behaviors and actions with respect to the rules that every country in the world has had to impose to contain the spread of the virus, and his statements about the events certainly have value and weight that the companies that support him cannot disregard. The affair then was made even heavier by the way it was handled by the athlete’s entourage. Djokovic shares a post in which he apologizes for violating isolation rules and doing an interview as a positive and blames his team for incorrectly filling out his entry visa to Australia. His family in Serbia holds a press conference where he attacks everyone and compares the tennis player to Jesus Christ, crucified for no reason.

Let’s say that any of us over the past 2 years, have had to drastically change our living habits and adapt to the new rules. If I am going to travel and I am required to fill out a passenger locator form, I cannot lie or omit to say where I have been in the days leading up to my flight, or say that whoever filled out my form made a mistake (and anyone who has watched Airport Security Australia knows very well that lying on an inbound visa puts you in a difficult situation to say the least, whoever you are).

This attitude of the Serbian tennis player, let’s say, has not been widely accepted by world opinion.

Rules apply to everyone, especially at such a sensitive time as we are living in today.

The public demands that everyone, even “celebrities,” make efforts and adapt to circumstances.

Damage to image and beyond

The consequences of this whole affair will certainly translate into major image damage for Djokovic first and foremost and for the companies that sponsor him, not to mention the consequences and economic fallout of the tennis player’s non-attendance at the Australian Open. His participation is also at risk at Roland Garros in France, which has already declared that all athletes will have to be vaccinated, as well as in Italy. To go to America the vaccine is mandatory, so the U.S. Open is also at risk.

This means that the sponsors will not have the visibility they should have had, they will not be able to plan the various communication and marketing activities related to the tournaments in which the testimonial was supposed to participate, and they will certainly have to revise all the planning they planned months ago. The athlete’s acceptance and popularity have certainly been compromised and this will mean fewer sales of everything related to the athlete’s image and name; fewer Lacoste t-shirts, fewer Asics shoes, fewer Head racquets, ecce cc.

Estimating the damage is difficult but it is certainly huge for all the sponsors involved. At this point all that remains is to see what happens.