Our premise was abundantly simple:

 

FIFA World Cup Final or Olympics = big business = companies. If one wanted to organise these events in a more

sustainable fashion, one would have to start with the companies involved.

 

​ As exclusive partners, sponsors hold merchandising and other rights (temporary and local monopolies, tax relief)

 

​ Companies benefit directly from investments in connection with the construction of stadiums, equipment,

transportation infrastructure, and catering

 

​ Airlines, TV manufacturers, and the tourism industry benefit indirectly from such events

 

Unfortunately our brilliant idea turned out to be fool’s gold. In conversations we had with our four ESG rating

agencies we got the clear feedback that the rating of such mega events was not straightforward: the host of these

events is most often a government-related, local organisation, whereas the organiser is a private association

(FIFA, UEFA, Olympic Committee). Is therefore for example Adidas responsible for the actions of FIFA, according

to the research company RepRisk “the world’s most controversial organisation”? And what’s more, some information

is simply not available. For example, who is building the stadiums in Qatar? This lack of background information

makes it almost impossible to tie down corporate responsibility.

 

At the end of our period of scrutinising the issue of major sporting events, we feel a bit like after the ABS crisis.

Back then risk was continuously divided until it had allegedly disappeared. Something similar seems to be going

on with mega events. Responsibility is privatised, anonymised, delegated, and divided down to a degree where

at the end the result is big business without responsibilities.

 

Surprisingly some companies have made more progress in this context than the rating agencies. Indeed, several

firms reacted to our engagement Engagement within one day. Apparently these companies were aware of the

fact that they were being associated with the respective sporting event and that this situation came with a certain

degree of responsibility. We expect this approach to prevail in the coming years.

 

Status:

So far „major sporting events“ have not played a specific role in the analysis of rating agencies and are thus not

weighted in the EAM evaluation system. In order to increase awareness, Erste Asset Management has started a

discussion process with its rating agencies.

 

(Gerold Permoser)