Sports Big Business No. 2822, welcome to pay attention to the leading sports industry information platform
Wen | Tan Liwen
Sports big business reporter
At the closing ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the final scene of the short film "The Power of Faith" was fixed on two athletes who embraced each other passionately.
The scene took place in the men's aerial skills final of freestyle skiing on the evening of February 16, when silver medalist and Ukrainian athlete Abramenko and bronze medalist and Russian Olympic team Ilya Brov high-fived and hugged tightly, and the two shared moments of joy.
IOC President Bach said at the closing ceremony: "Even if your countries are opposed by conflict, you embrace each other and respect each other. ”
Russian athletes embraced Ukrainian athletes
Unfortunately, this warm scene did not last long. With the order of Russian President Putin on the 24th, the Russian army officially entered Ukraine to carry out special military missions.
By the time of writing, Russian troops had seized control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and continued to advance in the direction of Kiev. Ukrainian President Zelenskiy addressed the nation, calling for a ceasefire in Russia.
As the head of state of the presidency of the European Council, French President Emmanuel Macron conveyed Ukrainian President Zelensky's ceasefire request during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the evening of the 25th Beijing time.
On the 25th local time, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said that in the past day and night, a total of 137 Ukrainians died and 316 were injured. According to Russian media reports, 440 Ukrainian soldiers have abandoned the fighting and entered Russia through humanitarian channels.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has brought indelible pain to the two peoples. Especially vulnerable groups such as the elderly and women and children, whose homes have been driven away by the war. The negative effects of the war are not only reflected in the daily lives of the peoples of both countries.
A Ukrainian father went to war because he wanted to stay
Cry goodbye to his wife and daughter who went to the safe zone
The Conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been fully unfolded, and the sports world cannot stand alone. Many sports events have been suspended in Russia, and many sports clubs have "cleared" their relationship with Russian sponsors... The impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has gradually made waves in the sports world.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has affected the sports circle: the Champions League final has been relocated, and major events have been cancelled
In today's war context, hosting a major international sporting event in Russia or Ukraine will face many tests, especially traffic problems and safety issues.
According to foreign media reports, due to increasing safety problems, a number of large European airlines have announced that they will suspend or reduce flights to Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine has even closed its national airspace.
The safety of the event is difficult to guarantee, which also "dissuads" many event organizers and clubs.
On February 24, the Ukrainian Premier League took the lead in announcing the suspension of the league. This season's Ukrainian Premier League has been played for 18 rounds, with Shakhtar Donetsk leading the table with 47 points, two points ahead of second-place Dynamo Kiev. These two teams are recognized as the two strongest teams in the Ukrainian Super League, winning a total of 29 of the 30 league titles in the Ukrainian Super League.
Several Brazilian foreign aides who worked for Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev were trapped in Kiev, and they are currently staying in a hotel waiting for the next step.
Brazilian foreign aid from two ukrainian super clubs is trapped in the hotel
On the evening of 24 February, UEFA announced that the Champions League final would not be held in St. Petersburg, Russia. According to previous plans, this season's Champions League will be held on 28 May 2022 at st. Petersburg Stadium.
In addition, the Polish, Swedish and Czech Football Associations issued a joint statement on the 24th, announcing that they would not go to Participate in Group B of the 2022 Qatar World Cup European Qualifiers in Russia.
On the evening of February 25, UEFA officially announced that the final of this season's Champions League will be changed to the Stade de France in Paris, and the kick-off time of the match will remain unchanged. UEFA also decided to change all European events scheduled for Russia and Ukraine to be held in a neutral position.
This season's Champions League final will take place at the Stade de France
On the evening of February 24, 10 F1 teams will hold an emergency meeting with F1 CEO Domenicali in Spain to discuss the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on F1 Russia and its response plan. According to foreign media reports, the F1 Russian Grand Prix, which was scheduled to be held in Sochi on September 25, will most likely be cancelled. Meanwhile, F1 drivers Verstappen and Vettel both called for the cancellation of the F1 Russia race.
In terms of skiing, the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom World Cup scheduled for Saturday 26, Japan, has been cancelled, and the Freestyle Skiing Snow Skills World Cup in Kuzbas next weekend has also been cancelled.
In terms of tennis events, the ATP Men's Tennis Tour issued a statement announcing that the ATP Challenger Tour, which was scheduled to take place in Moscow next week, will not be held as scheduled.
THE ATP officially issued a suspension statement
In terms of basketball events, barcelona said it would not fly to Russia for two games against Zenit Petersburg and CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague on Friday and Sunday.
On February 25, the UEFA Basketball League officially announced that three games involving Russian basketball clubs would be postponed.
In terms of volleyball matches, the three volleyball clubs of the Italian Premier League Peruga, Monza and Polish Super League powerhouse KengezhinKozle have refused to travel to Russia to participate in the European Volleyball League.
List of major affected events
If the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to heat up, more sports events may be "withdrawn" from Russia and Ukraine in the future. This has also disrupted the preparation plans for major events to a certain extent.
Europe and the United States are on the verge of boycotting: Manchester United will cancel its partnership with Aeroflot
CSKA Moscow was subject to economic sanctions
The impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict does not only exist at the level of event hosting or hosting, but is gradually penetrating into the marketing level of sports events, and many clubs have temporarily "cleared" their relationship with Russian-related sponsors.
According to the Mirror, Premier League giants Manchester United are preparing to cancel their cooperation with Aeroflot. Aeroflot has been one of United's main sponsors since 2013. Over the past nine years of cooperation, Aeroflot has provided manchester United with a total sponsorship fee of up to £100 million. United will lose more than £40 million a year in sponsorship costs if they refuse to work with Aeroflot.
Aeroflot has been working with Manchester United for many years
Before heading to Madrid for the Champions League round of 16 against Atletico, United changed their flights to British Airways charter flights. According to the previous cooperation between Manchester United and Aeroflot, Manchester United will take a charter flight from Aeroflot in the Champions League.
Similar to United's approach, German side Schalke 04 announced it would cancel its shirt sponsorship contract with Russian gas producer Gazprom, the main shirt sponsor of Schalke 04. Gazprom has been working with Schalke 04 since 2006.
Gazprom has been working with Schalke 04 for many years
It is worth mentioning that Gazprom is also one of the sponsors of several major UEFA events, has maintained a good cooperative relationship with the Champions League since 2012, and is also one of the sponsors of Euro 2020. As of the time of writing, the Gazprom logo is still on the official UEFA website.
Gazprom works closely with UEFA
In F1, Haas team has removed the Russian sponsor Urakali logo and the blue, white and red livery elements of the Russian flag on the VF-22 of the new season.
Embarrassingly, however, Haas Racing's Russian driver Ma Zeping is likely to be unable to enter major European cities to compete due to visa problems.
Pictured above is a new livery for the Haas team
The picture below shows the original livery of the Haas team
Given the impact of today's situation, many sports clubs have chosen to suspend or cancel their cooperation with Russian sponsors. Russian sports have also been seriously affected, especially by US sanctions, and the future of Russia's famous team CSKA Moscow may be overshadowed.
On February 22, the U.S. Treasury Department released the latest sanctions list of some Economic Entities and Institutions in Russia, including the State Development Corporation of the Russian Foreign Economic Bank and its subsidiary CSKA Moscow Football Club. The former holds 77.63% of the latter's shares.
Now all assets of the company under U.S. jurisdiction will be immediately frozen, and U.S. individuals and entities will be barred from cooperating with the company. In other words, CSKA Moscow's work on player registration or reinforcements will be affected to some extent, as well as the advertising cooperation agreement signed between CSKA Moscow and the American sports marketing company.
CSKA Moscow football team
$500 million in sports sponsorship and event contracts or adrift
It is undeniable that the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine has had a deep impact on sports, and many events or clubs have been affected as a result.
Russia is the host country of major events, including the 2023 European Super Cup, the 2023 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships and the European Curling Championships later this year. In addition, Russia has also expressed interest in hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup and the 2036 Olympics.
For some athletes in Russia or Ukraine, there is a good chance that they will need to miss multiple events as a result. What's more, it may even affect a career.
Especially for Russian sports, if the resistance of the world sports world deepens, it may be difficult for many Russian sports athletes to participate in the event, so as to maintain a good competitive state. Affected by the doping storm, Russia played in the Tokyo Olympic Games and the Beijing Winter Olympics under the name of the Russian Olympic team. In addition, the IAAF has made a decision to ban Russian athletes from participating since 2015.
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Russia is once again in a doping storm
The doping storm has cast a huge shadow over the Russian sports world. If the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to heat up, the future world sports will boycott a large-scale boycott of the Russian sports world, which may be a devastating blow to Russian sports. Can Russia's title of sports power still be retained?
In professional sports, Russian elements can also be seen everywhere. Russian companies facing the international market have established cooperative relations with many events or clubs through sports marketing channels.
For clubs such as Manchester United and Schalke 04, they need to consider the risks of working with Russian companies, including terminating huge contracts with sponsors. For the club, it is very difficult to find a company that can be willing to give a large sponsorship fee at a time when the epidemic is still raging.
For Russian companies facing the global market, they need to consider more risk factors when activating their sports marketing. At the moment of economic globalization, the globalization of sports is also deeply unfolding. In the context of the highly developed sports events, it seems unrealistic to completely "get rid of" Russia.
The Ferrari website bears the logo of the Russian company Kaspersky
GlobalData, a data analytics firm, said that after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, $500 million worth of sports sponsorship and event agreements are at risk of cancellation, including but not limited to the Champions League final, the F1 Russian Grand Prix, as well as Gazprom and Schalke 04's nearly $30 million per year jersey sponsorship contract, Gazprom and UEFA's annual sponsorship contract of nearly $60 million.
Therefore, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has affected the development of the global sports industry to a certain extent. Only a peaceful and stable situation can accelerate the recovery of the sports industry in the post-epidemic era.
For every peace-loving people, war is not the picture they want to see. Ukraine international Ruslan Malinovsky of Atlanta unveiled his white vest after scoring in the second leg of the Europa League knockout play-off, which reads "NO WAR IN UKRAINE" (May There Be No War in Ukraine).
Note: The images used in this article are from the Internet