Toward a Theory of Sportswashing: Mega-Events, Soft Power, and Political Conflict

Abstract

Sportswashing has emerged full force in the 21st century, highlighting the gap between word and deed in the sports world. Yet, the term suffers from definitional imprecision and is often applied solely to autocratic hosts. This article offers a robust definition of sportswashing and—building from the soft-power approach to analyzing mega-events like the Olympics and World Cup—creates a sportswashing typology. This paper offers four advances in conceptualizing sportswashing: (a) the practice is not just the domain of autocrats, but can emerge in democracies as well; (b) domestic audiences are crucial to understanding the political complexities of sportswashing; (c) sportswashing often sets the stage for military intervention; and (d) new forms of sportswashing are emerging, with authoritarian regimes funding teams and events in democratic states.

Fan responses to ownership change in the English Premier League: Motivated ignorance, social creativity and social competition at Newcastle United F.C.

“…Despite this controversy, the takeover was assisted by government intervention, especially when the initial process seemed to have stalled (Amin and Conn, 2022). Boykoff (2022: 348) has argued that the takeover ‘expanded Riyadh's multi-front propaganda effort…designed to amend perceptions of Saudi Arabia’. Whilst it is too simplistic to see the motives of the Saudi takeover purely in terms of sportswashing, Amnesty International (2021) have made it clear that they perceive sport is being used by the Saudi regime to present a more positive image that overlooks issues such as systematic human rights abuses, show trials and torture.…”

“…(Amnesty, 2021)As Skey (2022) notes, there needs to be further understanding of the impact of sportswashing, both on the sport in general, and also upon the fans of a given club. Given their role as key stakeholders in the sportswashing process (Boykoff, 2022), it is important to understand how fans react to such a process. Although Skey (2022) suggests we need to know more about who supports and who resists, we would also argue that there is also a need to understand more passive reactions to the process in order to develop a full understanding of the role of sportswashing in contemporary society, and to further understand the impacts of sportswashing motivated ownerships upon ‘traditional’ fans, as highlighted by Ludvigsn (2019b).…”

Exploring a Soccer Society: dreams, themes and the beautiful game

“…As a result, this emboldens them to commit further wrongdoings and help perpetuate weak governance. In a critical reflective piece, Boykoff (2022) provides useful insights into the conceptualisation of sportswashing by arguing that: the practice is not just the domain of autocrats; domestic audiences are crucial to understanding its political complexities; new forms of it are regularly emerging; and, perhaps most alarmingly, sportswashing often sets the stage for military intervention.…”

Esprit de Corpsand thinking on (and with) your feet: Standard, enactive, and poststructuralist aspects of relational autonomy and collective intentionality in team sports

“…To conform to the article format, I will have to forego detailed discussion of many points; I want to mention in particular that I regret having to exclude the socio‐economic issues involved in elite international sports, among them, the phenomenon of “sportswashing,” or use of sports spectacles to present a favorable image of a socio‐economic system, hiding the systemic injustices that go on in the everyday functioning of those societies and into the production of those spectacles (Boykoff, 2022; Fruh et al, 2022).…”