Corporate Social Responsibility in Sports Organizations

Abstract

This chapter examines the social responsibility policies implemented by the most significant international and Italian sports organizations. The IOC is initially considered. The highest sports organization in the world has intervened on sustainability since 1992 with the signing of the “Earth Pledge”, which explicitly took into account the indications that had emerged from the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, to continue in the next 25 years with the promotion of important initiatives (first of all, the evaluation of the impact of the Olympic Games) and with the publication of fundamental documents (from the Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21 in 1999 to the recent Olympic Agenda 2020 and the IOC’s Sustainability Strategy 2016). Similarly FIFA, the most important of the international federations, has committed itself to the issue of sustainability. The initiatives in this area of both organizations mentioned are examined in the first part of the chapter, pointing out also the many critical issues that emerged in their work. After, with the same approach, the cases of Italian sports federations and, in particular, of CONI and FIPAV are analyzed. Finally, the last part deals with CSR policies in the professional sports world. In particular, two top football clubs (Manchester United and Juventus FC) are examined. Although they adopt different approaches in the social responsibility strategy, they constitute two best practices in the sector.