How Successful Are the Teams of the European Football Elite off the Field?—CSR Activities of the Premier League and the Primera División

Abstract

In the past two decades the sports sector has turned its attention to understanding the idea of sustainability, particularly to the practical steps related to this. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities carried out by teams playing in the Premier League and the Primera División in the 2018/2019 season, and how these CSR actions serve environmental protection and society, manifesting the concept of sustainable development. We applied comparative analysis based on secondary databases. We examined the available reports regarding all the 40 teams, focusing on information about their CSR aspirations and related academic research results, and we worked out specific criteria to evaluate environmentally and socially related CSR activities. Arsenal and Real Madrid were chosen to show good practices that can serve as examples for the other members of the sports sector. At Premier League clubs, the practical application of the CSR activities has been intensively developed. Clubs share detailed statistical information about their actions, while some of the clubs even publish their future plans. The quantity and detail of the information found with Primera División clubs is rather varied. Some clubs introduce their CSR activities in full detail; however, in the case of most clubs, the accessible information is rather superficial and lacks any exact descriptions. The findings clearly show that the sports world is consciously shifting towards the realization of sustainable development, which requires a comprehensive reconnection of sporting society and an increase in awareness in order to achieve the efficient and successful integration of CSR activities into sport.

Corporate social responsibility activities conducted by football clubs playing in the Polish top division – PKO Ekstraklasa

“…For instance, CSR implementation in the English Premier League is far more developed than in the Polish clubs. This has made scholars assume the Polish clubs are only following patterns from abroad to avoid being accused of being inactive with CSR without actually adjusting the form and scope of the activities to local needs (Ráthonyi-Ódor et al, 2020;Anagnostopoulos, 2013). Thus, the main recommendation for the clubs is to look for their own path to support the human and natural environment surrounding them and consider their stakeholders' unique needs.…”

The Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility of Major Sport Organizations by the German Public: An Empirical Analysis During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Several studies have been conducted examining the CSR of sport organizations in various contexts, including professional team sports (Walzel et al, 2018 ), major sport events (e.g., Babiak and Wolfe, 2006 ), sport leagues (e.g., Reiche, 2014 ), and sport federations (e.g., Filizöz and Fişne, 2011 ; Walters and Tacon, 2011 ). The next paragraphs review the types of implemented CSR activities, the drivers of these activities, and the employed research methods ( Table 1 ).…”

“…The drivers for sport federations include financial autonomy and human resources (Zeimers et al, 2020 ). A lack of these resources also represents the strongest constraints for implementing formal CSR strategies (Walters and Tacon, 2011 ). For the DFL, their role model function, economic motives, and political incentives influenced CSR activities (Reiche, 2014 ).…”

“…Most studies applied qualitative research paradigms (e.g., Babiak and Trendafilova, 2011 ; Douvis et al, 2015 ). Especially in professional team sports, qualitative approaches were preferred (Walzel et al, 2018 ), with data being collected via interviews (e.g., Douvis et al, 2015 ; Babiak and Kihl, 2018 ) or observations, focus groups, and content analyses (e.g., Walters and Tacon, 2011 ; Banda and Gultresa, 2015 ). Most qualitative studies were conducted as case studies of different teams (e.g., Davies and Moyo, 2017 ; Babiak and Kihl, 2018 ), leagues (Reiche, 2014 ; Banda and Gultresa, 2015 ), and federations (Filizöz and Fişne, 2011 ).…”

“…Few researchers used a mixed-method approach to answer their research questions, specifically by conducting interviews and surveys (Babiak and Trendafilova, 2011 ; Blumrodt et al, 2013 ; Davies and Moyo, 2017 ). Exclusive quantitative research was deployed by using surveys (e.g., Walters and Tacon, 2011 ; Chang et al, 2016 ; Lacey and Kennett-Hensel, 2016 ). However, most of the questionnaires used only short three- to five-item scales for measuring CSR or CSR perception, which barely covered the multidimensional nature of CSR.…”