Duemmler 1

Lukas Duemmler
UWRT 1103-037
Ms. Caruso
November 17, 2015
Sports Talk and Corruption in Sports
Cases of bribery and corruption have been present in athletics since the invention of
sports. In 388 BC, at the first combat tournament of the Olympic Games, Eupolos of Thessalia is
the first documented case of corruption in sports for bribing three of his competitors. Similarly,
corruption in sports management is recorded around the same time (Maennig sec. 1). Since then,
the institution of corruption and illegal betting has significantly grown. There are different types
of corruption in sports; there is match-fixing where teams lose on purpose to secure a better
playoff position or to win a betting outcome (Asis par. 2). Both bribery and corruption are posing
threats to the integrity of sports. What ethics are appropriate in professional sport (Whysall par.
2)? Sports analysists and authors have a tendency to write about sports events and news, like
corruption, in magazines such as Sports Illustrated or on athletic news websites similar to
Bleacher Report or Buzz Feed. If a person wants to know information about a topic that occurred
in an athletic event, they will most likely look in one of these places. Sports Talk the mock
website used to represent a similar website as Bleacher Report, is set up in the same way.
On these websites readers usually receive short news stories with enough information
regarding popular topics in sports. Sports Talk, although set up only as a blog right now, would
eventually turn into a website with more frequent and credible stories based mostly on the
growing topic of corruption in modern day sports. Wolfgang Maennig divides corruption in
modern sports into two categories; competition corruption and management corruption.

Duemmler 2

Competition corruption is where the provider and the recipient of the bribes can be: athletes
only, sporting officials and other non-athletes, or athletes and officials (sec. 2). During the
Australian Grand Prix of 2002, a Formula 1 race, a Ferrari driver let his teammate pass him by
only feet from the finish line. Although no direct payout is involved in this particular example,
Barrichello, the driver who was passed, followed the instructions to keep his place on the team.
An immense business that relates to competition corruption is illegal sports betting and bribery.
Bribery takes place whenever a person causes, attempts, or conspires to influence with the
intent to secure a desired result (LawInfo sec. 1). Illegal betting is quickly becoming a large
institution. In fact, according to an article in BBN in 2013, the institution could be worth as
much as $500 bn per year (Singh par. 5). One of the main fears for betting, is that if it is not
controlled, it could do irreplaceable damage to various sports. This is particularly evident in
match-fixing because if the outcome of the game is known, then there is no need for skilled and
talented athletes to actually work for the win. Leading law enforcement agencies and peak sport
bodies have identified match-fixing and illegal sports betting, and other related forms of
unethical conduct, as posing a significant threat to the integrity of sport world-wide
(Clearinghouse sec. 3).
On the other hand, management corruption is non-competition focused decisions by
sporting bodies and sports officials and usually include host venues for important
competitions, allocation of rights for television, nomination for positions, and commissioning
construction works for sports arenas and other venues (Maennig sec. 2). The decision to host the
2006 Football World Cup in Germany could be considered management corruption because of
accurate accusations that the decision was helped along via the arrangement of financially
lucrative friendly games between FC Bayern Munich and teams from Thailand, Tunisia, Trinidad

Duemmler 3

and Malta. New news has recently been reported that Germany may have bribed its way to
hosting the 2006 FIFA World Cup by bribing four Asian representatives on FIFAs 24-man
executive committee to vote in Germanys favor (Smith par. 2). Since this the most recent
information, the fact that Germany may have bribed its way into hosting the 2006 World Cup and
the corruption of FIFA is the topic story used in the online magazine Sports Talk. Along with
this, there have been allegations connecting to the allocation of the rights for the TV marketing,
of the 2002 and 2006 World Cup championship. Corruption is becoming a bigger and bigger
institution especially among officials. Maennig states that competition judges and other officials
are becoming involved in corruption more frequently whilst, in contrast to previous eras, athletes
and trainers are less often directly involved (sec. 16).
Professional sports are not the only ones corrupted. Collegiate sports draw almost as
much attention as does professional events. Once Sports Talk will start to evolve into a
flourishing blogging website, the authors will also investigate and write articles about collegiate
sports. The intended audience of Sports Talk is sports fanatics who enjoy all levels of sports and
want to know what the latest news is at these levels. Of course, the website is called Sports Talk
so multiple corrupted sports will be listed and talked about, not just soccer. With this being said,
both competition corruption and management corruption can also be seen throughout college
sports in the United States. In 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who examine most of
the bribery cases, was investigating some criminal activity in San Diego and came across a
scheme where online gamblers were fixing some of the University of San Diego mens
basketball games. Thaddeus Brown, a former assistant coach, got up to $10,000 per game, and he
recruited the teams leading point guard, Brandon Johnson, to intentionally throw games that
USD was favored to win. In April 2011, after two years of conspiring, using authorized

Duemmler 4

wiretaps, physical surveillance, confidential informants, subpoenaed documents, and

interviews, the FBI had enough evidence to announce an indictment and conspiracy against the
people involved. U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said tampering with sports events strikes at the
integrity of the games; this kind of betrayal is not merely disappointing-it is criminal and worthy
of prosecution (FBI par. 8). Along with what Duffy is saying, it is disappointing knowing that
some, if not most, of the athletic events seen on TV are fixed. When you know the outcome of an
event, the central function of sport is no longer fulfilled, the reputation of the sport is damaged,
potential athletes (or their parents mindful of the harmful effects of learning by watching) turn
their back on sport, fans and TV spectators attending rigged competitions or fixed matches are
frustrated and sponsors and municipalities cancel their support (Maennig sec. 6). Young athletes
who are contemplating what college to go to play their respective sport should be aware of any
scandals that have occurred in the past. If they are walking their way into an illegal betting ring,
they should know about it. Sports Talks intended purpose to inform its readers of scandals such
as the San Diego Basketball team scandal.
A type of management corruption can be seen in an academic fraud scandal with the
University of Minnesota mens basketball team. A former part-time tutor for the team said she
wrote more than 400 term papers for at least eighteen Minnesota basketball players from 1993
to 1998 (Wells sec. 1). Along with violating the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) rule for academic dishonesty, the coach had also been giving the players cash on the
side to mislead attorneys during the investigation. Armen Keteyian, who investigated the fraud,
says point-shaving scandals and academic fraud are two issues that cut right to the heart of what
college sports are all about today, and the integrity of the institution is at stake (Wells sec. 1). In
a more general idea, Creed Black, president of the Knight Foundation, says that big money had

Duemmler 5

corrupted university athletic programs (Wells sec. 8). With some coaches earning more than
one million dollars, the temptations are great to offer illegal inducements to prospective athletes
or to find illicit ways to keep them eligible, such as phantom courses, surrogate test takers, and
altered transcripts (Wells sec. 8).
Both competition corruption and management corruption is present in many sports at
different levels, especially in professional sports. Most upper level athletes and even some
managers are influential role models for growing kids and teenagers. Parents should be able to
know the type of person that their child is wanting to be like; and if that person is involved in an
illegal business, parents need a place they can find information on these scandals. With these
types of cases, as the website Sports Talk develops into a more credible and more successful
blog, many opportunities will arise for authors to report stories for the sports fanatics and parents
wanting to get information on new corruption scandals in sports world-wide. Although Sports
Talk will be mostly talking about corruption in different sports, the idea is not to influence kids
and parents to turn away from these sports, but to inform them on the possible corruption within
the competition and management in the higher levels. Stories of corruption scandals and bribery
deals should not be neglected. When the truth about these future scandals is brought to light, the
integrity of sports will be threatened by corruption and bribery in all levels of sports, and Sports
Talk is there to report about it.

Duemmler 6

Original Citations
Asis, Adrian. "Top 10 Alleged Match-Fixing/Bribery Scandals in Sports History." TheRichest.
N.p., 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.
"Crime in College Hoops." FBI. FBI, 20 May 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.
Hume, Chris. "Match-Fixing and Illegal Sports Betting." Clearinghouse for Sport. N.p., n.d.
Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
"Sports Bribery Law and Legal Resources." Law Info. Thomson Reuters, n.d. Web. 27 Sept.
2015.

Duemmler 7

New Citations
Jennings, Andrew. "Investigation Corruption in Corporate Sport: The IOC and
FIFA."International Review for the Sociology of Sport 2011th ser. 46.4 (2011): 38798.Atkins Library. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
Maennig, Wolfgang. "Corruption in International Sports and Sport Management."European
Sport Management Quarterly 2005th ser. 5.2 (2006): n. pag. Atkins Library. Web.
2 Oct. 2015.
McNamee, Mike. "The Integrity of Sport: Unregulated Gambling, Match Fixing and
Corruption." Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 2013th ser. 7.2 (2013): n. pag. Atkins Library.
Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Singh, Puneet Pal. "How Does Illegal Sports Betting Work and What Are the Fears?"BBC News.
N.p., 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
Smith, Geoffrey. "Did Germany Bribe To Win The Rights To Host FIFA's 2006 World
Cup?" Fortune Did Germany Bribe to Win Hosting Rights to FIFAs 2006 World Cup
Comments. N.p., 16 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
Wells, Joseph T. "Corruption IN Collegiate Sports." Internal Auditor 57.2 (n.d.): n. pag.Atkins
Library. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
Whysall, Paul. "Reflections on Ethics, Sport and the Consequences of
Professionalisation." Business Ethics: A European Review 2014th ser. 23.4 (2014): 41629. Atkins Library. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.