With Ukraine Under Attack, The Sports World Cuts Ties With Russian Sponsors

Since Russia began attacking Ukraine earlier this week, sports teams, leagues and tournaments with Russian sponsors or hosts have begun rethinking their relationships.

The famous British soccer team Manchester United announced plans to cancel its £40 million sponsorship deal with Aeroflot, the Russian airline that’s also now banned by the British government from flying in UK airspace. In Germany, the soccer team FC Schalke 04 is removing Russian oil giant Gazprom as a sponsor of its jerseys. Meanwhile, the German tabloid Bild will no longer show Gazprom’s logo on pages printed with Schalke jerseys, replacing it instead with the German text: “Freedom For Ukraine.” UEFA Champions League is reportedly considering ending a sponsorship deal with Gazprom and already announced plans to move the final match in May from St. Petersburg to Paris.

Corporate branding on jerseys and cars are often prime real estate for advertisers and big money-makers for organizations that land them. But when it comes to international conflict, the price is far more costly than dollars as organizations quickly look to distance themselves from Russia, support Ukraine and avoid any impending sanctions.

Sports, politics and brands are increasingly “on a head-on collision course,” says Forrester marketing analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee, who pointed out recent silence by Olympic sponsors in China and the mixed responses from Novak Djokovic’s sponsors after the tennis star was demoted from Australia over his vaccine status.

“When brands are put in the spot and forced to take a position, they go about it two ways, First, and the more easy way, is to act on a core value,” Chatterjee says. “…Others must work out for themselves what will beget a response and what falls into the grey cone of silence. It is likely that most brands will consider an act of military aggression as a clear normative violation, and are more likely to speak out and act against it.”

Ahead of Friday’s Circuit de Catalunya preseason race in Barcelona, the U.S. Formula 1 team Haas on Thursday announced its cars will be white and not feature their usual Russian flag colors or the logo of its title sponsor, Uralkali. However, a spokesperson declined to further comment other than to confirm that the team’s driver, Nikita Mazepin—the son of Russian billionaire Dmitry Mazepin—would continue to participate. Other sporting competitions are also moving out of Russia. The ATP Tour has canceled its tennis tournament in Moscow, and the Finish hockey team Jokerit Helsinki is leaving the Russian hockey league KHL. Formula One has also canceled its Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, which was scheduled for September.

“While most international sports leagues and teams prefer to steer clear of partisan politics in their governance process, the safety of athletes and security of events trumps these aversions,” says Andrew Frank, a marketing analyst at Gartner. “There’s also a clear desire to avoid being called out as an outlier when public sentiment is moving quickly and overwhelmingly in favor of activism. I believe the collective impact of these decisions in spreading awareness and outrage among mainstream populations is a significant factor in public relations.”

There are also now questions about what will happen with U.S. companies and teams that have existing partnerships with Russian companies. The National Hockey League also has recently announced deals: One with the sports betting company Liga Stavok as the first exclusive partner with the NHL in Russia and another with the Russian search giant Yandex as the league’s Russian broadcast partner. 

When asked by Forbes about the status of the deals, the NHL did not respond to multiple requests for comment. And in the world of tech, HP Inc.’s gaming division, HyperX, announced earlier this month that it would sponsor the Russian soccer team Spartak Moscow. However, a spokesperson declined to elaborate on whether the conflict will affect the deal. 

“We have gaming sponsorships all over the world to bring people together around the sport,” HyperX spokesperson Mark Tekunoff said in a statement on Friday evening. “Right now, our focus is on supporting our employees, partners and their loved ones who may be in harm’s way. We are closely reviewing the U.S. administration’s requirements for any impact that may have on activity in the region.”