Anti-Doping in Sport - Thematic Research

An analysis of the problems facing sport with regards to anti-doping and cheating, and an overview of sport's history with the issue

With increased commercialization and an ever-increasing amount of money involved, the stakes in sport have never been higher. As a result, the rewards for winning are as high as they have ever been, and with this comes the potential for cheating. While most athletes are likely clean from doping, several major scandals in the last decade have challenged this notion.

Due to these scandals, most sports now have anti-doping programs to catch out cheats, with athletes regularly being subjected to drug tests. To ensure that athletes are caught out, many drug tests are entirely random, and theoretically, an athlete could have to take one at any given time. Some athletes have complained about the sometimes intrusive nature of the tests, but many see this as a necessary evil to keep sport clean.

Sports such as cycling have come under heavy fire for the sheer amount of doping involved. This was thrown into particular focus after it was revealed Lance Armstrong had implemented a sophisticated system to dodge drug tests, which enabled him to win seven Tour de France titles. The Russian Olympic teams have been other frequent guilty offenders, with another recent scandal occurring as recently as the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Sport is considered to currently be as fair as it has ever been, with the increased quality of testing and greater knowledge regarding what different substances do. Combat sports like MMA have benefited massively from being cleaned up, with organizations like the UFC and Bellator being as popular and entertaining as they have ever been. However, a sport like baseball is in the unique position of being weaker since anti-doping regulations were improved. The most popular era of the MLB was the 90s, when steroid usage was rife. Currently, MLB viewership is decreasing every year and the league is struggling to find a way to turn the tide.

Key Highlights

• Baseball has faced declining interest for many years in North America. While the league is still highly profitable and had a solid comeback in terms of attendances throughout 2021, TV viewership for the league in 2021 was 12% down from 2019. Another issue baseball has is the average age of baseball fans, which is far older than most other sports leagues at 57. This highlights how poor a job baseball is doing at attracting younger fans to keep long-term interest in the sport high. While much of the 90s and early 2000s has been tainted by the steroids scandal involving legends such as Barry Bonds, the increased number of home runs and excitement led to a 44% increase in attendance at games, while the league's revenue increased by 115%. While the answer cannot be to allow doping in baseball, the numbers indicate that the height of baseball's popularity came during an era where cheating was rife. This puts baseball in a bizarrely unique situation that no other sport has ever faced, and their long-term strategy must focus on drawing younger crowds back to the sport. However, this might be an issue in North America, where basketball and American football are already so popular.
• There has long been a debate over whether doping or match-fixing is a greater threat to sport. The author of the McLaren report, which investigated Russian state-sponsored doping, maintained that match-fixing and the manipulation of sporting incomes were greater threats to sporting integrity. A report commissioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) found that only 600 of the 14,000 athletes competing in ITF tournaments made enough money to cover their own costs. This leaves a large pool of athletes who are financially vulnerable and open to being targeted by match-fixers.
• Reports on the matter have been contradictory, however, as to which is more damaging in sport. A report from 2011 from the British Coventry University's International Centre for the Business of Sport found that 96% of corruption cases in sport were related to doping, while betting and match-fixing-related corruption accounted for less than 3% of all cases. While these numbers may be skewed differently now, the fact that the last decade has been dominated by constant doping scandals highlights that doping could well be a bigger issue for organized sport.
• Sports washing has been a topic of discussion related to financial doping within soccer. There has been an increasing involvement from nations with sketchy human rights records in the world of sport in recent years. Prominent examples include Saudi Arabia, which recently purchased soccer club Newcastle through a government investment fund and has acquired a Grand Prix following an agreement with the FIA. This comes despite widespread condemnation for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, as well as a recent story where 81 Saudi prisoners were executed on a single day. Chelsea fans have recently come under fire for their fervent defense of former owner Roman Abramovich following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the nature of his close relationship with Vladimir Putin.

Scope

• This report provides an overview of the history of doping within sport, and the ongoing challenges that sport faces to eliminate it.
• It identifies the key doping scandals that have unfolded over the last twenty years, and the long-term ramifications of many of these events.
• A look at the other types of doping within sport, including financial doping and match fixing, and how they have affected major sporting events.
• A detailed look at the anti-doping value chain which highlights how athletes can make money and what can be lost through testing positive for a banned substance.

Reasons to Buy

• For those wanting an in depth analysis of the lasting damage that doping scandals have on both sports, federations and athletes.
• Discusses some of the reasons why athletes dope, especially in a world driven by every increasing amounts of financial reward for success.
• GlobalData's thematic research ecosystem is a single, integrated global research platform that provides an easy-to-use framework for tracking all themes across all companies in all sectors. It has a proven track record of identifying the important themes early, enabling companies to make the right investments ahead of the competition, and secure that all-important competitive advantage.