Nike might be involved in FIFA bribery scandal

Details about the FIFA scandal paint Nike as one of the players involved in the bribery scandal, and that could bring charges down on the shoe company.

The more that is peeled away from the FIFA scandal, the more it stinks. On Wednesday, the US Justice Department revealed that FIFA had accepted bribes in order to organize sponsors.

Now of course, shoe company Nike may be involved, instead bribing the Brazilian national team in order to secure their sponsorship.

From Washington Post:

"The indictment also alleges bribes were paid and pocketed in connection with the sponsorship of the Brazilian national soccer team by “a major U.S. sportswear company.” Although investigators will not name the company, the indictment says the sportswear firm signed a 10-year, $160 million sponsorship deal with the Brazilian team in 1996, closely matching Nike’s clothes, shoes and equipment deal with the team that year."

Listen, we can’t confirm that Richard Nixon is involved in the Watergate scandal, just a President of the United States from 1969-74 … could be anyone.

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I guess slave labor is in Nike’s comfort zone. Why limit yourself to using child slaves to make sneakers when you can indirectly fund slaves building the new Coliseum in Qatar? And yes, Nike didn’t bribe FIFA itself. It just bribed FIFA’s most visible and important national team brand.

Nike apparently used a third party, sports marketing company Traffic Brazil, in order to pay the bribe. This may make the proof harder for targeting Nike, but not impossible.

This was paired with charges against individual business men from the United States and South America for kickbacks related to media rights.

To be totally honest, it comes as no surprise that Nike was likely heavily involved in the FIFA scandal. In fact, for most people Nike was on the top of the list of suspects. But even after punishment is brought down on Nike and FIFA and Sepp Blatter, not much is likely to change. Perhaps it won’t be on the scale of companies bribing their way into sponsorships of events that utilize de facto slave labor – leading to those companies indirectly funding slave labor – but the reason why public focus had been on FIFA was because they had been unscrupulous.

This scandal is rough, but it isn’t more powerful than soccer, and it isn’t more powerful than profit. As long as soccer will remain wildly profitable, then the money makers will try to exploit to make that profit.

[H/T: Washington Post]

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