The protracted Chris Gayle scandal will not tarnish the image of the Big Bash League or Melbourne Renegades, but damage to the cricketer's personal brand “will be enormous”, a sports sponsorship expert says.
Tony McKay (pictured), head of strategy at sports marketing agency Team Epic, says Gayle could have received a harsher punishment for hitting on Network Ten journalist Mel McLaughlin during a live TV interview.
Team Epic helps clients get the most out of sponsorship and branding opportunities in sport, with Cricket Australia and the AFL on its books. McKay says he regularly speaks to sponsors and there has been no fallout in the wake of the incident.
The quick and decisive response by BBL|05 adminstrators prevented the scandal from tarnishing the family-oriented image of the competition, he says.
However, the Renegades could have reacted more decisively by organising a press conference for Gayle to issue a formal apology, rather than the “classic non-apology” the Jamaican offered as he walked through Melbourne Airport the day after.
“The Renegades were slower to react. It came across initially as a little bit less assertive and authoritative … but I still think the brand damage to the Renegades is going to be minimal,” McKay says.
McKay believes Gayle got off lightly and a suspension would not have been "out of kilter" for an incident of this magnitude.
“When you consider the amount of money these guys earn for being part of the BBL it's a relatively small punishment, but it was positive that it was donated to the Jane McGrath Foundation,” he adds.
Treatment of women improving
In the wake of the scandal, several women, including other journalists, have outted Gayle on his past misdemeanours. It has also ignited a debate over the way women are treated and perceived in elite sport.
Last year, the social #CovertheAthlete campaign was launched, calling for the equal treatment of female athletes in sport. This highlighted some of the sexist behaviour elite female athletes occasionally put up with, such as questions about their attire.
But McKay believes the way women are treated has improved significantly over the past decade.
“I don't think the major sports have a widespread issue with the treatment of women, whether it is as journalists, participants, administrators or sponsors. The outcry of this incident is evidence of just how much it has changed in the past 10 years,” he says.
“If this had happened 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago, it might have washed through [because] people were more used to seeing women treated like that.”
For Gayle, who maintains the incident was a joke gone horribly wrong, the fallout could result in the player being expelled from future Big Bash League seasons. Cricket administrators are looking into Gayle's past behaviour, particularly over an allegation he exposed himself to an Australian woman in Sydney last year.
Respected former Australian cricket captain Ian Chappell has called for a worldwide ban for the player.
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