In the sports documentary miniseries The Last Dance, Michael Jordan describes how, as a young rookie, he was confronted with an invitation to take part in illicit activities with teammates, including drugs and gambling.

He “did not go through that door,” realizing “he was in the NBA to get better.” Nowadays that kind of moral compass feels increasingly rare.

The recent gambling and fraud scandal rocking the NBA, for example, illustrates how, when sport leaders compromise on sport values — respect, excellence, safety and fairness — they compromise the value of sport to individuals and society as a whole.

The purpose of sport is individual and community development. The word “compete” is derived from the Latin competere which means to strive (for excellence) together.

MONEY CHANGES THE GAME

Adding money to sport requires a high level of regulation to prevent the associated pitfalls of corruption, fraud, power imbalances and excess.

Allowing gambling in sport places stress on sport governance, but also erodes cultural integrity. Betting communicates a tolerance for what has been considered criminal in the past and corrupting in the present.

When a referee tolerates cheating behaviour on the field, they soon lose control of the game, and the game soon loses its value.

Canadian researchers have repeatedly shown the value of sport in fostering individual and community development. From positive youth development to significant social impact and social inclusion of people with disabilities, research shows the positive role sport can have through inspiration, health, confidence, belonging and connection.

The Power of Sport: The True Sport Report 2022, a research series by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport that provides evidence for a values-based approach to sport, consistently finds that “the sport Canadians want” includes safety, integrity and community.

WHAT WOMEN’S SPORT TEACHES US

A recent report from Women and Sport Canada shows the sport Canadians want is equitable, inspiring and community-oriented. Women’s sport in Canada, for example, has doubled in value over two years to $400 million and is expected to reach $500 million within a year.

Sport organizations such as Speed Skating Canada, Rugby Canada and the Toronto Blue Jays are modelling positive sport values and the result is a growing fan base and participation, record ticket sales and exceptional performances.

In their studies of Speed Skating Canada and Rowing Canada, former professional athletes and organizational psychologists Katrina Monton and Jennifer Walinga found that cultural integrity — living the values of respect, safety and excellence — has created a foundation for optimal performance. Indeed, the Canadian Speed Skaters enjoyed a dominant performance at the recent World Cup.

Rugby Canada leadership stood by the women’s team through two cases of coach abuse to see the women earn Olympic and World Cup silver medals.

In studying rugby and other sports, our research team has found cultural integrity to be essential to a team’s resilience and success.

The Blue Jays have also confirmed it: the Canadian public wants a sport that upholds friendship, respect and excellence on the diamond. Fans are enthusiastically celebrating the expressed and enacted love the players have for one another, the game and the country.

FAIR PLAY AND PUBLIC TRUST

The recent gambling scandals in the NBA and the MLB are a product of ill-governed sport. Insider betting and games rigging involving players, coaches and organized crime rings are the fallout of legalized sports betting.

When sport leaders place winning or money at the centre of sport, a “win at all costs” mentality prevails, rationalizing and indirectly promoting behaviours like cheating, inequity and corruption — and the costs are well-documented.

Compromising on sport values creates cultural fractures, contradictions and incongruities across sport, which then undermine public trust and the participation that comes with it.

The Hockey Canada sexual assault settlement scandal, which involved the board using registration fees to settle the claims, is another example of values undermined under the guise of protecting players or the sport. Despite their acquittals, a group of junior hockey players compromised human dignity.

This type of behaviour stems from a cultural belief system that values violence — permitted and promoted in hockey — and leads to compromise across the hockey environment, including fan violence, referee abuse, hazing, bullying, misogyny and toxic masculinity.

These sport scandals are examples of how rationalizing illicit behaviours for the sake of sport — for example, gambling that increases the fan base and ticket sales, which fund sport — leads to value compromises across the sport environment.

UK Sport has relied on $1.5 billion in lottery funding since 1997. Most Canadian provinces rely on gaming grants to fund community sport — arguably a slippery slope.

Gaming, sponsorship and “targeted” performance-based funding models like UK Sport and Canada’s Own the Podium privilege money over ethics and safety, and communicate to athletes, coaches and fans that compromising values is acceptable. Yet, it can be argued, these models enhance funding and bring success. The question becomes: where do we draw the line?

When referees compromise on fair play or lose sight of their role, the game unravels — and so can sport in general unravel without proper governance, accountability, transparency and independence. When the rules no longer seem to apply, athletes believe they are free to push boundaries or take their own form of recourse.

The Edmonton Oilers/St.Louis Blues NHL hockey game in April 2025, when referees were accused of making several questionable calls, is a good example. The doping track-and-field scandals in the 1980s were yet another. When winning becomes the priority, other values fall by the wayside.

REBUILDING SPORT FROM INSIDE OUT

Sport must be governed by the same principles that define it at its best: excellence, respect, safety, community, accountability, independence, transparency, accessibility and fairness.

Sport based on Olympic and Paralympic values brings tremendous value to society.

Compromising on sport’s values and integrity only serves to squander its local, national and global power. Sport, when done right, unites the world.

» Jennifer Walinga is a professor of communications and culture at Royal Roads University.