#WeRideTogether is dedicated to promoting safe and healthy sport for all. Shedding light on the different types of abuse perpetrated against athletes creates awareness and highlights the need for proactive prevention. One type of abuse commonly perpetrated against athletes is financial abuse.
Definitions
Financial abuse refers to abusive behaviors that attempt to control or limit an athlete’s access to or opportunity to earn money. Many behaviors fall under financial abuse, such as withholding, limiting access to, stealing, or lying about funds.
Other types of financial abuse include exploitation and human trafficking.
Exploitation is an abuse of power when an athlete is harmed or treated unfairly for gain or benefit. In sports, this often takes the form of forced labor without fair compensation.
Human trafficking in sport involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception to exploit the individual for profit. In trafficking situations, athletes (typically from developing countries or low socioeconomic backgrounds) receive working contracts that require them to leave their country. Upon arriving in the new location, athletes may be forced to work long hours in inadequate working conditions or may find themselves deserted with no job prospects. Athletes are often left without documentation or personal belongings in a foreign country, with no way to return home safely. Human trafficking is not just a type of abuse, but also a human rights violation.
Financial abuse and exploitation often intersect with other types of abuse encountered in the athletic space. Financial abuse relies on power and control, and that control can be imposed and maintained through emotional abuse tactics. This might look like minimizing – “this is what everyone goes through, you have to work hard and pay your dues” – or gaslighting – “you’re crazy, I would never take your money”. “Quid pro quo”, or conditional harassment, often uses athletic involvement or income as leverage to force compliance with sexual harassment and abuse.
Exploitation can also occur with sexual abuse, such as sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation involves forcing athletes to engage in sexual activity for profit and can include the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material (or CSAM). This is similar to sex trafficking, which is a type of trafficking where athletes are transported for the purpose of sexual activity.
Prevalence
The statistics on financial abuse of athletes are limited due to various factors. As mentioned above, financial abuse often intersects with different types of abuse, so it can be considered under other umbrellas of abuse and interpersonal violence in literature. Data on the topic may also be limited due to underreporting – in and out of sport. Simply, it is hard to track. Additionally, those who are financially victimized often may not report due to shame, embarrassment, or because of the lack of power they may feel.
So, what do we know about the prevalence of financial abuse and exploitation in sport?
Financial abuse occurs in 98% of interpersonal violence (IPV) cases. It’s often a major component as to why people stay in abusive environments and relationships – 67% of IPV victims state that financial control and abuse was the primary reason they stayed.
Athletes are at an increased risk of experiencing abuse in their sporting environment. 50% of athletes experience an incident of IPV before the age of 18, and 1 in 5 NCAA athletes report experiencing IPV while involved in college athletics. Therefore, we can assume that many of these athletes experience some form of financial abuse while involved in sport.
The 2021 global Census of Athlete Rights Experiences Report found that 51% of athletes experienced economic exploitation as a child athlete, with examples ranging from “unfair distribution of funds to the denial of financial benefits and the removal of scholarship.”
The United Nations’ International Labor Organization has called for increased regulations to combat the growing problem of trafficking in sport. An estimated 15,000 trafficking victims are trafficked from West Africa through Europe’s soccer industry each year, but athletes have reportedly also been trafficked to South Asian countries. Baseball players from South and Central America may be trafficked to the United States, with an estimated 500-700 players sent to America per year. Typically, an athlete receives a contract with an agent claiming to have contacts in professional leagues or an offer to engage in a “trial period” with a club. Once the athlete has flown out, they are then exploited for their labor as the agent or club withholds money and professional opportunities. The goal is to profit as much off the athlete as possible while paying them as little as possible.
These statistics indicate that, even if financial abuse and exploitation are underreported and overlooked, these are issues that plague a significant number of athletes globally.
Vulnerable Groups
Financial abuse and exploitation can be enacted against athletes across all sports and at all levels. However, some groups are victimized more frequently than others.
Disability status is a known risk factor for financial abuse, with 31.5% of individuals with disability/disabilities experiencing financial abuse. Athletes may not be educated on their finances, and a caregiver may be solely responsible for handling their money, leaving them at risk of being taken advantage of. This risk extends to Paralympic athletes as well, and can be compounded due to various elements of sport. Adaptive gear and accommodations can add costs to already costly travel and equipment. Despite Paralympic athletes competing at the same level as their Olympic counterparts, they often do not receive the same opportunities for sponsorship or prize money, creating a level of financial instability that can leave athletes vulnerable to abuse.
Black athletes are the majority of participants in collegiate athletics, comprising 55% of football players and 56% of basketball players. However, they make up only 3% of undergraduate students enrolled in college. For many from marginalized communities, athletics are painted as a way to “make it” or “get out”, and scholarships are often the only way to pay for college. This can create extra pressure, as athletes recognize the importance of performing well academically and athletically to continue receiving opportunities they may not have otherwise. Furthermore, this additional pressure can be used as a form of leverage in power and control tactics. The NCAA has sole authority to enact and revoke scholarships, leaving athletes completely at the mercy of the sporting organization and its changing eligibility rules. Therefore, the NCAA has a high level of influence over athletes and can use its authority as a financial benefactor to exert high levels of control over athlete behavior. The combination of increased pressure to perform (academically and athletically), combined with the lack of autonomy over any financial benefits, leaves many athletes – particularly Black athletes – feeling exploited. 83% of 4th-year college athletes reported feeling exploited by their university, and Black athletes were 3.23 times more likely to report feeling exploited than their White peers. The NAACP has previously called for the NCAA’s practices to change and promote athlete well-being and financial security.
But why?
Sporting Organizations and Short Careers
For most athletes, their entire livelihood is their sport. It exists as both a passion and a career. Sport involvement often requires a high level of financial involvement, with equipment and gear costing a significant amount of money. Competing and performing for an audience – which is how athletes gain fan bases and promote themselves – also requires investment, both with registration costs and logistical efforts like travel and lodging. Therefore, athletes have an incentive to take as many opportunities as possible to make money and move up the ranks of their sport.
This can devolve quickly. Many sports have long seasons, with some sports not having any off-season. Long seasons without time to recuperate can put athletes at additional (and unnecessary) risk of being injured. It’s a kind of constant contradiction – if you get injured, you can’t make money, so there’s incentive to keep playing; but if you play while injured, you limit your opportunities to compete in the long term because of the unsustainable model.
For example, professional tennis organizations and professional wrestling corporations have faced accusations of exploitative business practices that put athletes in harm's way.
The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), a union representing professional tennis players, is currently filing a class action lawsuit against the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). This lawsuit calls for increased prize money for players and a seasonal schedule. Currently, tennis players are expected to play 11 months of the year, and have minimal consistency regarding multiple aspects of the game – location, court type, and even balls can all change at a moment’s notice. This is linked to increased injury and burnout within the sport, with many players comparing the organizations that create these schedules to cartels. The PTPA says that they genuinely want tennis to improve, but that tennis can’t improve under the unsustainable model currently employed.
World Wrestling Entertainment, or the WWE, has repeatedly faced criticism for their labor practices. They have largely hired their wrestlers as “independent contractors”, which skirts the requirements of benefits and mandatory breaks. However, wrestlers are required to sign non-compete agreements as a condition of employment, essentially eliminating an independent contractor’s ability to work outside of the WWE. Wrestlers are paid per performance, and there is no offseason. This provides incentive to constantly compete no matter what the conditions are or what a wrestler’s injury status is. A known phenomenon within wrestling is that of premature death, and this brutal schedule could be linked to it – wrestlers sustain repeated injuries (and often severe ones, including head traumas) with no time off to recuperate, and wrestlers not having access to health insurance or worker’s compensation means wrestlers have to either self-medicate or keep competing while injured to eventually fund medical proceedings.
Financial Abuse and Power Imbalances
The financial abuse of athletes is reflective of the larger issues of power imbalances in sport. Coaches and sporting organizations have high levels of influence over whether an athlete is able to compete in sport (and therefore be compensated for their efforts). Athletes are then left dependent on coaches and organizations to make money. When coaches have their athletes’ best interests in mind and the relationship is based on care and support, coaches can accelerate athletes’ careers and financial gain. They can link athletes with sponsorships, boost opportunities to be seen in the larger athletic space, and they can empower athletes to advocate for themselves when they feel an opportunity or contract could be dubious or exploitative. However, when that relationship is based on power and control, coaches and organizations may leverage income and opportunities as methods of forcing labor and compliance with exploitation.
One example of this in human trafficking would be Shen Yun. Shen Yun is one of the most ubiquitous dance companies, with thousands of performances portraying “China Before Communism”. However, according to multiple dancers and ongoing investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor and the New York State Department of Labor, it is also a hub of human trafficking. Dancers report being recruited from countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong as early as 12 or 13, and are flown to the United States only to have their personal documents confiscated. These athletes do not receive mandatory education or breaks, and are subjected to adverse working conditions with limited (if any) pay. Athletes who comply with investigations or speak negatively of their experiences are often labeled as CCP propagandists and, therefore, are incentivized to stay silent and not speak out.
One example of financial abuse as part of quid pro quo harassment would be the former Spanish FIFA executive, Luis Rubiales. In 2023, he forcibly kissed a female soccer player on internationally broadcast television after the Women’s World Cup finals. Coercion was a major component of the case. The athlete alleged that he – and other FIFA executives – repeatedly asked her to downplay her assault and used her career and income as leverage. She did not comply, and Rubiales has since been fined and suspended from FIFA.
Financial Literacy is Lacking
While financial abuse is a function of power and control – engaging in tactics like coercion and withholding – it also exists due to a lack of education. Athlete training rarely includes financial education, even though (depending on the level of competition) they may be encountering large sums of money at a very young age. Athletes can make money via social media – amounts previously that you could only achieve in the upper echelons of sport. NIL, or “name, image, and likeness” rules, have become a major component of income through college athletics. Current discussion shows this may be expanded so athletes can claim NIL rights on bets made on their behalf. However, if they lack education, this is a moot point. When you encounter this amount of money without knowing what to do with it, income can drain quickly.
We see this even in the highest echelons of sport – for example, 60% of NBA players and 78% of NFL players face significant financial hardship after retiring. Careers in professional sports are also extremely short, averaging 3 to 6 years, depending on the sport. Typically, those seeking out non-sporting careers have the opportunity to accumulate wealth over time and become more valuable as time goes on due to increased experience. However, athletes are essentially running against the clock to compete as long as possible before they retire, and accumulate large amounts of money in very short amounts of time. Their career ends, and they have limited opportunities to make money on that scale again.
Abusers and those wanting to exploit athletes are well aware of this lack of education. This is why athletes specifically are targeted for scams and intentional mismanagement frequently. One such example would be of Shohei Ohtani, one of the biggest baseball players right now. His ex-interpreter was recently imprisoned for embezzling $17M out of Ohtani’s bank account without Ohtani’s knowledge. The interpreter exploited his position of power and trust to pay off gambling debts. Thankfully, it was ruled that full restitution is owed to Ohtani, but many athletes are not so lucky.
Steps You Can Take
So what can we do to prevent financial abuse in our athletic environments?
One of the most important steps we can take is to raise awareness of the issue. Currently, one of the biggest reasons it’s so difficult to assess the scope or prevalence of these issues is due to the lack of research on the topic. Increased awareness could provide an incentive for academia to research the topic further. Raising awareness on exploitative labor practices, the major issue of sports trafficking, and the widespread financial abuse of athletes can additionally start conversations that lead to change.
Educating our athletes on financial literacy is paramount. This includes highlighting red flag behaviors that could indicate a situation may not be financially beneficial. This is especially important for the aforementioned vulnerable groups, as we need to support those who are most at risk of experiencing financial abuse and exploitation. We can also educate our athletes on self-advocacy, so they feel empowered to stand up for themselves if red flags – for example, not being able to leave their facility without an escort, or a lack of control of personal documents – or situations of abuse or misconduct arise.
Since financial abuse coincides with many other types of abuse, we must encourage athletes to mindfully and consistently assess their relationships with those persons and parties who have financial influence over them. Coaches who have their athletes’ best interest in mind are empowered to accelerate their athletes’ careers, and this extends to ensuring their athletes’ are being fairly compensated for their achievements and efforts. An excellent resource for gut-checking whether a relationship is based on care and support versus power and control is our C.A.R.D. Diagrams.
We can also standardize best practices regarding athlete standards of care. A code of conduct that incorporates the Athlete Bill of Rights and the Convention of the Rights of the Child can ensure athletes are being treated fairly without exploitation or trafficking. These safeguarding actions help to empower and support athletes given the power dynamics at play in sporting spaces between athletes, coaches, their entourages, and institutions and systems present.
Finally, deprioritizing profit in the sporting system can combat unhealthy labor practices and help defeat the need for exploitation and trafficking. We want to see a broader shift away from prioritizing medals and money (or short-term athletic achievement) and towards helping athletes sustain long-term financial success that can support them after their career is over.
Sporting organizations are making changes to promote athlete financial wellbeing – for example, the NCAA has begun offering financial literacy courses to college athletes – and this is a step in the right direction. However, it’s up to all of us to prevent trafficking, exploitation, and financial abuse in sports.
An excellent resource for financial literacy education tailored to athletes is the Sport Financial Literacy Academy and their MoneySmart Athlete Blog, both linked here.
If you or someone you know needs support, please visit our crisis resources or resources for assistance.
Annelise Ware, MHS
Program Manager at #WeRideTogether
