The real lesson from FIFA’s private equity row isn’t about money

By Trippant CEO, Tom Scott

Watching the reaction to Gianni Infantino’s proposed sale of a minority stake in FIFA has reminded me of a lesson I learnt the hard way almost 20 years ago.

At 25, working at Bristol City Football Club, I was involved in plans to expand the family area at the stadium. On paper, it made complete sense. We wanted to create a better experience for young supporters and encourage more families to come to matches.

The challenge? It meant relocating a number of season ticket holders.

At the time, I viewed it as a straightforward operational decision. We would move some seats, improve the offer and everyone would understand the rationale.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

For many supporters, those seats represented decades of memories with parents, children and friends. They were part of their identity. What looked like a logical business decision to me felt deeply personal to them.

Is private investment inherently bad? I don’t think so…

That experience fundamentally changed how I think about communications.

Which brings me back to FIFA.

Personally, I don’t think the concept of attracting private investment is inherently wrong. We’ve seen organisations across sport successfully embrace commercial innovation, many of whom we’ve helped along the way. New Zealand Rugby sold a stake in future commercial revenues. SailGP has enabled private investment into its teams. We helped British Cycling launch British Cycling Ventures to diversify income beyond public funding. Formula One’s transformation under Liberty Media demonstrates what strategic investment can unlock.

Humour me for a second, but if FIFA had, for example, had presented a transparent case that private capital would accelerate grassroots football and improve coaching in underserved communities and that most, (if not all!), there would almost certainly have been a different conversation. 

Instead, the story became about secrecy, governance and a perceived lack of consultation. It was later reported that even some FIFA’s most senior execs, including its head of global football development, Arsene Wenger, had learned about these plans via media reports. 

The proposal was met with fierce opposition not simply because of what was proposed, but because of how it appeared to emerge and who felt excluded from the conversation.

Communications isn’t about writing the press release once the decision has been made. It’s about shaping the decision before it becomes public. Stakeholder engagement isn’t a box to tick, rather a critical part of leadership. When people understand the “why”, have an opportunity to challenge it and feel their perspective has been considered, even difficult decisions become easier to accept.

What can we learn quickly from this?

Every CEO, governing body and leadership team should ask three questions before making any significant announcement:

• Who will feel most affected by this decision?
• Have we explained why we’re doing it before we explain what we’re doing?
• Have the people who matter heard it from us first?

More often, a reputation is damaged by making people feel that change has happened to them rather than with them.